Be Content, Love what you have

Our quality or characteristic is that which is inbuilt and holds us through our entire lifetime. It defines our image and personality to the external world.

If you ask me what are my favourite characteristic about myself then probably I can run through many adjectives and the qualities I admire about myself. As Oscar Wilde said “Being in love with yourself is a start of a lifelong romance”, I am in love with myself. I suggest everyone should love themselves as pure romance does not start from outside. It starts from within. Okay now, getting to the point, one of my favourite and adorable qualities for which I am proud is “Contentment”.

Being content means being happy with what you have. Having said that, it does not mean that one is less ambitious. I am many ambitions and beautiful dreams to grow and prosper in my life. I have my own secret wish list which I revisit every 20 days to write one new wish. I am working on that and some of them have come true and real which gives me pure bliss and satisfaction. This builds more contentment in me. I am thankful for everything I have received as a result of hardwork and surprise (sometimes you need that, you may call divine intervention: P)

Gratitude acts in mysterious way. More you are thankful, more will be the opportunity thrust upon you to say thanks. Rhonda Byrne in her book Secret beautifully points out that you need to be thankful before the work gets completed so that universe listens to you and grants you the positive result. I am not in favour of or crazy about self-help books but I liked this idea and this makes me more content and in the end I feel good.

I recently read a book ' Pollyanna'. The story is about a little girl who plays glad game and teaches others to play the same. Glad game means being glad with what you have no matter what you wished for. The story eventually makes her rude and haughty aunt to change and accept Pollyanna's game. We cannot remain or play glad game always as lot of internal and external stress catches up in our busy life but atleast we can play this game in moderation.

I believe in Live and let live. We all work very hard in our own domain to establish and carve a niche in that particular arena. How content are we? What gives you satisfaction? I want to list down three beautiful things or constituents which make me feel content and help build and nourish my body or system called Life.

1.     Love is in the biosphere: I see love around me always. Its everywhere and not confined to restricted things or people.  The love between my family, partner, extended family, friends, neighbours, my students, my society and etc. Love is just not a four letter word for me but it’s a prefix to every word which I write or read. No matter what my mood is or how my state of mind is, Love is always there to protect, embrace and calm down my tensed nerves.

2.   My work, my passion:  Work is worship. Rest comes later, says my Dad. That is true as we need to respect what we do and be dedicated to it. But over the years, this concept has evolved. I find work as joy and passion because I am doing what I like and when you do it with lot of passion, you don’t feel like you are working. You have fun that’s it. Being drained in the job and not liking it is killing your own dreams with many hands. First killer is you and then comes your boss and your company. Stop doing that to your dreams which you have nurtured and secured. My work is something which I value a lot. As I always have this in my mind, I work for my work and it works for me. We have a mutual tie up which makes me feel content.

3.    Three Fs - I can clearly see your mind travelling to the dirty roads. Please stop and catch hold of it. My three Fs are Friends, Family and Fun. I come from a very closely knit family and I give priority to my family above everything. What is life without lovely friends? The ones who like to pull your leg, the 4 a.m. friends, and the ones who connect to you so easily than your own siblings, the ones who always are with you for shopping, wedding and funerals and the ones who always believe you. I have a cute and small bunch of every kind. I feel at peace and content with them and very thankful for having them in my beautiful life.

Author Heidi Grant said  in an interview that As we grow older, we find that happiness becomes more and more about being content in our current circumstances, and hanging on to what we’ve already got – working things out with your spouse, staying healthy, and being able to make your mortgage payments.

To conclude, a contented mind is a perpetual feast. The pursuit of pleasures goes on but one can enjoy the real pleasure by remaining content. As we should remember always that Contentment is the close kin of gratitude and wonder, we have to keep happy and express gratitude in order to welcome contentment in our life.    

(This post is part of the  http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/365-writing-prompts/ program where the aim is to post at least once a day based on the prompt that they have provided. The Prompt for today is, " What is the quality that you admire about yourself?")