Contentment is Not What You Think it is.

An artistic rendition of an actual moment of contentment I had as a kid.

I am content.

Maybe for the first time in my life.

I recognize that I have a life with many incredible blessings. But I’ve been discontent despite these treasures, and not always content because of them. As such, contentment has been far more of a “should” than an “is”.

For five decades, contentment seemed like a far off land that other people had been to but I had no idea how to get there. There were moments of contentment but they were fleeting. At best, I could reach a state of restless gratitude - grateful for a particular moment or experience, but rushing to the next one.

For awhile, I thought contentment was some sort of cosmic balance sheet; get more assets than debits, then you become content. Nope.

Eventually, I came to the belief that contentment (like optimism) was more of a personality trait than a practice. I assumed that I was just one of those people that didn’t have the ability to be content.

The definition and state of contentment is highly contextual. Some may call it “bliss” or others “peace of mind”. Or we may say we are content, but what we really mean is that we feel secure and safe. All of those are fine, but I don’t think that’s what contentment is. I realize that a small part of the reason I didn’t know how to be content is that I was using other people’s definitions of contentment.

For me, contentment is a kind of active presence where you are engaged in life with a clear mind and an open heart. It is an intention that is in harmony with mindset and action. This makes contentment a virtue, not a value or even a mindset. In addition, contentment is axiological - it already in us (intrinsic), but it also is impacted by how we see things (extrinsic), and how we do things (systemic). This makes contentment a practice of “This is how I feel right now”, “This is what I have now” and “This is what I’m doing now”.

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.”
― Socrates