What do you need to be happy?
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
--William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 / Warwickshire)
Content as an adjective describes someone at peace. As a verb it is the state of being satisfied, the noun form describes what something is made of.
Empirically I have asked over 2,000 people what their plans were for that given day. Most of them said they just wanted to rest, find peace, be content. This would imply that most of them were not currently experiencing peace. It would appear to me that ambition and survival, fear and anxiety has become a way of life for so many. Those people I observe who are without fear and full of peace are at times considered less driven. Lazy. No one would say this if they could see a broad picture of the life of the fearless. It would be full of accomplishments and impact due to a lack of illusory and false mental barriers. Yet in the short term, it can seem so lacking action that it can be wrongly considered lazy. People often confuse it with being complacent.
Complacent as an adjective describes someone who has not critically examined their satisfaction or achievements. Ancient text, such as Romans 12: 3 have been saying this for millenniums.
"God’s grace has been given to me. So here is what I say to every one of you. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Be reasonable when you think about yourself. Keep in mind the faith God has given to each of you."
To be complacent is not only immoral it is unintelligent. Reasology will bring you to a place where you attempt to position your value objectively. To do that, you have to believe in objective reality as subjectivism leads to nonsense. Belief in objective reality transcends toward an intelligent mind, that can be trusted and therefore brings contentment. Transcendence brings peace due to consistency.
Subjectivism provides no basis for consistency. I have read countless books on the human psyche that demonstrate empirically that consistency is critical relationally. Critical. If you disagree, enter into a close relationship with someone who is very inconsistent and report back your level of satisfaction with that relationship please.
Content is far from complacent, yet it is the by product of consistent. When you reasonably position yourself in relation to these 3 C's, you flow right into an ocean of possibilities.
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln
