5 Ways To Invite Contentment into Our Lives
1. Give up the illusion that someone else will make you happy
Why do we still believe that someone will make us happy after all our experiences to the contrary? No one can make us happy until we resolve to fill our own mental space (where we live) with the vibrating Divine Presence and joy. It is our spiritual awakening that alone can light the path and allow us to live a sacred life of contentment and fulfillment.
As we are flooded with the moment-to-moment joy of our awakened mind, the joy of contentment surpasses anything that could come to us from anyone outside of us. It is infinitely more superior to anything that we could ever receive in our material life.
2. Embrace Life with Acceptance
Contentment comes only after a soul has gone through the highs of passion and desire to be happy in life, and realized the futility of it all. It is a natural state of being. It can’t be forced upon us or be an imposition.
Is it ever possible to fulfill all the desires that keep crowding our minds? Isn’t it true that beyond the realm of our intelligence there is Higher Intelligence in operation that decides what is good for each soul?
A true lover of God realizes the fallacy of chasing the desires, hence, learns the higher art of acceptance which bestows the gift of contentment. Contentment born out of calmed mind can give us the peace that we are seeking in life. To be content is to be happy!
3. Practice Mindful Meditation
Mindful Meditation empowers our mind to be more content, focused, energized, integrated, and disciplined. True happiness in life flows more spontaneously. Meditation connects us to that spontaneous inner source where the universal dwells.
How many of us have heard the inner voice, the voice of our indwelling Atman, or God? The voice of awareness! Caught in the repetitive routine, many of us forget our deepest need of profound mindful inner introspection and silence which is the very foundational source of true happiness in life.
Conversation with God starts here. God’s voice is heard when our voice stops. Once we start practicing mindfulness in daily life and meditation for awakening, the inner voice tells us in an unambiguous way our true purpose of life. Once we follow our inner voice all our regrets dissolve, creating space for contentment and fulfillment of life.
4. Create Space for Gratitude and Celebration
Watch your mind for a while and you will feel how restless it is and how thoughts overlap each other cluttering and clogging your mind. There is a big crowd inside the mind; you have no space, and that is what you need to create space in the mind for the positive light to manifest. You will attract what you wish the most. The most important spiritual practice that we all need to do in a very conscious way is to make sure that we don’t allow the unwanted thought to occupy the mind for long. That way negative emotions are not generated which could bring about a damaging impact on our wellbeing. We need to release the clutter to create space.
With this release, a state of surrender will fill your heart. You move into the zone of grace. You can feel the grace of God when your mind is free of distorted vibrations. As there is more clean space, grace can manifest in the mind. The same mind, which used to complain, no longer complains. We have a spontaneous sense of contentment within, feelings of inner satisfaction and happiness surround us, and we celebrate the miracles of God that keep recurring all around us! We are always appreciative, thankful, and grateful for everything that is happening. When our mind is calm and accepting, our heart is dipped in gratitude. The Divine flows through us toward the simple things of life that bring contentment and peace.
That is a dance of total inner celebration. As such, so much peace abides in the shrine of our heart because that is the abode of peace and the residence of the Divine. The closer you are to your heart center, your body and mind feel the vibrations of peace and joy, irrespective of what you have outside of you, irrespective of the situations in the external world. That is the natural state of your contented life.
5. Keep Company with other Positive People and Your Spiritual Self
We all have experienced great inspiration and joy in the company of some persons, books, pictures or symbols. That is because they all have sparks of Truth and positive power in them. When we come close to them, the aura of positive light and power enters us, penetrates into our inner being and the feeling that we perceive is elation, happiness, delight, meditative celebration, and pure contentment.
In India from our early childhood we hear from our grandparents that it is the holy company, it is the company of good people, positive people that helps us to be on the righteous path of true contentment and joy in life. In Sanskrit, the oldest language in the world, it is called Satsanga. Sat means the indestructible, unalterable, unchangeable Truth. Sanga means company. The meaning of Satsanga is to be in the company of Truth that transcends all the trifles of life. We can be with our Spiritual Self and be near to who we truly Are.
In conclusion, a sense of contentment fills the cup of our life once we realize that nothing could be better than to accept the present moment and its gifts and affirm the positive affirmation that, “Only good lies before me! For I am ever protected by Divine Light.”
As you are spiritually anchored, the external situations and circumstances can’t so easily put you off balance. With calm, you witness the happening around you and then respond with love and understanding, as a result you feel a deep sense of peace in the midst of unpleasantness, that calm, that peace which now is your true treasure is the gift of contentment to you. No wealth in the world can match this priceless gift that our soulful, mindful, meditative life can offer us. For at the end of the day we all want to be happy and peaceful, but happiness and peace is essentially the quality of the soul rather than the mind. All your efforts to nurture the seed of divinity in you will gradually flower into the holistic quality of contentment that is the fragrance of your inner awakening.
You will watch a miracle, in spite of threatening and challenging situations. You will have fewer complaints and fewer judgments, but a more empathetic attitude that brings so much peace in the midst of pain. Most of us in a state of un-mindfulness do things for which we regret later, but as we cultivate the practice of mindful contentment, we awaken into a new dimension of life’s infinite expansion.
As you practice mindfulness in small things of daily life, you find that you are surrounded by a deep sense of awareness of the divine grace, which brings from within the well of your heart a sense of contentment. With fewer possessions, the urge for control and possessiveness transforms into love and sharing. You start to find more meaning in giving than receiving. Your heart is flooded with joy moment to moment for you have discovered the mine of happiness within the core of your being.
That is the state of contentment. We are happy for no reason, content to be who we are, content with what we have! Peace, Peace, Peace!
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About the Author
Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari (Kolkata, India), is a globally acclaimed motivational and spiritual teacher, author, social advocate and peace maker. Founder of Stress Management Academy, his Simple Art of Managing Stress and Course in Mindfulness are known worldwide, inspiring corporate leadership, students and all seekers of peace and happiness to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Author of the internationally acclaimed Making Your Mind Your Best Friend, Shuddhaanandaa was the recipient of the Man of Peace Award from the World Organisation for Peace in Mexico, 2012. He is recognized as a visionary social advocate for his development of groundbreaking programs that serve thousands of poverty-stricken individuals in slums of Calcutta, India and remote villages of West Bengal. He founded Lokenath Divine Life Mission in 1985.
Please read his new book Cleaning the Mirror of Mind, available on Kindle.
For more information visit http://www.courseinmindfulness.com/
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