单选题
Achieving Contentment
A. Socrates said contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. Being a minimalist isn't easy. Living this counter-cultural lifestyle requires quite a determined personality. You have to smile and ignore friends and family who keep saying 'but you could be earning so much more if you took that corporate job.' Or 'why are you driving a 5-year-old car when you can afford a brand new one.' 'Why are you camping in a game reserve, and not staying in a 5-star hotel and casino.'
B. It isn't easy to keep the constant pressure to shop and own at bay, but what makes it easy is contentment. When you look happy and your life is one that others envy for its solid relationships, rewarding creative work and annoying glow of health, people's helpful advice on lifestyle tends to sound thin.
C. It's worth learning to be content! Not only does contentment provide the opportunity for minimalism, it also reduces your stress level, improves your outlook, relaxes your body, and makes your life enjoyable. There is an unmistakable freedom that follows contentment: a freedom to be who you are, enjoy who you are, and live the life you were destined to live.
D. In our consumeristic-culture discontent is promoted and encouraged. If you aren't discontent with your car, why would you buy another one at twice the price? 'They' need to foster discontent with your body, your life, your husband or your job to soften you up for the hard sell.
E. If only you bought this product, smoked this drug, drank this poison, used this service you would be happy. Selling starts by first breeding discontent. That is why celebrity shows are all over TV—they are an important foundation for the adverts between shows—no matter how beautiful you are, no matter how rich, there is always that celebrity to show you that you are being positively
frugal (节俭的) by only buying a Mercedes and not a Porche.
F. On the one hand, your life is enhanced by your dreams and aspirations. On the other hand, these drives can pull you farther and farther from your enjoyment of your life right now. By learning the lessons of gratitude and abundance, you can bring yourself closer to fulfilling the challenge of living in the present. There is no one-size-fits-all, but here are five keys that have helped us further develop contentment in our lives.
1. Be grateful G. Gratitude and contentment are inseparable. Focus on the good things in your life—the things you have—not the things you lack. Are you questioning what you have to be grateful for? Nothing come to mind? After all you are poorer than X, and uglier than Y, not as important as the boss, and suffer more responsibility than your staff. There you go comparing up again. When 90% of the world probably has less than you do, most people still focus on the few 0.2% of lucky souls who are models, superstars, CEOs and plain lucky.
H. Come on now, get some perspective. Start making a list of all the good things in your life—even if it's just sunny weather, a nice nose or a great cup of coffee. Don't worry about finishing—the simple discipline of appreciating what you do have will set off a new habit. Try to add one or two items to the list every day.
2. You can't keep shopping your way to happiness I. Advertising has
ingrained (使根深蒂固) the belief that the proper way to diffuse discontent is to buy whatever we don't yet have. Almost no energy is spent determining the true root of the discontent. We quickly focus on the nearest product (preferably chocolate based), and avoid thinking about what really makes us feel out of control, frustrated or angry.
J. You have to break that habit. Understand that material possessions will never fully satisfy the desires of your heart (that's why discontent always returns). The next time you recognize discontentment surfacing in your life, refuse to give into that bad habit. Instead, commit to better understand yourself. Are you buying a new cell phone, or do you really want to buy 'coolness and popularity, and the envy of friends?'
K. A little trick—if you compulsively shop when your world is out of control, buy something really tiny such as the smallest chocolate bar in the shop, a pair of plastic earrings, a cup of coffee. The action of purchasing makes people happy because for a few seconds at least, you have the sole attention of the shop assistant (aren't you an important person!) and you demonstrate through the display of cash or credit cards that you are in control of your life. For most people a 50p pack of gum gives the same pleasure as a $500 pair of shoes. Better in fact, you don't have that dull dread of the let-down when you get them home and can't work out where you will fit them in your cupboard.
3. Take charge of your attitude L. A person who lacks contentment in their life will often engage in 'when and then thinking'—'when I get..., then I will be happy.' Remember, your happiness is not reliant on the acquisition of any possession. The temporary joy of happiness is not contentment—happiness is often externally driven by things that happen to you. That is what you remember and you keep looking for that high in external events and things. Contentment is how you respond to life and situations. Contentment is a decision.
4. Stop comparing yourself to others M. This is a hard one—it's such a daily, hourly habit. I'm smarter than him, and dumber than her. I'm fatter than them, and so much better than him. Comparing your life with someone else's will always lead to discontentment. There will always be people who 'appear' to be better off than you and seemingly living the perfect life. But be advised, we always compare the worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions that we make about others. You are unique. And it's always better that way. Live up to your own expectations of what you can be, and stop living up to the media and friends' expectations.
5. Get off your butt and help N. When you begin helping others, sharing your talents, time and money, you will find yourself learning to be content. You will feel better about yourself. If you don't like people much, volunteer to walk dogs. If you're allergic to cats, help an elderly person with her garden or go shopping with her and carry groceries. Pick up litter, plant a flowing shrub in a wasteland, get someone a cup of coffee without being asked. And while you're at it, stop shirking. Ladies, mow the lawn or change a plug now and then. Men, pick up that laundry before you're asked.
O. Be content with what you have, never with what you are. Never stop learning, growing, or discovering. Take pride in your personhood and the progress that you have made, but never become so content that you cannot find room for improvement. Contentment is not the same as
complacency (自满).