- The takeaway from this episode is … you will understand the positive and negative aspects of contentment.
- Here’s what this will do for you … how to apply the positive side of contentment to your life.
- Here’s what I want you to do with it … focus inward and sustainable contentment will be the outcome.
NOTE: The “italic text” within this post is channeled from Linda’s Spirit Guides and Angels
What exactly does the contentment continuum mean?
Ask yourself, looking ahead into the next year, will you be content? If so, then next year won’t be any different than previous years. This form of contentment is normal for you. That’s because other people have convinced you that, like them, you too should feel content.
Welcome to your new abnormal, the same as everybody else’s. This makes you appear to be content. As most people do, you convince yourself that it must be alright to be content. Contentment is relative. You convince yourself that you must have a degree of contentment to be normal.
Ambitious contentment is very different from contentment.
Ambitious contentment is the urge that drives you forward. Notice we said, drives you forward and not keeps you where you are. A baby thrives on ambitious contentment. Their lives are driven by experiencing new things. They learned to ignore what doesn’t make them feel content and strive to experience new things that come from what piques their interest. They are always learning through experience.
What happens when people get out of school and into their 20s? … they stop learning. They become content with the things they have already learned, the biases they have taken on, and the compromises that allow them to put up with things that do not make them feel content. But they tolerate these compromises in order to fit in, have a relationship, do a particular type of job while taking it all in stride, year after year.
That is why, when the new year rolls around, the decisions people make will usually fail. They fail to make changes about things they are not content with like, losing weight, getting that new job, and don’t get that loving relationship.
It’s the quality of their contentment that will bring them something better, or not.
This flaw in their thinking didn’t just happen, it started a long time ago. It happened the first time someone told them, as a child, that they were not good enough. They were not smart enough to get that good-paying job. They were not ambitious enough to change on their own.
It wasn’t that you were not good enough, it’s that your interest was not piqued.
So, as you look forward to the new year, write down all the things in your life that you feel content with. Ask yourself, could it be better? If you answer yes, you must write it down. Write about how it could be better and how it will make you feel better. You will then realize what you need to do, what action you need to take to get back on the path of ambitious contentment and not remain satisfied with the contentment model that others display.
Contentment works against you when it lacks ambition.
This happens when you compromise, rather than doing things that excite you. This is when contentment becomes laziness followed by a long list of regrets.
CALL TO ACTION: Start your Self-Examination
- Are you just content with your life, or is something missing?
- Are you content because everybody else around you seems to be content?
- Ask yourself, am I satisfied with “what is? Or “what if” it could be better?
HOW IT WORKS: Ambitious contentment happens when your life force is optimized. This is the only contentment that will ever fulfill your soul’s urge. It’s the reason you came here, what you came here to figure out and do this time around.
Here are some of the things people say who claim to be content. When you ask them how they are doing they say, “I’m fine,” or “I’m good enough.” They don’t look fine or good, they look burned out and reply with a sarcastic remark instead of an honest answer. The spotlight is shining on the contentment that they settled for long ago. The regrets are beginning to permeate their life as their bitterness takes over.
To maintain your ambitious contentment give yourself 15 minutes every day to write In your journal what comes through to you in your blissful contentment. This is when you are connected to an intelligent force that always shows you the way to your best life – ambitious contentment. ~ Linda Deir
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