Monday, July 16, 2007
Contentment within change
Darren,
As you may know, I’ve been personally working with the idea of contentment, and what makes some people content while others are always discontent. We all know people in difficult or sad situations who are still content with life. And other people can be in reasonably good situations, yet are very discontent. I wonder why?
I think a key to contentment is to deliberately cultivate a basic sense of acceptance of ourselves and of the world around us, as it currently is, before thinking about how we might improve on it all.
It’s hard to be both in self-improvement mode and simultaneously be fine with our current, unimproved self. But I think that self-improvement must start from a basic acceptance of how we are, and then move on to considering various options about how we might like to change, rather than starting from a sense that we are currently unacceptable and must be changed. Starting with the believe that we are OK right now will enable us to keep our confidence up and self-esteem strong, even though we are working on things we would like to improve in ourselves in the upcoming near future.
Likewise, I think it is best to start with an acceptance of our current situations, before moving on to consider what could or might be changed. This keeps us from being too controlling or demanding or impatient. It allows flexibility so we can work together with others rather than forcing our ideas on the world.
Love,
Mom
As you may know, I’ve been personally working with the idea of contentment, and what makes some people content while others are always discontent. We all know people in difficult or sad situations who are still content with life. And other people can be in reasonably good situations, yet are very discontent. I wonder why?
I think a key to contentment is to deliberately cultivate a basic sense of acceptance of ourselves and of the world around us, as it currently is, before thinking about how we might improve on it all.
It’s hard to be both in self-improvement mode and simultaneously be fine with our current, unimproved self. But I think that self-improvement must start from a basic acceptance of how we are, and then move on to considering various options about how we might like to change, rather than starting from a sense that we are currently unacceptable and must be changed. Starting with the believe that we are OK right now will enable us to keep our confidence up and self-esteem strong, even though we are working on things we would like to improve in ourselves in the upcoming near future.
Likewise, I think it is best to start with an acceptance of our current situations, before moving on to consider what could or might be changed. This keeps us from being too controlling or demanding or impatient. It allows flexibility so we can work together with others rather than forcing our ideas on the world.
Love,
Mom
