How to Be Content With What You Have

Learning to be content with what you have is an important step toward simplifying and improving your life. When you learn to be content, you enjoy the freedom and peace of mind that most people don’t experience due to their constant desires for “bigger, better, greater, and more”.

Contentment is a feeling or state of mind that comes with being satisfied with what we currently have in our life. In a world that glorifies higher paying jobs, bigger homes, nicer cars, and newer gadgets as symbols of success and a source of happiness, being content with what you have is the cure. Your happiness comes from loving and appreciating what you have. Contentment is powerful and an essential part of your overall well-being. Without being content with what you have now, you won’t be able to focus on what is more important and meaningful in your life.

That’s why, learning to be content is important.

What does it mean to be content:

When you are content with who you are or what you have, you don’t want more. You appreciate all your existing blessings, notice all the little pleasures of life, and take time to enjoy them. You stop complaining and start practicing gratitude. You don’t take things for granted, and pay more attention to what matters most. And you understand that owning more than you need is not going to make you any happier.

Being truly content with your life starts with appreciations and gratitude, not with what or how much you own.

Ways to be content:

Here are some tips and ideas on how you can be more content with your life and what you have so you can enjoy your life more:

Reassess your values and priorities:

Being content requires you to re-evaluate your values and priorities so you can be in line with them. Without being aligned with your core values, you won’t be able to focus on what truly matters to you. So, take time to reassess your values so you can keep up with what needs your attention most.

Recognize your strengths:

You need to recognize your strengths and focus more on those. Find out your true passions and start nurturing them. Work on your skills to be more productive, and start doing what you can do better in a meaningful way.

When your focus shifts from your weakness to your strengths, you feel better about yourself and feel less frustrated and discontented.

Don’t compare yourself to others:

You and your journey – both are unique. Your values, goals, dreams, and priorities are different than others. Everyone has their own shares of failures, struggles, and accomplishments. Everybody you know is dealing with their own challenges and setbacks.

Comparisons are unhealthy and detrimental to your own self-esteem. Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus your energy on being the very best version of yourself. Try to be better than what you were yesterday. Focus all your energy and attention on your own goals and dreams. Do what is required to achieve them.

If you keep comparing yourself to others, you will not be able to enjoy your own life and truly celebrate your own achievements – however little or big they are. Comparison makes finding contentment a million times harder!

You may also like: How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others—and Feel Happier!

Understand your true needs:

It’s important that you know what your true needs are. Learning to differentiate between needs and wants can help you concentrate more on fulfilling the needs that support your goals. Contentment comes from understanding what you really need to live a meaningful and blissful life.

A lot of people mistake their emotional needs with their desires for more material possessions. Know that the emptiness in your heart is never going to be filled with random, unnecessary, fancy stuff. Once you understand the cause of your emotional discontentment, you can begin to look for healthier ways to fulfill your unmet emotional needs in a manner that doesn’t require you to earn or spend more money.

Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses:

Consider the real cost of keeping up with the Joneses. It’ll cost you a lot of money and increase your stress levels. Comparing yourself with others whose exact reality you are not fully aware of is something that can create jealousy and negativity in your mind which, in turn, will not let you be content with your life.

Remember that just because someone appears to have it all, doesn’t always mean they are able to afford it. If you could peer inside the Joneses’ homes and bank accounts, you might not always get an enviable picture. Many of the “Joneses” I know are broke and dealing with tremendous financial stress!

Spend time doing things you love and enjoy:

Spending time doing things that you love will give new meaning to your life. Find new hobbies, learn something new that you always wanted to learn, do things that you are passionate about. Just keep yourself busy with things that add value to your life and make you happy. Don’t spend all your time on social media watching how other people enjoy their lives. Start enjoying your own!

Related post: 10 Effective Ways to Make Time for the Things You Love

Be of service to others:

Nothing in the world makes us happier than serving someone who needs our help. Being compassionate and kind towards others increases our self-esteem and makes us happy. Look for opportunities to serve others, especially your family, friends, and neighbors.

Do something nice for someone in need. Be kind to others without any expectations. When you take time to help somebody else, you stop thinking about your own problems or discontentment for a while. Sometimes, you may even stop complaining about your own life seeing other people’s struggles.

Count your blessings and practice gratitude:

We start taking things for granted when we don’t express our gratitude for that. Gratitude makes you focus on what you already have instead of what you don’t. It helps you recognize your existing blessings and appreciate them more. 

Many people’s minds are trained to focus on what is missing in their lives. Instead of appreciating what they have, they always complain about the things that are going wrong which leaves them stressed out and unhappy. It’s your attitude towards situations that decides whether you will feel content or not. So, when you shift your attitude to gratefulness, everything seems to workout in life. Establishing an attitude of gratitude helps you stay present to what you do have (that many people don’t have) and take a moment to be grateful for it.

Count your blessings today. It’s important to constantly remind yourself of all the blessings you should be grateful for – your breaths, a healthy family, a caring friend, a job to support yourself and your family, a place to call home, good food, a warm sunny day, a special talent etc.

Make a list of all the things you are grateful for, and go through that list often. You will soon notice your days becoming brighter and happier. Gratitude makes what you have enough and more.

Related post: What Happens When You Practice Gratitude Every Day

Parting words:

Life is not always easy and simple. There are temptations, unhealthy desires, peer pressures, and frustrations to deal with. That’s why, learning to be content is so important. Without being content with what you have, you can never be truly happy with your life or who you are.

You can choose to be content by applying some of these tips and build a life that you love. It’s a process. Practice those regularly, and you will soon find yourself living a simpler, meaningful life and feeling more content with what you have.

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