I've long wondered about the nature of discontent. What is it that creeps into our souls and our hearts, nesting and slowly growing until it manages to make you feel restless, unsettled, somewhat disturbed, as though there was something amiss.
What makes it worse is this discontent can creep into one's heart and mind regardless of his/her circumstance. A privileged man from a wealthy family suffer as much discontent as a humble carpenter. A duchess dripping with diamonds can become as easily restless as an average homemaker. And when it descends, discontent can stir up the most unpleasant emotions and the most disturbing memories. It uses these to fuel itself. It lines up all the facts, the incidents, the evidences to compound that feeling of unhappiness and unfairness of the circumstance one finds oneself in now. It blinds one to everything else in the present moment, all the good things one could be grateful for. Should be grateful for. It strokes one's ego, making one believe the trail of thought and reasoning it's taking is the correct one, indeed the only one. That is the trick that this devil called discontent employs to its advantage. A trick one would do well to keep an eye on, keep an awareness on - meditate on. Know your enemy is a good mantra.
Many things can breed discontent. Envy, loneliness, boredom - all things that eventually give birth to a yearning, searching, wandering for something, someone, someplace that is not the here and now. This discontent can hit one at any time in his/her life regardless of age. And it is completely and absolutely natural.
Like everything else in creation, nothing is everlasting. Left to its own device, all of creation heads towards decay and disintegration. This is why, in the American declaration of independence it is written that everyone has the right to the 'pursuit of happiness', not the right to 'happiness'. There is hidden element of striving in that clause. Happiness and contentment is something one needs to strive for continuously. Just like happiness, contentment is slippery, easily lost, in fact, easily forgotten.
In a way, discontent is good. It's a catalyst that drives people to change, that moves individuals down paths in their life journey that they would otherwise not have taken. And after that, who knows where that path may lead to.
But the most important thing to remember is discontent is also a thing of creation. It also decays and disintegrates. It also ends. Eventually. And in its place will seep in contentment and happiness - if we let it in.
What makes it worse is this discontent can creep into one's heart and mind regardless of his/her circumstance. A privileged man from a wealthy family suffer as much discontent as a humble carpenter. A duchess dripping with diamonds can become as easily restless as an average homemaker. And when it descends, discontent can stir up the most unpleasant emotions and the most disturbing memories. It uses these to fuel itself. It lines up all the facts, the incidents, the evidences to compound that feeling of unhappiness and unfairness of the circumstance one finds oneself in now. It blinds one to everything else in the present moment, all the good things one could be grateful for. Should be grateful for. It strokes one's ego, making one believe the trail of thought and reasoning it's taking is the correct one, indeed the only one. That is the trick that this devil called discontent employs to its advantage. A trick one would do well to keep an eye on, keep an awareness on - meditate on. Know your enemy is a good mantra. Many things can breed discontent. Envy, loneliness, boredom - all things that eventually give birth to a yearning, searching, wandering for something, someone, someplace that is not the here and now. This discontent can hit one at any time in his/her life regardless of age. And it is completely and absolutely natural.
Like everything else in creation, nothing is everlasting. Left to its own device, all of creation heads towards decay and disintegration. This is why, in the American declaration of independence it is written that everyone has the right to the 'pursuit of happiness', not the right to 'happiness'. There is hidden element of striving in that clause. Happiness and contentment is something one needs to strive for continuously. Just like happiness, contentment is slippery, easily lost, in fact, easily forgotten.
In a way, discontent is good. It's a catalyst that drives people to change, that moves individuals down paths in their life journey that they would otherwise not have taken. And after that, who knows where that path may lead to.
But the most important thing to remember is discontent is also a thing of creation. It also decays and disintegrates. It also ends. Eventually. And in its place will seep in contentment and happiness - if we let it in.
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