> "wanting what you already have"
Sounds very much like Taoist teachings as well. Desire, in its many forms, never results in happiness.
Sounds very much like Taoist teachings as well. Desire, in its many forms, never results in happiness.
I made a conscious decision to work from home and comfortable places because I realized that commuting two hours a day was destroying my health. Very few projects would be worth that sacrifice to me (although I realize that many are out there).
I made a choice to eat mindfully and properly in every meal unless I have something else of extreme urgency. I find very few things are worth interrupting a meal. There's at least one hour of every day you can enjoy tremendously, and many people lose complete sight of that.
I am not disagreeing with your premise, but the truth is that most people's desires, in my opinion, seem to be highly misplaced, given that not many people out there are actually working towards a goal so noble that it's worth the rest of the sacrifices in their lives. Having shorter vacations, less time for relaxation and pursuing hobbies is worth it if you're engaged on projects that give tremendous satisfaction and make a difference.
But would this not require, in some sense, the desire for contentment? I suppose this is just a semantic issue; somehow our usage of "desire" excludes this case (perhaps because it is so fundamental).
Contentment, on the other hand, is something more like "the lack of any particular goal currently requiring you to think, plan, or expend energy."
Basically, they're at odds: when you have a desire, you are by definition discontented.