There are many people who at first glance, appear to be happy and content but really are not. On the surface, they act like they have it all together but upon close inspection, they are crumbling on the inside. The questions are, what causes this and how do you change it?
Finding joy and contentment is not some complicated, rare, illusive thing and only found through some secret map. Finding something to be thankful for is were it all begins. I know this sounds cliché and you might roll your eyes, but the core to finding joy is in fact finding thankfulness. If you can find that, you will find one of the greatest single reasons for living. If you want to get honest with yourself, what are the first three things you think about when you first wake up in the morning? If they are filled with strife, envy or anger, you need to find a new path forward.
My grandfather, Verla Thompson was one of the most contented men I have ever known. He was a farmer and was not wealthy. He never bought a new car and would be considered very average by today’s standards, but he loved life and shared that love with everyone around him. He always seemed to be at peace in life and as a little boy, he always took the time to explain things to me and share a little about life and he was never in a hurry. Morning, noon and night, he was contented and at peace.
The eyes never lie. They are the window to the soul. A person that is content, happy with a healthy self-esteem, it will show through the eyes. When my girls were in college, we didn’t have face time or Zoom so we relied on just a phone call. I would ask them to give me a number from 1-10 with 10 being, “I am great.” Many times, their answers were in the 5-7 range and I knew I needed to dig a little deeper to see what was going on. If God ask you (he already knows the real answer) what would you tell him? Where are you really at on a scale from 1-10?
Whatever your circumstances in life are, there are still aspects and areas of your life to be thankful for. If you want to help yourself or someone else, that is the place to start. So, if you struggle with finding contentment and true joy, get in a quiet place, be honest with yourself and really take an inventory of your life. When you let all the pettiness of life go and really look at your life, you will find some areas to be thankful for. Then whisper a quiet prayer of thanksgiving to God for letting you see it. Open your eyes and you may find that you are beginning to find balance, contentment and a deep peace. KT