Contentedness is in fashion...

Some years ago, I sat in a training program to observe the goings on. The theme was goal-setting. A clueless trainee with a dash of doubt said he wanted to be 'content' in life. The trainer locked their critical eyes on the participant and derisively declared that being content led to complacency and that was no goal at all.

I shuddered till my smallest vertebra and realized I must be in the wrong program or in a bad dream. One of those. What a gross misuse of one's position to distort the true meaning of being contented in life. And since when have we become critical of being happy and at peace with what we have, anyway?

I guess it is this mad world we live in that moves at speeds not yet calculable, and wipes out anything that fails to keep pace. En route it creates a monster of our mind and plays tricks on our imagination to make us feel less of a person if we weren't in a tearing hurry 24x7.

There is an archaic meaning of the word 'content' that meant, 'willing'. What if being content translated into a willingness to move forward with energy, enthusiasm, and enlightenment about the way forward. What if being content is a prerequisite to doing anything meaningful in our lives. Because frenzy and desperation seem to layer our life with more unhappiness. Worse still - our urge to conform to our rapidly changing world pushes us into a much more depressing state than even unhappiness. It's called emptiness.

I can't help thinking why so many high flying, high earning, fast paced, globe trotting professionals are as lonely as they seem to be. Try looking deeper into their eyes at an airport next time, and you will see what I mean.

And then again. There are those who are superbly successful and brilliantly happy! How did that happen? Maybe, they have cracked the puzzle of the most important goals in life. I am placing my bets on being contented and happy with what they got. No wonder success and more of everything just pours into their lives!

I feel so hipped about being contented in life that I think it is an enduring fashion statement. This draining frenzy must be a fad...hopefully, it will pass.