“Three things rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed.”
Stupid is as stupid does, fear is everywhere, but greed…
That one sticks with me.
Because, if everybody has a vice, then mine is avarice. The first time I heard that word, I had to look it up to find out what it meant. Turns out it’s just a fancy word for greed. Not the kind of greed where you want to make a lot of money and bury it under a rock. The kind where you keep things close to your heart. Things that are meant to be given away.
Avarice is the opposite of contentment. Avarice says there’s not enough. Avarice hoards. Avarice hides. Avarice is a handicap. Ironically, it’s this fear of not having enough or not knowing enough that keeps me within the grip of greed. And that’s pretty stupid!
Contentment, on the other hand, says that what you have is enough.
My friend Lydia is the literal embodiment of contentment, and she is the inspiration for today’s WINSday on Wednesday.
In a conversation we had last year, we talked a lot about contentment. She said most people think contentment is passive, a resignation that what’s real, although not ideal, is good enough.
In real life, we live with an extraordinary amount of external expectations. That pressure makes us feel squeezed in all the wrong places. We begin to tell ourselves a story of contentment that starts with, “I’ll be happy when I get _________” or “I’ll stop striving when ______________ happens.” It’s tempting to hold tight to what we have right now when we fear an unknown future that might include elements of missing out or losing out.
But there’s one thing contentment is not: Contentment is not passive. It’s active and focused. Contentment is a deliberate intent to fill yourself up with love so you can embrace a vision of ways to give away more time, money, art, and love.
It’s a lesson on “How to be Generous” on steroids.
Our souls are not like vaults in a bank: empty, insulated, and locked. No vault can rival the human soul, which has an infinite capacity for forgiveness, love, and grace.
We are full enough. There’s nothing we need less than more stuff.
Today, I’m making a pact with myself—
Less scarcity mindset, more abundance mindset.
If my old self walked around with clenched hands, this new one will pay attention to living more open-handed.
Contentment is not far away from any one of us.
Thank you, Lydia Mays. Thank you for starting See Beautiful; your influence cannot be measured. You have encouraged all of us to create more beautiful in the world, beginning with a heart of contentment.