Update: Quick note to all. As I’ve learnt and grown, and with the new knowledge I’ve gained, I’ve come to understand that my pronunciation of some Sanskrit words in some of the voice recordings for my blog are incorrect. My dearest apologizes for this mistake. I appreciate your patience while I update my recordings to correct these errors.

Hello again, it’s great to have you back! How has your experience been so far? Have you had any recent realizations that you would like to share? Or, are you completely lost in it all? Let me know and maybe I will be able to help you understand or deepen your practice. As we move through and define these disciplines you will understand that one cannot be without the other. When you think of having ten principles to follow, in order to be free and happy, it sounds like a lot. However, they quickly fall into place as they are all intertwined and each one further deepens our experience of the others. When integrated into our daily actions powerful insights will be unveiled. As these insights are uncovered, awareness builds further, and, our perspectives broaden.

At this point we have opened our hearts building the desire to offer our selves to the outside world. We have let go of our conditionings and discovered our passions. We have balanced our senses to keep us centered and focused. We have found wholeness in our own being and have let go of what no longer serves us. This all has provided us with purity of the mind and body, and by purifying our body and mind, it opens our soul to calmness and clarity. How does this make you feel? As we move into the next niyama reflect on all this personal development we have worked on and ask yourself “How do I feel?”

The second of the Niyamas is samtosha which in English translates to contentment, and if we translate the Sanskrit words “sam” and “tosha” it means “complete contentment”.  What does it mean to be in complete contentment? If we were completely content then wouldn’t we become satisfied, fulfilled, ultimately happy? I understand complete contentment as just being. Just being who you are, always, and accepting whatever circumstance you are given at any present moment. Take what you are given and make it work, make the best out of it. It means to always do your best in everything you do without the expectation for any certain outcome, and to accept whatever the outcome is without disappointment or judgment.  Contentment can be reached by practicing acts of kindness, gratitude, and by identifying the beauty in simply things, the little things.  By practicing non- stealing and non-greed we learn that happiness comes from within and not from outside sources. And, in finding our truth we recognize our strengths and how unique we are, finding our passion in the process.

Samtosha is also described as the absence of the desire for what others have. To let go of these desires we first must find gratefulness in what we already have. Discovering what is unique to you and what you have to offer to this world is where contentment begins. Find satisfaction within this, it is your gift to share. We are often chasing and searching for something, something different, something better, something to make us happy, instead of expanding on what we already have or what we are good at. How often have you said, “I’ll be happy when…” and then once you accomplish that one thing, were you truly happy? Maybe for a short time, but then what? It’s no longer fulfilling, there is still this urge for something else. In some cases, someone may search their entire life for this happiness, looking to fill this emptiness. Their entire life passes and what memories do they have? Are they happy? Are they content with their accomplishments? Do they feel like they succeeded? We need to look at what will bring us permanent happiness, and ask ourselves what does success look like? Identify what happiness and success looks like to you. Identify what you are good at and what brings you the most joy in your life. What keeps you pushing forward? What is your why?

Practicing contentment has been important in my self discovery. Letting go of past expectations and experiences has helped me be present in the moment and recognize the joy and beauty in almost everything. This presence has helped me live each moment as it is and has allowed me to experience each moment for what it is. There has been numerous times where my focus was on chasing something I thought was my dream. My focus was so narrowed that I would take for granted the things that truly mattered, and it wasn’t until they were all I had left before I realized what was most important. At times our focus can be so narrowed, or our desires so distracting, that even when good comes our way we don’t notice it. It’s like the one who searches outside for happiness when it’s within them all along. Since opening my awareness to this, my gratitude and compassion have grown deeply. The more appreciation I have for everything and everyone around me, the more contentment I find in my everyday life. In my experience practicing gratitude opens the mind to a beautiful and loving world.  

One way contentment has developed in my life is by living simply. At first it was in efforts to make it through each day. Basically, it came down to trying to simplify everything I could and make everything I could easier. Most of my daily tasks became difficult to perform and so I would always be trying to find a way to simplify them so I could reduce my efforts and pain. My goal was to make my days easier to maneuver through, and I now still find ways to simplify everything. Why work harder then you have to? The faster and more efficient I can perform, ultimately the more productive I can be and the more time I will have to do other things. Now before moving on let’s not forget the importance of moderation and balance. Simplifying my life also meant slowing down. It meant being content with what I was able to accomplish each day and if one day wasn’t as productive as I wanted, or if I had a bad day and didn’t accomplish anything, I had to be OK with it. I had to learn not to beat myself up, I had to be easier on myself, and I had to remind myself of the things I did complete.

In simplifying my efforts I have also gained an awareness. This awareness has helped me realize what is necessary verses what isn’t. What is a need verses a want. Not only with possessions but also with my energy. We often tend to exert a lot of our energy on trying to control outside factors, for example how someone else is behaving or what’s developing around us. We can hold onto what was or what should be, instead of being at peace with whatever comes. I have learnt that there is basically two ways you can handle any situation, and our experience and outcome of the situation is directly correlated with what choice we make. Even if the situation involves other people or outside factors. Really in relation to contentment its about accepting the circumstances and making the best of them. Although it can be quite frustrating when something isn’t going our way, or when we are having one of those days where everything just seems to be working against us, but how we react can improve the outcome or better yet how we feel and our emotions. In these moments try taking a few deep breaths, this will help you regain your composure, and then ask yourself “how can I make this work?” tell yourself “it’s okay, I’ve got this!”. Finding the best in every situation doesn’t mean settling, but accepting, accepting what is working and working with it.

If you think about the amount time and energy we spend daily on trying to control everything around us, or searching for the best, the next, or that big thing to make us happy, then once contentment is reached think about what happens with that time. When we no longer are searching continuously for some end goal, what do we do with that time? When we are no longer distracted by what we think we want or what we think we should be, and are instead able to bring awareness to what serves us in our lives and identify what is important to us, what our passion is, what drives us, then that’s when transformation begins. It was this inner discovery that triggered the process for me. It is when we are satisfied and feel fulfilled that we begin to exert our energy elsewhere, in fact even find the energy to do so.  When I stopped searching for more, when I stopped chasing everyone else’s dreams and discovered who I am, what my dreams are, it was then that things started to fall into place. It was when I cleared my mind that I was directed into this new chapter.

This new chapter has brought some great successes already and one I want to share with you is my weight loss journey. I struggled for years with my self image and was slowly packing on the pounds as I was getting older. I found myself among the millions of other people trying all the things that “claim” to make you loose weight. For years the scale was up and down 10 or so pounds but continued to slowly creep higher. I honestly thought I would never be on the other side of this battle, and now over the past two years I’ve lost 30 lbs and I am in the best shape of my life. The ironic part, this journey was never about losing weight or trying to look “good”. It was when I discovered my why, that deep down truth and passion that gave me the drive to finally make a change in my behaviour and become serious about my health. I changed my diet because I was listening to what my body was telling me. It was not functioning properly, and I could tell the difference of how I felt based on what I was eating. Not only that, but with my passion for food and as my knowledge about nutrition expanded the connection was obvious. So, I’m not on some powerful diet, it is a lifestyle that I have adopted in pursuit of healing my body and building resilience.

OK so now that I’ve found inner peace and broadened my awareness, I’ve started to notice that suddenly my patience for some outside experiences, really anything that would disturb my inner peace, now really bothered me. My tolerance for the behaviours or actions that I’ve identified as being “bad” or “negative” would bring me much frustration and suddenly I wasn’t at peace anymore. I was angry, impatient, and felt like I wasn’t holding it together. It is then when I realized that we are all at different stages of awareness and realization. I had to experience my realizations on my own and so for there to be change in other people they have to discover it for them selves, it can’t be forced. I realized that I must be even more patient, I must be content, and mind my own business. I had to adapt. When we can maintain inner peace and clarity through all the outside influences, when there is stress or sudden change and it does not disrupt our inner balance, it is then that we really start to experience what peace feels like.

Until next time…

Namaste.