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March 12, 2011

Santosha

Sutra II.42

"Owing to the development of contentment there comes an unexcelled attainment of happiness."

This particular sutra is part of a string of verses that explain the niyamas or the personal disciplines, which we undertake to maintain a clear, true connection to our spirit. This verse itself is pretty straightforward: where there is contentment, there is unexcelled happiness, which is fairly obvious since the definition of contentment is 'a state of happiness'. It does, however, raise a question of how we can create/discover/make space for santosha when it doesn't already exist within us.

If we have a pattern of dissatisfaction in some area of our life we cannot change that pattern by pretending to be satisfied, but we can begin to change the pattern in the way that we regard our experience of dissatisfaction. A very simple approach is to

1) First recognize that dissatisfaction, like everything else, is impermanent. Knowing that it is momentary and will not last forever allows us to

2) Give it room to exist. When we allow ourselves to experience life as it is, we stop fighting, suppressing and denying reality. This cuts out a large part of our struggle and lessens a significant portion of our dissatisfaction.

Over time, these two actions give us permission to relax, to allow ourselves to have an uncomfortable experience (which is a large part of life!) and to learn to trust that everything is and will be ok. We are ok - even when things aren't how we wish they were. If we practice this enough, we even start to feel contentment with discontentment and that, I believe, is the attainment of unexcelled happiness!

1 comment:

  1. I think it's inherantly American (prevelant in our culture) to be really proud of that fight. When things don't go your way, darn it, you do everything you can to change it! I've seen this type of thinking cripple my personal and professional lives and that gridlock of energy becomes more frustrating than the actual situation at hand. So I have chosen to sit with those emotions and situations that frustrate me the most. I'm not perfect. Sometimes I can literally feel the blood rushing to my face and the adrenaline moving through my body. I suppose that's thrilling in a way. I'm learning to live with the natural evolution of those patterns that frustrate me the most.

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