5 Surefire Strategies to develop contentment
Do you feel unsettled, or unsatisfied with the direction of your life? Do you feel like you should be happy but can’t stop the feeling of a restless void? Rest assured you are not alone. According to the Harris Poll Survey of Americans Happiness in 2017, 1 in 3 Americans said they were happy. What gave? Why do you think so many of our neighbors are not happy? It is a strong possibility that they are not happy because they are not content with their life. Contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. It is a skill that must be learned!
Generally speaking, some people naturally have more patience than others do. Yet, being a patience person is a skill we all must work to develop. So, too is learning to be content with life. It’s a skill that some people are better at, yet we all can and must spend time developing. Most people do not look at contentment that way, but they should.
So, do yourself the favor and look at contentment as a skill that you must learn to develop. See, when fail to overcome a roadblock or a certain obstacle it is because we are lacking a certain skill or skills. Because, the more skills we have develop the more capabilities we will have to deal with and overcomes life’s challenges.
Now, here are the 5 ways we can become more content. First, we must satisfy our spiritual needs. Second, work on the inner person. Third, Have a purpose. Fourth, be willing to sacrifice something. Fifth, live life to the fullest.
Satisfy your spiritual needs
Much research has shown that every human has a spiritual need. Hence, one reason why there are thousands of religions out there. Contentment will remain elusive unless this critical part of us is satisfied. Remember the saying, Rome wasn’t built in a day so please exercise patience with yourself.
How to satisfy your spiritual needs? Well, that could mean drawing close to God. Observe the lessons that creation offers. Try Observing a sunset or perceiving the beauty of a sunrise. Reading the Bible each day has done wonders in keeping many to become content and balance. Perhaps, you may attain comparable results.
Live life to the fullest
If you are living life to the fullest then you are actively living life rather than passively. The life we seek has to be achieved with actions. Success in life doesn’t fall into your lap. You must not loiter at your business, but take life by its horn and be active. Live the life that you envision for yourself. Now, remember not to encroach on others’ freedom. Freedom is relative, nobody has absolute freedom. Remember that.
Are people still trying to keep up with the Joneses? Yes, with so many people posting their entire lives online, it is easier to keep up with the Joneses than ever. So then, we must not have a wandering eye, because the grass is not always greener on the other side. Contentment means focusing on what makes you happy and what brings you joy. Focus on the inner person, that is You.
Focus on other happiness too. Remember the saying “there is more happiness in giving than receiving. So, focus on helping others but not to the detriment of you. Remember it is ok to receive too. Being capable of receiving is an essential skill to develop. Because when you are a good receiver, you are better able to accept help when needed.
A famous author Gayle Forman once said ‘Dying is easy. Living is hard’ There never has been a truer truth in the history of the world. Life is hard and full of obstacles. But you have the power to overcome them by focusing on one thing at a time. Also, learn new skills that can equip you to turn any problem into solutions.
Once a speaker shared a lesson he learned from his step-father. He had a problem. His step-father instructed him to go in his room and come up with 3 solutions to his problem and bring the list back to him with his solutions, then he will help him pick the best solution of the 3. So, even adulthood he tries to come up with 3 solutions to his problems then select the best of the 3. This is a great way to handle problems in life.
Do what you love
When surveyed anonymously the Gallup poll finds 85% of people hate their jobs. This is not in the US only, but that’s a worldwide figure. Sad, right? Do what you love to do in life. Sometimes we aren’t given a choice but when we are, we should always choose to do what we love doing. Life is short. Live life like it’s worth living. Of course, when our choice might hurt others, we may want to rethink things.
Challenge yourself: An 18-century poet once said: “I am a human being and there’s nothing human that is foreign to me.” Yes, anything another human can do you are capable of doing too. We all have heard this “Do what you love doing and the money will come later.” Even if the money doesn’t come later, contentment will come. And that’s better than any amount of money.
It was George Burns who said, “I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” Listen to that sound counsel, there’s some truth there.
Be willing to sacrifice
To be content with life You will have to sacrifice something. That’s a necessary evil. Do you remember the saying ‘no pain no game’? There’s truth to that statement, too. Because you need to sacrifice to achieve something. Because you can’t have it all in life.
What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal of contentment?
Now, we must be willing to sacrifice a dream. Not all our dreams will come true. Sad, I know. Sometimes we need to learn to let go and stop living in the past. If at 40 years old, we are still trying to get in the NBA, see we need to let it go. Motivational speaker Les Brown encourages us to, “reach for the moon, because even if you don’t get there you will be among the stars.”
Yes indeed, reach for the moon! But we must know when it is time to move on from our dreams to have enjoy contentment. That is why being able to sacrifice a dram for contentment is important. Some of these sacrifices could be your golf club, sexual desires, work hours, etc. Only you can say what that sacrifice will look like. But you must be willing to make it. If not, contentment won’t be lasting.
Contentment is knowing that you cannot do everything that you want to do or have everything that you would love to have. Contentment starts with deciding what we need in life to be happy, or satisfied. Once, we have that baseline of what we need out of life, everything else becomes superfluous or extra, it becomes a want. Something that is a want, will not make us happy, nor content. That’s because we will not stop there. We would want the newest thing the following year. It becomes a dog chasing its own tail going around in a circle.
Work on The Inner Person
What is the inner person? The inner person can be defined as the whole of you. It includes your dreams, your thoughts, your desire, your likes, and dislikes, your nature, your values, and your vision. It has to do with who you really are on the inside. To have contentment we must work on ourselves. This is very important because it is really a lifelong process. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, “you want to be a millionaire but you don’t even work on your handshake, you got to at least work on your handshake.” Indeed, we need to work on our personality, our philosophy, our values system.
Did you know that Abraham Lincoln once refused to add a person to his cabinet as president because he didn’t like the person’s face? He said, “Every man over forty is responsible for his face.”
This man must have walked around with a sad disposition! Now, if “Every man over forty is responsible for his face.” as Aberham Lincoln thinks, we say any person that’s able to dream big no matter the age is responsible of the inner self.
“Because what you think about you bring about.”
Thus, we have to have inner joy so we can have outer joy. Working on ourselves will help with that. You know what? inner joy and contentment go hand in hand. If a person is content with his life, he will have inner joy. Likewise, if a person has inner joy, he will be content with his life.
Recap
Contentment does not mean we aren’t working on improving our lives materially, physically, mentally, or spiritually. Rather, it means we are satisfied at our current place in life. Anything else will be great but not needed to have an inner joy, or satisfaction. So, we can develop contentment if we first satisfy our spiritual needs. Second, work on the inner person. Third, Have a purpose. Fourth, be willing to sacrifice something. Fifth, live life to the fullest.
