Quotes About Contentment

When we feel deprived we try to make it right, and that makes it easier to rationalize our behavior. It's easier to say I need this. I deserve this. But Patanjali says the opposite is true: If we don't take what isn't ours (asteya), we will flourish.

If I work harder, I'll be successful. If I'm successful, I'll be happier. This is how most of us think. When I have this, when I achieve this, I will be happy. But often when we do get what we've been striving for, we move the goalposts. We get caught in a cycle of wanting for things, for accomplishments, for experiences.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's ice cream.

Most folks are just about as happy as they've made up their minds to be.

Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens.

Do not desire what you can't acquire.

Give us, Lord, a bit o' sun, A bit o' work, and a bit o' fun. Give us all in the struggle and splutter, Our daily bread and a bit o' butter. Origin unknown, submitted by Margie Mode Clarksville, Indiana

In the face of staggering questions and assaults against your faith and even God's character, are you content with the Who of your life as opposed to the often empty nature of the why?

You see, there's some blues for folks ain't never had a thing, and that's a sad blues ... but the saddest kind of blues is for them that's had everything they ever wanted and has lost it, and knows it won't come back no more. Ain't no sufferin' in this world worse than that; and that's the blue we call 'I Had It But It's All Gone Now.

I know why I am here and my only real focused goal is to live each day to the fullest and to try and honor God and be an encouragement to others. What the future holds is firmly in God's hands, and I am very happy about that!

We'd just shared the last beer and slung the empty can out the window at a stop sign and were just waiting back to get the feel of the day, swimming in that kind of tasty drowsiness that comes over you after a day of going hard at something you enjoy doing -- half sunburned and half drunk and keeping awake only because you wanted to savor the taste as long as you could.

Love is not a matter of what happens in life. It's a matter of what's happening in your heart.

All kinds of experiences can make you feel good for a time: your favorite food, chocolate, partying, a great book, music that you love, watching your favorite baseball team win a game or having an intimate evening with your lover. You can make your own list. But when the hormones subside and the morning breaks, you may still feel as unfulfilled deep down as you did before the party started. You may be happy for a time, but sustained happiness depends on having a deeper sense of fulfillment.

Weil argues that emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being and that we need to create the conditions that allow us to be happy through circumstances within our control. "Happiness arises spontaneously from sources within us," he says. "Seeking it outside ourselves is counterproductive.

To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have.

With my book in one hand And my drink in the other What more could I want But fame, Better health, And ten million dollars?

Do not have any anxiety about anything.

I mean, well, really, it seems to me, when I think about it, sometimes, you were much happier, and so was I, when we had the roadhouse. Weren't we? For that matter, it was a lot more fun when you were a race-track detective. Heavens, even the all-night broadcasting job. It was crazy, but I liked it.

It seemed a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment.

Our supper is plain but we are very wonderful.

Reality is neither good nor bad; it is a matter of how we choose to perceive it. For someone who has mastered the art of seeing, the world is always perfect. External reality does not have to change in order to make us happy. The secret lies in changing our perception of it.

Every day is a good day" does not mean hitting the jackpot everyday. Nor does it mean getting a promise from God or Buddha. Rather it refers to the blissful state in which one can accept reality totally and unconditionally.

I just hope I can spread some of the happiness that's been coming my way.

I just want to live simply and pay attention to what's happening each day.