A Content Filled Life

By Tami Brady

In my whole health work, I talk a lot about living a content filled life. I speak of contentment and balance. I also often make note that we are looking for sustainability that holds fast even in the midst of life’s greatest challenges. However, I think that a lot of people are still somewhat unsure about how these aspects are brought together to create a life worth living. In this book, I will discuss in some detail the various concepts associated with content filled living. We’ll start by clarifying what is a content filled life. Then, we will explore some of the more important concepts that make up a content filled life. Finally, we will touch upon the steps necessary to create a content filled life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781300353553

Book preview

life.

What is a Content Filled Life?

A life worth living. A life well lived. A content filled life. In many ways, they are one and the same thing.

Of course, we all want to live a good life. There’s no one out there saying Hey, I’ve had enough happiness and joy. Life is too boring with all these great relationships and many successes. What I’d really like is some insurmountable challenges with a side order of chronic health issues. Oh, and can you hold the supportive friend? I’d rather be alone and completely miserable.

We all want to know that at the end of our days, we will be pleased with how we spent our time on this planet. We want to know that someone will care that we’ve passed. We also want to know that we did more than use up oxygen and take up space. I don’t think anyone wants their legacy to be misery and regret.

Yet, the reality is that most of us don’t know what we really want out of life. We don’t know what would make our life worthwhile in the eyes of our future self. So, we struggle day to day simple because we don’t know what we want, aren’t sure how to get it, or are afraid that we’ll fail (or worse succeed).

Although we hate to admit it, most of us follow the pack simply because we have no better choice. We see a commercial and it tells us this product will make us beautiful, happy, or loveable. Someone seems successful or glamorous and tells us they have a secret they could share for a price. We fall for it. Not because we are mindless robots or because we are naive but because we have no other viable alternative.

We do the exact same thing in other aspects of our lives. We seek to make more and more money. After all, money is power. Power, in return, breeds respect and notability. At the pinnacle of all things is being rich and famous (but don’t forget somehow you have to be young and beautiful to be loved as well).

Or so it seems. So we chase that illusion because we have no better option in mind. We push, we succeed. We push, we fail. Either way, things never seem quite right. 

So we beat ourselves up. Why can’t I be like so and so? Why don’t I look like that? Why can’t I be loveable, successful, beautiful, and the list goes on indefinitely.

Actually, the answer is very simple (and it’s not a secret or for a limited time only). The only way to be happy in life is to be ourselves. To live our life as only we as individuals can, not trying to recreate someone else’s life or a façade that others might envy. To live a life that we’d be content living, with all our core needs taken care of, a feeling of satisfaction, and passion that makes each day worth getting out of bed.

That is, the definition of a life worth living. Over time, it is a life well lived. Finally, if we became quiet enough to listen to our heart, and indeed that part of each of us that is the real us, we’d feel a deep sense of contentment. A life filled with that feeling is what I describe as a content filled life.

What is Contentment?

When we say we are happy, I think that everyone understands what we mean. After all, we’ve all experienced happiness at some point in our lives. So if someone says they are happy, we instinctively know that something good has happened to that person. We might even ask about that good thing that has happened.

Depending upon the intensity or degree of good that has happened, that happy individual might describe their self as feeling ecstatic or joyful. They may even say things like they are over the moon. In any case, we know that these words boil down to the fact that that individual is happy because something good has happened.

Of course, the opposite of happiness is sadness. Something bad happens and we feel sad. Again, like happiness, there are a wide variety of intensities and flavors of sad from angry that suggests that the bad thing is someone’s fault or depression which directs the fault inwards. Descriptions