Contentment

You know how sometimes a word or a phrase will start popping onto your awareness? It seems really random. You haven’t noticed that letter or word configuration in ages and then suddenly it shows up in the newspaper, someone speaks it in conversation, and you come across it in an article in Oprah. For me, recently, that word is contentment.

In contemplating it, I’ve decided that contentment is a word that’s just the teeniest bit ambiguous. I mean we all want contentment, right? But is it enough? Let’s face it, it could even be considered on the bland end of the well-being spectrum. It’s not euphoria, or happiness, or even serenity. In fact, when you compare contentment to euphoria it seems, well, a bit lame and boring. Hmmm.

I decided to look it up in the dictionary. Contentment – The state of being contented: satisfaction. So, naturally, I had to look up the definition of Satisfaction – 1. a. The fulfillment or gratification of a need, desire, or appetite. b. Pleasure derived from such gratification.

That got me thinking (always a tenuous excursion) about whether I’m satisfied with my life and, if so, whether that defined my contentment.

What I’ve decided to take away is that contentment, for me at least, is great -- for the short term. I really enjoy feeling satisfied with my work on a project, with my spiritual development, or with my personal relationships. But what I’ve gradually discovered is that to be ultimately “content” I need to keep moving forward.

My contentment is not about long-term status quo, but rather embracing satisfaction for today, this week, or even this month, but then stretching out there a bit when the itch of dissatisfaction starts wiggling its way onto my internal radar. That stretch toward a new goal or a greater level of connection pulls me forward to the next plane of my contentment and that’s what leads to truly satisfying gratification.

Euphoria may be the fleeting Angelina Jolie of well-being, but contentment is the Jennifer Aniston-- dependable, reassuring, and real.

I’ve concluded that my contentment, by its very nature, remains a work in progress, but I’ve come to realize it’s the trek itself that I find gratifying.