The meaning of being contended may be different for the different people. For example, for one person, it may be earning more money, whereas for someone else it may mean his ability to adapt things as they are. Having money, jobs etc. are not the parameters for happiness, but your attitude towards them

Being contended is a true joy that comes out from the heart and is not circumstantial. It’s a feeling of satisfaction, freedom, health and opportunity to do good things for yourself and others.

I will share with you my list of top 5 activities that will make you contended at work and otherwise:

1. Work which you like: There is a good saying, “If you are not getting happiness from the work you do for living, you would not be happy ever.” It means you have to do the work which interests you. If you don’t like what you are doing then you can not perform well in that work. So there is no use of doing that work. Instead do that work which you like to do, where you can put your passion, enthusiasm. That will give you good result and you will be contended.

2. Mind your thoughts: Watch your thoughts because your thoughts become your actions, your action becomes your habit and your habit becomes your attitude and your attitude decides your happiness. So we can say that being contended depend on our thoughts. We do not have to keep thinking negatively or unpleasant thoughts simply because they come in our minds. We always can choose to positive thoughts instead. The more we practice stopping our negative thoughts and thinking positively, the better we will become and contended we will feel.

3. Don’t worry: Worrying for no reason is the human tendency. We face many problems in our life. We should face them with a cool and calm mind. There is a good saying: “if a problem can be solved, no need to worry about it and if a problem can not be solved what is the use of worrying?” So instead of worrying we should act to the situation calmly.

4. Expect Less: Expectation is the source of sorrow. We have a set of expectations from the people around us. We can not always get the response the way we expect. So this mismatch of expectation and response hurt us a lot. So we should not expect the expected and be ready for unexpected. There is a good saying “When you feel down because you didn’t get what you want, just sit tight and be happy, because God is thinking or something better to give you”.

5. Wear a smile always: Smiling is directly linked to happiness. It will not only make you feel happy but people around you will also feel happy. A genuine smile will prevent the negative thought to come in your mind. So a simple smile can do wonder for you.