Is Contentment the Secret to Happiness?

Pema Chodrom Shambhala NYC

Where is your happy place? According to Pema Chödrön it may be closer than you think. 

Contentment is directly connected to our ability to be present, no matter what the moment has in store for us. In a recent interview, Pema Chödrön was asked, “What is happiness to you?” Her response is the inspiration we need to return to the moment –

“Contentment. At home with yourself in your world. Not separating yourself from others. Not hardening your heart, or your mind to others, or to the world. That profound wellbeing which is not based on facts, so to speak. You know, like changing circumstances. It’s not based on changing circumstances.

It is a wide-awake state where your sense perceptions are wide open. And if you could imagine seeing and hearing, tasting and smelling and so forth, without any filter between you and your experience. It’s as if suddenly all of your sense perceptions have been like narrow little slits. And now they’re wide open. Like they have no outer dimension.”

The Shambhala Meditation Center of New York offers a mindfulness-awareness practice course that offers tools on how to find contentment through the present moment.

Learn more about the class series here