Thought of the day: to be happy with what one has means not looking for more. If one is not looking for more, one is not curious about change and new things (unless purely for speculative or rhetorical purposes). Thus, contentment kills curiosity, and without curiosity there cannot be proactive personal growth. Is it, then, an impossible equation to not chase for more (be content), and simultaneously grow as a person?
Why is contentment spiritually valued, if it makes us too lazy for personal growth? How can one ever attain the selfless contentment spiritually valued, unless one already is enlightened and has nothing more to seek?
Thoughts larger than a glass of wine above the rooftops of Stockholm…
(Stockholm, Sweden; May 2016)
This blue marble 
June 13, 2016 at 3:46 am
This is something I consider often, usually during yoga class. How much forgiveness of one’s self, how much striving to do better? What is the balance? My current theory is to find the good, and go deeper, not further.
June 13, 2016 at 11:27 pm
Interesting question! If you forgive yourself completely, would that then lead to inertia and no personal striving to grow?
June 13, 2016 at 10:42 pm
Great photo.
June 13, 2016 at 11:27 pm
Thank you!!
November 7, 2016 at 6:13 pm
Zen Buddhist practice has the balance right in my experience. You have to admit to your life mistakes, determine not to repeat them and cease from harming others and oneself. Restraining one’s own selfish desires needs to go hand in hand with acceptance and being content with little. Ordinary desires are no problem; they are part of our animal being. It is the desparate ambition and craving which results in suffering.
November 13, 2016 at 2:11 pm
Thank you for sharing your insightful thoughts! But isn’t any desire selfish? Like Kant said, even the desire to help others is in the end selfish because it makes us feel good (and important?) when we help people. Perhaps one can grow with being content, not craving growth – but I see so many people content in their little worlds, with little chance of stumbling upon huge milestones of growth until they consciously desire to expose themselves to experiences where they grow.
November 13, 2016 at 2:54 pm
Buddhists see craving (not desire as such) as the root of all suffering. It is not selfish to respond to the needs of others. Think of a mother responding to a baby’s needs. We are not separate beings ultimately so selfish-unselfish is a false duality.
November 13, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Agree with your last point – should there not be such a thing as duality perceived by humans.