Quotes About Contentment

the lesson Buddha and Aurelius had taught centuries earlier: "Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.

Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with

Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.

Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well. —EPICTETUS2

People who report the greatest interest in attaining money, fame, or beauty are consistently found to be less happy, and even less healthy, than those who pursue less materialistic goals.

But in the words of a great philosopher, you can't always get what you want.

Who is rich?' the rabbis ask. And they answer: he who is satisfied with his portion.

And when you're living in America At the end of the millennium You're what you own So I own not a notion I escape and ape content I don't own an emotion - I rent

Life's too short to be miserable, basically. If you can be happy, then be happy.

How satisfied are you with your life? How does your life compare with the best possible life you could imagine for yourself?

if money does not necessarily increase life satisfaction, what does?

insisted on comparing upward, which is the worst thing you can do. As Richard Layard writes, "One secret of happiness is to ignore comparisons with people who are more successful than you are: always compare downwards, not upwards.

I was not comparing my forty-year-old self to my twenty-year-old self, as the twenty-year-old version of me had assumed I would. I was comparing myself to other fortysomethings in my peer group, many of whom also had sustained relationships (often longer), accumulated wealth (often more), and achieved professional status (often higher). True, I was better off than most of humanity, but most of humanity was not my comparison group.

I have begun looking for sources of joy elsewhere, and dialing back my career's presence in my mind.

I am trying to be more attentive to the moment and appreciative of where I am at. That's part of wisdom, right?

I'm finding I don't have to fill things up," said Alice, immediately to my left. "You can have empty space around you. You can have free time. I'm finding that the less I do, the better I like it.

Second, the post-midlife upturn is no mere transient change in mood: it is a change in our values and sources of satisfaction, a change in who we are. It often brings unexpected contentment that extends into old age and, yes, even into frailty and illness.

What if I had become a chronically dissatisfied person?

Happiness Around the World: The Paradox of Happy Peasants and Miserable Millionaires

becoming better off economically seemed to make people less satisfied.

happiness comes from judging our own standing relative to those around us.

People, after all, for the most part do not spend a lot of energy comparing themselves with others in far-off lands.

bird might think he deserves to swim as well as a fish, but if he sits moping on the riverbank instead of using the wings God gave him, the fox is going to eat him. "Your brother would rather have his own way than be happy. He's thrown away the grace he was given because it's not the grace he had in mind." The Truthspeaker paused to reflect on that. "There's not much hope for a person who won't live in the grace he's given." ***

Follow your passion. Nothing - not wealth, success, accolades or fame - is worth spending a lifetime doing things you don't enjoy.