On Being Content . . .

 

"This day by God's mercy I am 29 years of age, and in very good health, and like to live and get an estate and if I have a heart to be contented, I think I may reckon myself as happy a man as any in the world, for which God be praised. So to prayers, and to bed."
~Samuel Pepys, February 23, 1662 

I love to read quotes like this.  These words show a man who is happy and content with the life he is living, and to me that is all that is something which should be at the root of any happy life . . . a heart filled with contentment.  No one is happy without thinking they are happy . . .  and having a contented heart is where it begins.

I like to think that I have a contented heart . . . but there are always things I can change, which might make me even more content.  I tend to be somewhat of a worrier . . . and I need to work on that.  Worry never did change a thing . . . but prayer does . . . so perhaps instead of worrying next time I am tempted to do so . . . I should bend my knees instead. 

Contented people are those who are able to laugh and who laugh frequently.  They laugh at life, they laugh at themselves, they laugh along with others . . . they are able to see the funny side in most things. Children laugh on average more than four hundred times a day.  (Don't you just love statistics?)  Think about a baby or a toddler . . . it's not hard at all to make one laugh, and it doesn't take much.  You can simply pull a funny face at one, or hide your face behind your hands and then pop it out again and they are off and laughing.  Joy in simple things . . . looking at life with a humorous attitude.  That is the key.  It's all in how you see things.  You could simply see that adult as someone who is stupidly hiding their face behind their hands trying to trick you into thinking they have disappeared . . . or you could see them as someone who is desperately trying hard to make you smile . . . and then appreciate the effort by smiling in return.

 

 I think kindness is another key to feeling content.  My father always told me that being kind never cost a penny, and it is true.  It's not hard to be kind and can start simply by a person trying to be more mannerly, and by that I don't just mean saying please and thank you.  I mean kindness in showing consideration for others . . . if you are in a queue at the shops and you have a full cart, yet the person behind you has only one or two items . . . what can it hurt to turn around and say, "Do please go first.  You have only a few things and I have a full cart." They might look at you a bit surprised, but if you insist, they will break out into a sweet smile and that will make you feel happier too.  Try it . . . it works.  I promise you. 

 Kindness means that when you are in slow traffic on the motorway, you let the person who is trying to edge in from the left, make their way into the front of you, with a happy wave . . . it doesn't mean that you grit your teeth and edge ever closer to the car in front of you in a determination to make sure the person on the left doesn't get in.    By letting them in, you automatically feel better yourself . . . you won't be that much later to your destination really . . . and you've done a good turn.  How bad can that be?  or feel?

Kindness is stopping to open a door for someone who is clearly struggling to do so with arms filled . . . it's standing up on the bus to give someone else a seat when they are clearly more in need of it than yourself, it's helping that short person in the shops to read the item they are struggling to reach on the top shelf, it's taking the time to listen . . . even if you have heard the story a million times before and you are in a hurry to move along.  Kindness costs nothing . . . and yet means the world. 

Criticism, judging others harshly, being finicky . . . they have no place on the shelf of contentment.  Sarcasm and pointless negativity likewise . . . how much better to fill your shelf with praise, empathy and silver linings . . . and laughter. 

"Whoever is merry and cheerful has always a good reason for so being, namely the very fact that he is so.  Nothing can so completely take the place of every other blessing as can this quality, whilst it itself cannot be replaced by anything.  A man may be young, handsome, wealthy, and esteemed, if we wish to judge of his happiness, we ask whether he is cheerful."
-Schopenhauer 

 

If you want to feel happy and lighthearted . . . you need to act that way.  Laugh out loud, be happy, find the silver lining.  Laughter is more than just a pleasurable activity.  It boosts immunity, lowers blood pressure, increases tolerance for pain, is a source of social bonding, reduces conflict, cushions social stress within relationships . . . be they at work in marriage or amongst strangers.  When people laugh together . . . they tend to talk together and to get along better with each other.  I think one of the most exquisite pleasures in life has to be making people laugh . . . and being able to laugh at life and yourself.

Act the way you want to feel, and it soon becomes a habit, and quite natural. Be positive. Be kind.  Don't worry . . . be happy.  Pray frequently and often.  Practice contentment . . . and soon it will be a way of life. 

 

If you are in the UK, I hope you remembered to turn your clocks back an hour last night.  I think that is the one night of the year that Todd regrets having so many chiming clocks. With an ordinary clock you can just simply move the hands, but with a chiming clock, you have to move the hands ahead 23 hours, oen hour at a time and let them chime each time. this can be quite time consuming, lol.  And every time he has to do it, he mourns that a time change is still required . . . why don't they just leave time alone.  Well, I have to agree there.  It does mess with my body clock somewhat.  Its a bit like having jet lag without having had the pleasure of the trip! You would not think an hour would make that much difference, but it does. For me at any rate, but it is the spring one where we lose an hour that affects me most. I'm not sure why that is!  Its only an hour after all!

We watched this last night.  I had not seen it in a while. Its quite a cute older film, with no swearing or violence or gratuitous sex in it.  I always find it quite entertaining.  I think I saw it for the first time when I was about 15. It was on the telly and was already about five years old then.  It made me want to be a nun for a brief period of time . . .  until I discovered that you needed to be Catholic and you couldn't have a boyfriend or get married or any of that. I was sitting here crocheting while we were watching it and Todd pipes up, "She's a really old lady now," (meaning Haley Mills) . . . and I said "and you are a really old man."  He said, " I'm not an old man."  I said, "Well, if Haley Mills is an old woman, and she is younger than you, then that makes you a really old man."  

You just have to laugh!

We are teaching our first lesson this morning in Sunday school.  We were called as a teaching couple a month or so back.  I am quite looking forward to it myself.  I love teaching.  I hope we do okay and on that note I will finish this off as I want to go over the lesson again, while I can! 

A thought to carry with you . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.°To plant a garden

is to believe in tomorrow.

~Audrey Hepburn .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

  

BOOK OF MORMON CORNER - Today's reading - 1 Nephi 7:16-8:15

Question -  What do Nephi and Lehi's choices in these verses teach you?

What I learned - Nephi asked for strength to lose the bands his brothers had tied him with, not for the Lord to do it for him. I too need to ask for strength to endure, not to have my trials removed from me. My trials are my greatest blessings. It is then that I can lean on my Saviour, and come to know him better and be United with him. He in me, and me in him. Because of Nephi and Lehi's faithfulness in the days of their afflictions and trials, they were blessed. Lehi experienced the greatest gift, in his dream, to partake of the fruit from the tree of life. It we are faithful and endure to the end, we too will receive the greatest gift, that of eternal life. It is through our trials that we grow and become who God intended us to become.

Tomorrow (Day 10) - 1 Nephi 8:16 - 38

Question - If the rod of iron is the word of God and the tree is Jesus Christ, what do these verses teach you about the role of the scriptures? How have the scriptures worked for you in your life?  

   

 I've done a tutorial on making a Christmas Pudding in The English Kitchen today. Tutorials take such a long time to put together, but they are worth it in the end.  Its almost like teaching a lesson.  Oh but it was so tempting to dig into the pudding last night, but we had to resist as it is for Christmas.

Have a beautiful day! Don't forget! 

 

 ═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════

 

 And I do too!