Power to be Content – Part 2…
Hi EveryOne,
Happy Saturday, I hope this new day brings much love and light for you. I’ve been churning quite a bit on this wonderful power of contentment. In part One, I suggested that it’s better to aim for contentment rather than happiness. And yes, this may be easier to do in an emotional sense it’s not that way, in a virtuous sense. I hope to clarify this here…
Happiness is an inner virtue (not an externally based emotion) sorry for any confusion. Happiness is our ultimate eternal state of love, bliss, contentment. When I’m internally happy, it’s because I am content (full) with all my treasured virtues (strengths). When I’m externally happy, it’s because ‘something good’ is happening, it’s roots are emotion. Emotion stems from ego, it relies on external stimuli and therefore subject to change (it makes us feel empty). When we understand our deep eternal happiness (as opposed to happiness based on externals) then we can truly feel content. Here’s the problem… We’ve become so attached to becoming happy when ‘something’ good happens, that when it’s taken away, we feel the pain of that separation. When I understand that happiness and love is who I AM, I start to understand that it’s a state of being – it cannot be taken away from me (without my permission) and it can’t be found outside myself.
So there is nothing wrong with happiness because like love, it’s who YOU are! But it becomes an emotional issue when you search for it outside yourself (like you’ve never had it). When we search outside, we will never be full because physical life is based on the law of change. Happiness, rather than coming from a place of inner fullness, becomes subjective and starts pulling us in destructive directions. We may even become addicted to the pursuit of happiness itself (completely forgetting inner treasure store of wealth, happiness, love and contentment).
Questions to churn on:
– Do I become happy upon ‘something’ good happening outside of me or am I happy and content regardless?
– Do I live my life in the context of – ‘when this or that happens, I will be happy?’…
– What can I do to stay full (contented) to remain beyond the pull of external happiness?…
Lesson:
Contentment means inner fullness, and true happiness is based on that fullness. When I’m internally empty, I’m neither happy nor content and will look outside myself to fill myself up… Don’t base true happiness on temporary externals because the Law of Change states that ‘nothing must or will remain the same.’ What makes me happy today, may not be there tomorrow! Happiness based on externals becomes as temporary as the externals themselves, triggering all sorts of disempowering emotions. Internal happiness is what I need to aim for, regardless what’s going on around me, because no-one can take that away from me 🙂
Contentment may be easier to aim for than happiness, due to our strong attachment to external stimuli. Aiming for contentment rather than happiness, is so that we understand it inside out, not outside in – and happiness will automatically flow over and out into the world (it canNOT happen the other way around). Having said that, of course, if you have the power to bring both in to your life simultaneously, than by all means do so – providing it’s always from the inside 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend, love Annemarie