THE REAL SECRET OF HAPPINESS!
If we study the lives of truly fulfilled people, we find one quality they all share above all: Contentment. They do not seem to suffer from “more-ism” syndrome.
Without contentment, the pursuit of happiness becomes a wild-goose chase:
No matter what and how much we have, we still pine for more of the same or for the next best thing/person/experience, ad infinitum.
And there will always be people who already have more of what it is that we want to have.
And things are infinitely improvable. At least that is how it feels.
Gratitude is the first and last step on the journey to contentment.
Actually gratitude and contentment are two sides of the same coin.
We do not have to do anything to enter the Palace of Contentment:
We just have to want what we have.
And when we are thankful…
Thanksgiving leads to having more to be thankful for!
The following story from Hasidic lore provides the clue:
Once Shmelke of Nikolsburg asked Dov Baer of Mezritch to explain the Talmudic commandment that we should praise God for evil as much as we praise him for good. Dov Baer said, “Go to the House of study and ask my student Zussya.” Shmelke went to the House of Study and found Zussya: emaciated, filty, clothed in rags. Shmelke asked, “How can we praise God for evil as much as we praise him for good?”
“I can’t tell you,” said Zussya, “because nothing bad has ever happened to me.” [1]
What a Great Blessing to be Alive!
No matter how incomplete or imperfect our lives may seem,
If we really knew how blessed we are to be just alive,
we will kneel and kiss the ground thousand times a day!
This is the real secret: Happiness = Contentment = Gratitude!
[1] Stephen Mitchell, The Enlightened Mind, 207.
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