Thud.
As I tossed my overstuffed tennis bag and backpack into their cubby slot in my garage, I felt immediate relief. Aside from the three hours of homework ahead, I was one step closer to flicking off my nightlight and forgetting about my calculus quiz next week.
Seven classes followed by three hours of tennis left me wanting a shower, warm meal and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the perfect conclusion to what any sane person would describe as a busy day. While I wasn’t hopping around and smiling like I’d just won the lottery, I was content — pleased with the day’s productivity.
After sitting down, I sighed and proceeded to hear my dad ask me the two most aggravating words, “What’s wrong?”
In the United States, happiness is defined by evident jubilee — pure joy, smiles on people’s faces, yada, yada, yada. But it’s unreasonable to hyperfocus on the positives and negatives of life, searching for the happiness society defined for you.
Contentment, or gratitude and emotional neutrality throughout life’s experiences, need to be everyone’s goal and satisfaction should be the feeling everyone pursues.
In Buddhism, contentment is the ultimate goal, as the Buddha stated, “Contentment is the greatest wealth.” Despite being an Episcopalian, I know we can all take something from these words.
Buddhists drop everything to follow a code aligned with the pursuit of contentment — a drastic approach to find something we should all embrace in our own lives. And every time I hear the well-intentioned, mildly probing words, “What’s wrong?”, I can’t help but wonder why emotional neutrality isn’t what we’re looking for in our own lives.
Contentment, for reasons I can’t explain, isn’t enough for others.
People of all ages look past emotional neutrality — a step towards that next promotion or new car that brings the overwhelming dopamine that comes along with “happiness.”
Billions of dollars in the U.S. are spent trying to improve people’s emotional comfort through therapy, alternative medicine and wellness retreats, yet contentment remains overlooked.
People find dozens of reasons not to follow the common definition of happiness. The fact is that people need to be comfortable with being content rather than always searching for more.
We should all take some facets of Buddhism into our lives by reconsidering our unrealistic definition of happiness.
No one lives their daily lives as depicted in a medicine commercial, and only a few can say they’re always smiling like they just took off for a trip to Tahiti.
So, why aren’t we taking another look at contentment and pursuing a more attainable feeling of emotional success by being grateful for everything that happens in life?
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