Contentment or Satisfaction

There is a big difference between

satisfaction and contentment. 

Being satisfied is when you

get/achieve what you want! 

Being content is being happy

even if you don't get/achieve

what you want!

Satisfaction is conditional and hence transitory and fleeting.
Satisfaction is dependent on accumulation of what we want.
This desire requires a state of frenzied pursuit.
This pursuit is based on scarcity and discontent,
the belief that we never have enough,
that we are needy, in dire straights, and always need more.

Contentment is based on peace, an unconditional state of being.
Contentment is permanent and perpetual since it is not based on circumstance.
When peace is at the center of being, it is lasting, everlasting.
Being at the center, it can be returned to perpetually.
This peace is always here and available,
Always here and now,
A perpetual fountain of life tapped into our infinite Source

I have often wondered why it is so popular or even imperative that people go on vacations. Why not create a place to live where we feel at home, where we belong, so that there is no need for more and more and more? The only way to do that is to live more simply and learn to be content, knowing that we are exactly where we are meant to be.



“Ours is a restless culture. Life has become excessively busy for a large portion of the population. Stress is almost built into our body clocks. I am not a fast driver, probably slower than most. But sometimes I find myself hurrying to get somewhere—switching lanes, passing traffic, going through yellow lights—when it occurs to me that the only thing putting pressure on me to rush is my own state of mind…. Our wants are constantly expanding, and our income usually lags behind. More hours to work, more things to do, and more places to go create pressure. Far from producing a sense of inner peace, this style of life nurtures a spiritual void."
Arthur Simon
Source: How Much Is Enough?


Too many people to see

too many places to go

so many ways to get there


"As your mindfulness develops, your resentment for the change, your dislike for the unpleasant experiences, your greed for the pleasant experiences, and the notion of selfhood will be replaced by the deeper awareness of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness."
—Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Sitting Still”

As awareness, mindfulness, consciousness grows...

your resentment for the change… diminishes

your dislike for the unpleasant experiences… decreases

your greed for the pleasant experiences… diminishes

and the notion of selfhood… decreases

These will be replaced by the deeper awareness of 

Impermanence because nothing is permanent, 

Unsatisfactoriness because there is nothing that perpetually satisfies since it is all transitory, 

and selflessness because this world does not revolve around me and my happiness.

Desire and longing distract us from contentment

Desire and longing distract us from the present moment

Desire and longing are based on a world view of scarcity rather than abundance.

Abundance or Scarcity?
Quality or Quantity?
Peace or Desire / Longing?
Full or Empty?
Overflowing or Drained?
Contentment or Satisfaction?

"True abundance comes not to those set on securing wealth but to those who are willing to share apparent scarcity in a way that creates more than enough. Those who seek well-being who grasp for more than their share, will find life pinched and fearful. But those who reach out in service to their brothers and sisters, knowing that true abundance is found not in hoarding but in community, will find a life of plenty." (Quaker, Parker Palmer)


"The quality of our active lives depends heavily on whether we assume a world of scarcity or a world of abundance. Do we inhabit a universe where the basic things that people need – from food and shelter to a sense of competence and being loved – are ample in nature? Or is this a universe where such goods are in short supply, available only to those who have the power to beat everybody else to the store? The nature of our actions will be heavily conditioned by the way we answer these bedrock questions. In a universe of scarcity, only people who know the art of competing, even of making war, will be able to survive. But in a universe of abundance, acts of … generosity become not only possible, but fruitful as well." (From The Active Life by Parker Palmer)