Most of us are conditioned to think that contentment is some ethereal energy that randomly comes your way… or not. In reality this is actually confusing contentment for luck. While luck depends entirely on fortunate circumstances, contentment is an attitude that we can consciously cultivate and grow.
Pain killer
The best tool to achieve this is mindfulness. Unfortunately, modern medicine has claimed mindfulness as yet another ‘treatment’ for ailments such as depression, anxiety or low self-esteem. This is because the Western mind doesn’t seem to understand the concept of prevention. We live undisciplined lives and exhaust both our inner and outer resources until (surprise, surprise) we run into major problems, ouch! But even when reality hits, we resist to look for the real cause of our troubles… instead scrambling to fix the symptoms so that we can continue our mindless approach to life. That’s why we choose to take a pain killer rather than unlearn some damaging habits and eliminate the cause of the pain.
Couch
Mindfulness revolves around digging deeper in order to unearth the true cause of our emotional pain. Once we see that it is our once necessary beliefs that have turned into straightjackets and keep us hostage, we can chuck them into the toxic waste bin and effectively stop the pain they were causing. Alas, it's not what we’re taught to do. Instead we allow harmful beliefs charged with anxiety, distrust, arrogance and anger to poison our mind till a point of no return, then crash on the psych’s couch to try and clean up the mess.
Neglect
Here we see the sharp contrast between our Western approach and Eastern philosophies: while our health systems focus on fixing the painful consequences of neglect, Eastern medicine understands that staying emotionally healthy requires continuous maintenance. How? By practising mindfulness, which is like going to the gym. When we invest in our mental health regularly, we’ll stay strong and flexible, and thus prevent suffering.
Difference
Observing your thought processes to stop toxic beliefs from blooming will make a world of difference. You’ll live a life in which you are no longer ruled by ego’s silly prejudices. It will liberate you from stress, fear, jealousy, entitlement, anger, self-pity — all these difficult feelings that so painfully impact your life and undermine your relations.
Authenticity
With emotional freedom you can build a strong foundation of inner contentment, self-confidence, genuine attention, unconditional love, and compassion for people, animals and nature at large. Mindfulness helps you to rediscover your natural innocence and curiosity, and to reconnect with your original goodness. This authenticity will allow you
to stop playing roles that no longer fit you, and others will start appreciating you for who you really are. From being a judgemental, critical and arrogant old geezer you will transform into a beacon of lightheartedness: kind, patient, open-minded and joyful — wow!
Like going to the gym, mindfulness requires discipline and hard work. But once you choose the path of mindfulness and start this fascinating process of self-discovery, you will instantly feel more relaxed and content.
n Marisa Garau is a mindfulness expert who has lived in Mangawhai since 2007. Find more practical tips on how to de-stress your life at her website or flick her an email if you’d like to have a personal chat: marisa@growingmindfulness.com
