Guest blog by Lauren Hannigan, Exos Group Fitness Instructor
I often find myself thinking, “I can relax once…” or “I will be happy when…” but once I reach a goal, am I taking time to be content before moving onto my next target?
In a world that is always striving to be better, faster, wealthier, happier, there is something to be said for the notion of contentment.
Striving for growth and the urge for improvement are necessary forces and have brought us to this point in evolution, which is fantastic. In no way is this to recommend apathy, or not caring. However, in temporarily neither striving forward nor reflecting backward, we can fully experience how things are right now, which allows space for deep peace. While gratitude is a mindset of intentionally feeling positive about circumstances, contentment is an even more neutral, and freeing feeling.
The idea of incorporating contentment into our lives dates back to the ancient yogis. One of the oldest written instructions on yoga is Pantanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga. Contentment, which in Sanskrit is “Santosha,” is one of the personal practices Pantanjali recommends. He notes, “contentment brings unsurpassed joy” (Pantanjali, 11.42).
When practicing yoga, it’s tempting to want to push oneself to do each pose better, deeper, and more advanced. While pushing ourselves to improve isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there is value in taking a moment to intentionally experience contentment for where your body is in the current moment.
Putting a pause to yearning and shifting the mind from thinking “I want…” to “I already have everything I need” makes space for mental clarity, and thus paves the way for peace.
The next time you feel an urge bubbling up to do more, buy more, hustle harder, go further, slim down, shape up – whatever it is – grant yourself a few intentional moments neither feeling positively or negatively towards the situation, and experience the bliss of contentment.
