It seems that there are a lot of people chasing happiness these days. It’s almost as if someone has made us a promise that happiness is a birth right. We do all sorts of things in the pursuit of happiness. We buy things, we take ‘prescribed’ drugs, we take trips, we move, you name it we do it trying to find this elusive thing called happiness.I think we are aiming for the wrong emotion. Happiness is an extreme emotion. It's the opposite of sadness which is also an extreme emotion. So what's left then? How about contentment.
I don't think, even though we are led to believe, that happiness can be a constant. We can experience hours of happiness, days or even months of it. But it will always come to an end. And well it should, it would be rather exhausting being happy 24/7.
The same goes for sadness, although it's possible to maintain sadness for much longer periods of time than happiness. And without much effort.
But right in between happiness and sadness is an overlooked emotion. And that is contentment. I think of contentment as a state of acceptance. I don't mean that in order to be content that we have to simply except whatever is going on in our lives. I mean that we accept that everything is as it is for a reason. We don't often do that. Usually we kick and scream until things are the way we perceive they should be.
I am able to find contentment doing very simple things. I find it reading a good book, listening to great music, seeing a great film or sitting on my back porch just before dawn. And that is one of the interesting things to me, it's the simplest endeavours that lead to contentment for me rather than the grandiose things.
If your day is bad try knowing that a bad day provides contrast which allows us to enjoy a good or even a great day. That kind of simple acceptance I think can lead to contentment.
I don't think, even though we are led to believe, that happiness can be a constant. We can experience hours of happiness, days or even months of it. But it will always come to an end. And well it should, it would be rather exhausting being happy 24/7.
The same goes for sadness, although it's possible to maintain sadness for much longer periods of time than happiness. And without much effort.
But right in between happiness and sadness is an overlooked emotion. And that is contentment. I think of contentment as a state of acceptance. I don't mean that in order to be content that we have to simply except whatever is going on in our lives. I mean that we accept that everything is as it is for a reason. We don't often do that. Usually we kick and scream until things are the way we perceive they should be.
I am able to find contentment doing very simple things. I find it reading a good book, listening to great music, seeing a great film or sitting on my back porch just before dawn. And that is one of the interesting things to me, it's the simplest endeavours that lead to contentment for me rather than the grandiose things.
If your day is bad try knowing that a bad day provides contrast which allows us to enjoy a good or even a great day. That kind of simple acceptance I think can lead to contentment.
4 comments:
How true, how true. We are definitely too focused on happiness, a sense of pleasure on a physical, mental and emotional plane. But the tools we often choose to be happy are not indestructible, so ultimately, we're back to square one.
Liz,
Exactly, we are led to use tools that focus on the external, and that kind of happiness is superficial.
I found this post to be especially cognitive in how it relates to happiness on an existential term. Carlyle said that happiness isn't a right, but a privilege, but a lot of things promised to us -- like love, eternal life and money -- would be hard to sell if it there wasn't a reason or hardship to go along with it. But does everything need to happen for a reason? That confusion causes many a people to think that if they don't learn something from a failed relationship, it's their fault.
Hi Still Confused,
Usually if we don't get something from a failed situation it's because we were not ready for the lesson.
I have in retrospect learned a lot. Events that when they occured seemed meaningless gained significance as time went on.
So I suppose the lesson in that is to wait for it.
Thanks for stopping by
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