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Contentment and Happiness
Gui
Veteran
IF you had to choose, would you rather be happy or content?
0
Comments
http://www.livinglifefully.com/contentment.htm
http://zenhabits.net/peaceful-simplicity-how-to-live-a-life-of-contentment/
Have a good one!
i view contentment as not wanting for anything and that is the place i would choose to be
i think happiness is fleeting and would leave a person wanting more
Imagine wanting to be happy.
Imagine wanting to be content.
And imagine actually being happy.
And imagine actually being content.
Those sound absolutely terrible =].
Having to choose one or the other, sounds like neither.
Both are over rated, often offered as a blessing but usually sound to me like an opiate for attachment..
Better to let "happy" & "content" freely come and go of their own accord unless you wish to add suffering to the mix.
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever spinning reel
The Windmills Of Your Mind
you cant be happy without contentment.
if you are contented, how can you be unhappy?
http://tinyurl.com/bdhsw6w
Could Google Leunig happiness if you felt so inclined ...
Have a good one!
Is that person sat over there content? Impossible to tell because contentment is a state of mind.
Is that person sat over there happy? You form a judgement based on appearance, emotions, behaviour etc. You still cant tell if they are truly happy but you look for physical evidence to demonstrate happiness.
Contentment and happiness are therefore not one and the same.
Can you be content without being happy? You have no need to be happy if you are content.
Can you be happy without being content? Yes but happiness is only a temporary state of mind and can be overcome by some other thought or situation than can quickly change that happiness to sadness.
I suppose then, if a choice had to be made, I would rather be content than happy.
'Of any two options, choose the third'
I choose bliss . . .
http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/buddhism/bliss.htm
I like what the Dalai Lama has 2 say - if you wanna be happy, practice compassion!
http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtues/22-compassion
Cheers
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2938&Itemid=244
Enjoy!
I just listened to a teaching by Pema Chodron about how the goal of Buddhism is NOT to become happy, but to become aware. And free of the need to be happy and the fear of unhappiness.
Contentment .. happiness ... same thing.
now i know how to find happiness.
brain plasticity...
~ Eihei Dogen, “Birth and Death”
Have a good one!
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/love-without-agenda.html
Not being aware is a facet of the self-cherishing mind. People, whatever they do if you think about it, the very basis of anyone doing any action from going to the toilet, from taking a nap, from getting dressed, from going out, from conversation with associates, with friends – whatever actions that they do is to bring themselves some kind of happiness or some kind of relief.
That is the ultimate motivation from the smallest ant on the ground who create anthills to the supposedly the highest form of intelligence, ourselves. Every action we do, we don’t need to think about it, we don’t need to generate it – “I want happiness for myself. I want something for myself. I want to gain something for myself.” That is the basic fundamental automatic thought that we have. What happens is if we meditate or if we focus and we think about that, it doesn’t bring us happiness, what we have been doing.
And we may call it diverse or different or hobbies or passions or we can label it anything we want. It’s just a label. Label means that it itself doesn’t exist on its own from its own side. Exist from itself from its own side doesn’t mean the action doesn’t exist. It means the reason for the action and the result of the action doesn’t exist so therefore that action is empty of existence. Please listen very carefully.
When we want to steal from someone, the very motivation of stealing from someone is to gain some kind of happiness. But that stealing from someone is empty of existence. Why? It’s empty of existence because the reason for it will not bear fruit. The very reason you engage in that action will not bear fruit, meaning to have peace, to have happiness, to have wealth, to have respect. So if we cannot get the result of that action and we engage in that action, in Buddhism on this level we call it empty of its existence. So please listen carefully.
“Empty of its existence” doesn’t mean that the action doesn’t exist. It doesn’t mean that the person or the doer or the receiver or the recipient doesn’t exist. It means that the motivation for the action and the reason for the action and outcome – that’s the secret – the outcome we want for the action is empty of existence. Why? Because when the method is incorrect, the result cannot arise. So therefore when we engage in spiritual practice, it is hard. It is difficult. The harder it is, the more difficult it is shows us how strong our ego is. It shows us how incredibly strong our selfish mind is.
http://www.allconsidering.com/2012/meditation-works-happiness/
Enjoy!