Happiness Vs Contentment

Heyy read.cash stars, it's been a while.

Some recent posts goad me to write this article. Hope you'd like it.

• What is happiness?

Is it joy and laughter, does having a huge bank account defines happiness? Does happiness have anything to do with going to parties and clubbing and drinking and dancing Or does having the biggest company of friends make you happy Or having the prettiest chick or driving the coolest car in the neighborhood ?

All these things are just driving tools that trigger our positive emotions but are not necessarily the things that make us really happy.

Happiness is an emotional state characterised by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment and fulfilment.

• According to the oxford dictionary "happiness is the state of pleasurable contentment of mind"

So if you look closely you will see that non of those things I said earlier are a source of happiness.

• John Stuart Mill "I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them"

As human beings, the things that make us happy, make us happy because our brain is telling us that that will make us happy. And we believe it.

Now would you believe that as people we are naturally slaves to our own minds. We eat when our mind tell us to, we sleep when it tells us to, we laugh we cry because our mind is controlling us to do so, and there's nothing we can do about it.

We tend to find pleasure in certain things because we feel they'll please our mind and make us happy. Whether it be going out with friends and party, cracking jokes and bullying others, watching TV and artists for entertainment; music, comedies, dancing, clubbing and sex. People do all these things in pursuit for happiness and pleasing the mind.

But the irony is no matter how much of all these things a person can have, he will be still be unhappy if his heart is in discontent. Because contentment with self is key to real happiness.

What is Contentment?

Contentment is being satisfied with oneself and what one has.

If you have all the money in the world and all the girls and luxuries in the world, they will not make you happy if you're not content. Being content means you have accepted whatever situation you're in, whether favourable or unfavourable.

For example, Look at the nice old small trader sitting in front of your street, see how happy he carry out his daily business. He may not have all the world but he's happy with what he has. Impressive, isn't it? Conversely, there are thousands of rich people in the world who are not comfortable with even the people around them, not satisfied with what they have. Most are rich but bad health or something they are lacking has made them unhappy.

Just as Siddhartha said "Health is the most precious gain and contentment wealth"

you can be the richest man in the world but only good health and contentment will define your happiness.

Zhuang Zhou wrote"A gentleman who profoundly penetrates all things and is in harmony with their transformation will be contented with whatever time may bring. He follows the course of nature in whatever situation he may be"

• Socrates said it best "he who is not contented with what he has, would not be contended with what he would like to have".

Therefore happiness is not what we think it to be. It is something that is internal not external, it is something within us, in our mind and spirit. A happy man will be happy when he make some achievements but the moment he lost them he's back to being sad and unhappy. But a content man is always a happy man regardless of what little he has. A man who is content is a man who believes that his happiness does not come from material things, he believes that only he or his God can make him happy and nothing or no one else.

So ladies and gentlemen, instead of trying to be happy, try to be content and satisfied with what you have and God will make you happy. Because being content is the best way to find happiness. Merry Christmas and happy new year.

Thank you for reading.