If I move away from the fast-paced world and prevent myself from exposure to the daily news cycle, push back from the offerings on Netflix and Amazon, try not to get pulled into the drama of the basketball and hockey playoffs on SportsCenter, refrain from touching upon any number of ultra-compelling exposes, reality shows, science-based explorations and the like playing on TV, set down the Kindle with it's many book offerings, turn away from the latest podcast, and not compulsively watch any cooking and baking shows, I find I'm pretty darn content.
Which is puzzling because shouldn't it be the other way? I should be restless and agonizing, positively jones’n for a fix. Well, I'm not. Now how can that be, and more importantly, how did that come about?
Those are answers I cannot give for I do not myself know how I achieved, reached, or have been blessed by this state, which has been with me all of my life. "Born into it", I guess I could say.
But methinks I was so born because of all the experiences I had in my past where I was highly self-absorbed and very focused upon any number of outside things and through such involvement solved the riddle of contentment, which is a complex equation, or at least it was for me, one that held numerous variables and the weighing of values that resulted in 'those many things equal this' to me, for contentment is a highly personal thing.
Putting out this content then is not something I feel I have to do, it's something I want to do, and I can drop this writing at any time simply because it doesn't add a great deal to the measure of fullness I already experience. There is some satisfaction in writing a juicy post, in somehow putting the words together that match the vision I hold within, but it doesn't change the sense of contentment I always feel much. Writing to me is sort of like a skills test, self-administered.
(So yes, putting out content changes me a little. I'll admit that)
Is contentment a state of 'inner peace' that I'm feeling? I don't exactly know what 'inner peace' refers to. That seems to mean something spiritual and/or mystical, which is what contentment is not. Contentment is more like neutrality towards that which is, neither being for nor against, and not being very interested whichever way things go because contentment will inevitably follow, up to a point.
A far away point that is fortunately never reached. It may be conjectured, surmised, prophesized, or forecast, but the human race hasn't gone the armageddon route so it'll always been unknown whether I could remain content in the face of that, thank God, so everything else is small potatoes and of little concern.
What things are like in the hobbit village.
Rob Mulally- Unsplash.com
Which is what contentment to me is, a generally good feeling that everything is going to work itself out and I'm doing my little part and that is all that is required because if I was to be on stage in some capacity I would be there and I'm not. I am not one so compelled.
Blogging is my stage and I'm content with that, until I'm not, and then I'll find out, is another way of putting it.
"Whatever floats your boat" is my philosophy. The Universe- that grand bringer of life and supporter of same- will see to it that I get adeptly placed. There's really nothing to worry about.
Contentment is an opportunity to really enjoy things being just the way they are. In this state of mind you are able to step back, relax, and gaze upon the big picture.