I was reading my friend Ari Amala’s book of poetry, The Details and The Infinite this morning, you can get it from her website: Ariamala.com, when I opened it up at the beautiful An Ode, to Contentment. I’ll put it here for you. When Ari reads she reminds me of Maya Angelou.

An Ode to Contentment

Contentment lives in the quiet moments

Those moments that could be easily overlooked

Or dismissed as ordinary

Contentment is the introverted cousin to Ecstasy

Never featured in the headlines

So rarely the subject of poetry

Contentment is not the inflated highs

Of the honeymoon phase

Or a sexual awakening

Contentment is not the intensity

Of the dark night of the soul

Or the devastation of a separation

Contentment is the gentle receptivity

Of a walk in the park

The earthy scent of fallen rain

The simplicity of sitting

With a cup of freshly brewed tea

Contentment has no lofty expectations

Of life to be anything other

Than what it is

The glorious generosity of contentment

Is that it allows itself

To be found

In the accessible beauty

Of daily life

To commune with

The sweetness of contentment

All we need is the willingness

To look for what is hidden

In plain sight

Because beneath the veil of familiarity

Is a world that is shimmering with splendour

Alive with a peace

That exists independently

From the circumstances

Of our lives

Contentment is not a striving

But a settling,

A nestling into

The warmth of this moment

 

So how do you seek and feel contented in your lives? The world has many different quotes and saying about it, here are a few to ponder:

1. When one is in pursuit of something or someone there is a lot of busyness going on which takes you away from the warmth of the moment of contentment.

2. Tony built his brand from scratch. At 22, he became an author. At 23, he became a husband and father. At 25, he started his first company, Soul Writers LLC. At 25, he also got himself on globally televised shows to tell a portion of his story. Tony decided to turn his pain into purpose and live a life of service. Raised in the church and being the son of a pastor, there was something about service that stuck with Tony: Let It Start With Me.

 

3. the skill to contentment is to have it be accessible moment to moment with where you are in your life.

4. Enough said, Lao Tzu: In the mid-twentieth century, a consensus emerged among scholars that the historicity of the person known as Laozi is doubtful and that the Tao Te Ching was “a compilation of Taoist sayings by many hands”. Alan Watts urged more caution, holding that this view was part of an academic fashion for scepticism about historical spiritual and religious figures and stating that not enough would be known for years – or possibly ever – to make a firm judgment: Top Twenty Lao Tzu Quotes

5. A calm heart allows you to be more centred in life, content in the midst of all the storms life will throw at you.

 

6. Give peace a chance and contentment will naturally follow: Give Peace A Chance.

7. The power of thought. How do we get in contact with our feeling/emotional body where contentment hang out. For me, it has been a 40-year journey with lots of bumps and curves.

8. Contentment lies in an appreciation of your life, not whats on the TV or in the glossy mags. Learn to love your life exactly as it is right now: Love My Life.

9. The Nobel prize is worth over a million dollars U.S. to the winner. Alfred Nobel, who created the Prize in his will knows what real wealth is.

10. Such a beautiful journey to contentment, definitely a daily to-do list: Listen To Your Heart.

11. Wake up in appreciation tomorrow and your world will be transformed.

12. This beautiful proverb is why I love the sound of the word proverb: Harvest.

13. I don’t need the Dark Angel to tell me this. Over my journey, I may have hung out in the latter a bit too long, though.

14. Who else but the Welshman Tom Jones: The Green, Green Grass of Home.

15. And the final word goes to The Buddha, the man who sat under a tree and reached the ultimate state of contentment, that of enlightenment.

I thank you, Ari, for inspiring me to write about contentment, a state I came to experience after a session with my mentor Arion Light. It is a constant battle to stay in it versus wondering when I will return to my previous way of being.

The playlist for today is from the past, even going back to Ancient China. It begins with an ode to service by No Other Name then jumps back many centuries to Lao Tzu. Then two anthems from different decades by John Lennon and Robbie Williams. Some Euro-pop by Roxette finishing with two icons in Neil Young and Tom Jones. Here’s the playlist for your viewing enjoyment: Happiness Is Your Nature.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.