Steps for Contentment

Discontentment is a wide reaching problem in our world. In some ways we are encouraged to it. Through advertisements saying we must have this or that. Through people telling us we should be this or that. Yet we do not have to live in discontentment. We can live contentedly while still having hope for things to come. As previously discussed in Part 1 of this discussion, an incorrect view of reality often is driving discontentment. Here I hope to delve into practical ways to right this distorted view focusing on three key areas: Thankfulness, Identity, and Service for both preventative and combative measures.

Contentment can be supported daily by focusing daily on reality. You are blessed. You have purpose and design. You are in a position to help others. Recognizing how richly we have been blessed and how we are designed to serve others rather than ourselves shields our minds from discontentment. From habits to recognize reality each day by

• Being thankful for what you have
  • Begin and end each day by saying out loud something large or small you are thankful for
  • Start a thankfulness Jar and daily write one thing you are thankful for and put it in
  • And/or in your journal take time each day to list at least one thing you are thankful for
• Knowing your Identity – Created with purpose and loved by God
  • Assume you have a purpose in your life daily and start each day with a question is there something good I can do here in my day, even if small.
  • Remind yourself or discover new truths of your purpose and identity through prayer, and reading God’s word
• Serve someone
  • Act on the good that you can do by daily trying to find a way to serve or benefit someone besides yourself.

You may not have a lot to be thankful for, it may just be that you have a bed or food or that the sun was shining. But even finding that each day will turn your eyes and overtime you will see more. You may not think you are wealthy or wise enough to help someone, but you can discover that you have someone powerful supporting you and you can do good for others even if its just as small as taking out the trash so someone else doesn’t have to. And these actions overtime strengthen contentment as we begin to see really how wonderful our life is.

But still we may encounter moments when our defenses down we cower in discontentment’s shadow. What then? We must fight! Those ideas around which we form our habits must be remembered. Choose to speak truth boldly. Choose to:

• Be thankful
  • Say 5 things you are thankful for
• Remember who you are
  • Say out loud I am here for a purpose and I am loved
• Recognize how you are serving
  • Say how you have blessed someone
  • Or go find a way to bless someone

Doing these things in the face of discontentment lifts our faces once again to reality. While they may seem small and silly or rather hard to do in the circumstance, they will provide a way to stop and still the swarming lies of discontentment. While these tools are certainly not exhaustive, I hope you will consider them, try them, and use them alongside me.