How to Practice Contentment and Gratitude

This is the seventh of ten posts teaching the first two limbs of yoga— the yamas and the niyamas— in a manner that relates to contemporary living with real-world anxieties. A key component to a life of integrity is framing it with the yamas and the niyamas as you come to know how you relate with others and love yourself. I will teach these guidelines one at a time with the hopes you, the reader, take the time and care to implement these principles into your daily life. Notice your thoughts, words, and actions and if they are in alignment with the teachings I give.

We are now on the second guideline for loving yourself: Contentment and gratitude

In this practice, we work toward expressing gratitude for what we have, for who we are, and for where we are in life. We work against the tendency common in human nature to strive for something more extravagant than what we have. We’re grasping the idea that there’s something better for us than what we already possess. We also work against feeling envious of what others have and downplay what we have in our life.

Can you feel content, balanced, and pleased with who you are and what you’ve accomplished without striving for something different? Instead, find gratitude for what you have and feel content with where you are. Can you feel satisfied with what is in your life?

This is not to say you don’t set goals for your personal growth—an essential part of both personal and professional development. The difference lies in how you travel on your journey. Can you feel content with every step, each action, and even every setback as you find your path taking you toward your goal?

Contentment is directly related to being unattached to the results of our actions.

If we work toward a goal and the result is less than what we expected, we accept what happens, learn from it, and move on with our lives instead of being disappointed or angry. We’re satisfied with the lessons we have learned from the process. We cultivate gratitude for what we gained without finding the need to seek more. Deborah Adele teaches in The Yamas & Niyamas, “Practicing gratitude protects us from our own pettiness and smallness and keeps us centered in the joy and abundance of our own life.”

Gratitude nourishes our heart-mind and creates a sense of fulfillment. It is truly the practice of being present. We feel content with what we have and what we learn in every waking moment. This is true, even if our circumstances aren’t great, find a way to feel content with the lessons you have learned or with what you have.