World Blog by humble servant. Contentment

Happiness is a state of mind, it is an outcome of a content heart. It is defined by different people in different ways. When we feel positive emotions we tend to feel happy. Happiness is also regarded as the mental state of a person in an optimistic manner. It has nothing to do with the materialistic things.  One might feel that people with huge amounts of material wealth are very happy and peaceful. But it is not necessarily the case. One can find people who have a smile on the face with few material possessions in life. This life itself is the greatest blessing for them, a blessing that demands to be valued, to be cherished, to be lived in the best possible form. The possibility of remaining discontented in spite of success and prosperity arises from the insatiable nature of our desires, and the common tendency to long for something better than our present condition. Life comes with ups and downs, with smiles and tears, with success and failures. All these are part of life and it’s what makes life beautiful and truly worth living. Happiness motivates us to do more and failures teach us to do better.

Whatever is out of our reach seems valuable to us till we get it, and once possessed, it can lose its value.

It appears humans are always dissatisfied with what they have. This is unfortunately the character of most human beings. But a person with a contented heart will always try to find a reason to be happy.

It is said that, where there is shade there comes the sun. It takes a contented heart to know the beauty behind all the struggles, all the failures, all the setbacks that make us a beautiful and grateful person. The person with the contented heart tries to find happiness in the smallest things around him. He feels happy even by looking at the not so important things. 

Life is beautiful, whether you live in a home and enjoy all the luxuries or far away from home pursuing and struggling to earn your livelihood. Life should always be considered as a great blessing from God. We should always live with hope and faith, work hard to pursue what we want to achieve, especially for the soul. We should not let go of any opportunity to serve God, may it be big or small.

Seeking to please God, even through small gestures like feeding a hungry person or wiping the tears of an orphan or showing sympathy and care to animals, can become acts of good deeds which bring contentment to our hearts with joy and happiness.

We get to see healthy relationships ruined suddenly due to some silly reasons. Mutual understanding between spouses, siblings and friends are spoiled due to lack of confidence and trust. Most of the issues crop up due to ego. It was ego that proved the reason for the downfall of Iblees. It was the ego of Noah’s son that cost him the safe berth in Noah’s ark. It was ego that destroyed the self-proclaimed god, Pharaoh. It’s ego that clouds one’s heart, causing one to ally with Satan and face painful retribution.

[48:26] While those who disbelieved were enraged, and their hearts were filled with the pride of the days of ignorance, GOD blessed His messenger and the believers with peaceful contentment, and directed them to uphold the word of righteousness. This is what they well deserved. GOD is fully aware of all things.Contentment of heart is an important blessing of God. Only God can grant it to whomever He chooses. Never lose hope; always trust in God. Never get bogged down by hardships in life for God promises ease after it. Appreciate the finer sides of your life and be thankful for it.

The materialistic success of this life may not be long-lasting, but contentment of heart is. Nobody can snatch it away from you. These two important aspects of life are just like our outer body and the inner self or soul. Our bodies define only our looks, whereas our souls highlight our personality. Our bodies will decay or get destroyed after death, whereas our souls are eternal. A happy life is not defined by being successful, by having the perfect job, house, cars and other luxuries. Instead it is defined by how righteously you live your life, how good an example you set, how beautiful your heart is, how emphatic you are, how thankful you are.

Life is packed with the ups and downs, success and failure, tears and smiles but what makes us survive all this is hope, hope to do better, and hope to try harder next time. Hope to get God’s help. God alone ensures that we receive contentment in our hearts:

[48:4]  He is the One who places contentment into the hearts of believers to augment more faith, in addition to their faith. To GOD belongs all forces of the heavens and the earth. GOD is Omniscient, Most Wise.

In order to receive the blessings of contentment of heart one needs to be a believer in God alone. He grants us the peace and tranquility along with the addition of more faith into our hearts. For God this is not at all difficult. He is Most High, Omnipotent.

We should always be thankful to God for everything that He has blessed us with. Life seems beautiful with a family that supports you, with a friend who defends you,with having parents who believe in you, with siblings who understand you, with a teacher who motivates you, etc. We cannot calculate enough such blessings of God that grant peace and comfort to our hearts. Every morning we need to thank God for the new lease of life. The more we thank God the more He enhances the contentment in our hearts and protects us from all kinds of evil forces.

[76:11] Consequently, GOD protects them from the evils of that day, and rewards them with joy and contentment.

Staying contended in life with what you have is a key to a happy life. Complaining and grumbling never leads to happiness. Staying focused on the current life instead of daydreaming of the good old days teaches you to accept the reality of life. We shouldn’t blame others for something that went wrong in life. Life is all about submitting to God. Stop worrying, trust God and set new goals in life.

We always say how fortunate we are to have received the wisdom and knowledge to accept submission to God alone. Let us thank God for saving us from going astray.

[39:22] If GOD renders one’s heart content with Submission, he will be following a light from his Lord. Therefore, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against GOD’s message; they have gone far astray.

Believing in God is the first step. Thereafter, one needs to nourish and develop the soul through the practices of worship. Taking that first step itself was a giant task which we took by God’s help. We are indeed very fortunate to have done that. We find many examples of people in the Quran, who had witnessed umpteen number of live demonstration of the miracles, yet they could not believe. Now that we achieved this great blessing from God, let us not waste it. Let us keep magnifying God. Only then can we win the final event of making it to Paradise.

[8:2]  The true believers are those whose hearts tremble when GOD is mentioned, 

and when His revelations are recited to them, their faith is strengthened, and they trust in their Lord.

Please God, bless us all with contentment of heart and make us feel His closeness all the time.