Rambling About Contentment and Happiness

Dear reader - please forgive the following ramblings.  I have no idea what point I am leading to or where I will end up.  I'm just putting thoughts down - you can decide if it's worth anything to you or if it's even valid.

OK, so Martin asked about happiness with regards to contentment.  Both of these can be experienced, but perhaps only poets can put these experiences into words.)  But I love a challenge and so I will try to give a picture in words. 

A contented person will see everything perfect just as it is.  There will be nothing to complain about.  There will be nothing that requires 'fixing'.  Everything is as it should be.  For example, if you go to visit the monkey cages at the zoo, you watch the monkeys chase each other and maybe grab bananas from each other, and swing in the trees.  You're thinking, 'They're funny.  They're acting very monkey-like, just as they should.  This competitive game of grab-the-banana looks fun.  This is good.'  You're probably not thinking, 'It would be better if that tree were higher for the monkeys for better climbing and swinging.  And the monkeys should be taught to share the bananas and use manners. Why is that monkey pulling a face at me?  Doesn't he know who I am?'  So, basically, you are content with the monkey scene.  You see nothing that should change - everything is as it should be. 

I believe this is the experience most will get when experiencing some-thing new and having no expectations.  When observing monkey be-haviour, you watch in order to learn; there is no judgment in how they should act, you are merely learning how they DO act.  A contented person will view the world as a monkey cage.  Actually, they would not be far off!

Moving on to happiness: There are many sources of happiness.  A gift, a compliment, a beautiful scene - these can all contribute to happiness.  Profound love also creates a state of happiness.  Intoxicants can create a state of happiness.  I believe contentment is a low level of happiness.  If you are content, you are in a general state of happiness.  If you are not feeling happy, then something is disturbing your contentment.  If you are choosing to live with less, then perhaps you are not content, but merely tolerating.  If you are content, you never feel you are tolerating - there is nothing to tolerate!
If we feel we have more than we need, we are beyond contentment, and definitely into happiness, and probably approaching intoxication by our great fortune.  Blessings are those extra things that we don't need - the icing on the cake.  Blessings bring happiness.  If you count something as a blessing, but you're not intoxicated, then you are probably not realising the full value of the blessing. 
If we count material things as blessings, this is a trap.  Material things are just that.  They are temporary, and if we base our happiness on these things, then when they run out or stop working or lose value, we lose happiness.  Worldly relationships are the same, they have a begin-ning and an end, so to make your happiness dependent on a worldly relationship is setting yourself up for sorrow later. The body is not eternal, therefore neither are these types of relationships.
If, however, we look to spiritual relationships for happiness, we are building on something eternal.  By spiritual relationships, I mean know-ing that each of us is a spiritual eternal being, that we have no end - only the body has an end.  And for those of us that believe in God, to build that relationship brings much happiness and blessings, because God is always accessible whereas other 'brother' souls might not be.  Seeing everyone as my 'brother' soul and knowing the supreme 'Father' soul makes one very fortunate.  Being part of such a large and eternal family - everywhere I go I meet more of my family;) - is such a great fortune.  And they never die, they just change form.  This is an intotoxi-cating thought - a true blessing.
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Ross Galán, NLP Spiritual Life Coach
at the Spiritual Life Coaching School