The dictionary defines
contentment as being "peaceful, happy and satisfied". Through many
years of living, I have found that contentment comes from within oneself.
Depending on others to provide your contentment is useless. Others have their
own lives to lead. Their concerns will and should claim their primary
attention. Here are a few suggestions for attaining containment that I have
found helpful:
1. Develop your religious faith.
Attend services. Do some spiritual reading. Recall all the "close
calls" you've had in life thus far, when you avoided misfortune by the
skin of your teeth. Meditate on the fact that you are the precious child of a
loving Father, who is the King of the universe and in charge of all the
circumstances of your life. Turn everything you can't handle over over to Him,
and trust Him to take care of it.
2. When you find yourself
becoming worried or upset, count your blessings. They always outweigh the
problems of the moment. If you have clean water to drink, a roof over your head
and you know where your next meal is coming from, you're already more fortunate
than many people in the world.
3. Remember the people in your
life whom you love, or who love you. Each one is a treasure to be cherished.
Plan to do something to enrich the life of each one within the next few days.
Bake cookies to share, write a cheery letter, make a thoughtful phone call,
invite someone to lunch. Show each one you appreciate their presence in your
life.
4. Take up a hobby, one that is
creative and gives you a sense of accomplishment: knitting, crocheting,
sketching, wood-working, writing, even paint-by-number sets will produce items
in which you can take pride, display in your home, or use as gifts.
5. Volunteer in the community.
Each of us of has special gifts which were meant to be shared with others.
Working in a soup kitchen, with an "Out of the Cold" program, visiting
the sick or shut-ins, reading or writing letters for the blind, all of these
and similar activities will reward the volunteer with well-deserved feelings of
satisfaction and contentment.
6. Work on making your immediate
environment a haven of comfort, attractiveness and tranquility. Even if you
only have one room, it should boast comfortable furniture, a pleasant blending
of your favourite colours, pictures of your loved ones, and a collection of
books, puzzles and your current project or hobby. Your private area, though
small, will ward off depression and that old " there's no one to care and
nothing to do" mood.
7. Be aware of local and world
events, via television, radio and/or newspapers. Even if your life is
uneventful at present, matters of great import are probably occurring
elsewhere. If you are lucky enough to have access to a computer you can
"put in your two cents worth" at network news sites, where your views
will be read by thousands of people, and maybe more.
All of us have periods of discontent.
Family members can be thoughtless, friends come and go, and the pup you thought
was house-trained has regressed, but you can possess contentment nevertheless.
Use some or all of the above suggestions and work towards being perfectly
comfortable in your own skin and within your own little universe. Then you'll
be ready to reach out and share your peace and tranquility with others when
they are sorely in need of it.
Fortify yourself with
contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress. Epictetus.
Believe me...nobody can be truly
happy in this world unless he is at peace with God." John Bosco
John Bosco never had the
opportunity to experience happiness through the possession of material wealth.
When he was born in a small cabin at Becchi, Italy, on August 16, 1815, his
family was very poor. His father, Francesco Bosco, worked a tiny farm in the
village, providing the family with barely enough to survive.
When John was only two years old,
his father died, leaving his mother, Margherita, to raise John and his two
older brothers, Anthony and Joseph. Everyone had to work hard to keep food on
the table. John helped by tending the cattle and gathering sticks for the fire.
In the evenings, Margherita
taught her boys about God. Often, John would follow her around as she performed
works of charity for neighbors who were even poorer than her own family. When
his mother tended the sick, John would gather the children outside and teach
them to pray.
At the age of nine, John had a
vision in the form of a vivid dream. Jesus and Mary appeared to him and
revealed that his mission in life would be to teach other boys about the evils
of sin and the beauty of living a virtuous life. This dream had a vital impact
on his future plans.
John studied the street
entertainers who were a common sight at that time: jugglers, magicians and
acrobats. With persistent practice, he soon learned enough skills to attract
other children. After the entertainment, he would teach them prayers and
lessons from the catechism.
As he grew older, John continued
to support himself by performing farm chores while he continued his studies. He
entered the seminary at age 20 and, in 1841, the archbishop of Turin ordained
John Bosco a priest.
He began his ministry in the town
of Turin, Italy, where many young men
had migrated, hoping to find jobs as the Industrial Revolution commenced. John
Bosco searched out those living alone, those sleeping in the streets or
languishing in jail. For these needy youths, he opened a youth center, or
"Oratorio." Working from the Oratory, John looked for jobs for the
unemployed, tried to obtain fairer treatment for those who were working, and
taught academics to those willing to study after completing a day's work.
The Oratory expanded to
accommodate apprenticeship classes for book-binders, carpenters, printers,
mechanics, tailors and shoemakers. John established the order of Salesian
Brothers to help with these enterprises.
As the Oratory grew, an
ever-present problem was lack of funds. John's mother, Margherita, moved to
Turin and sold her wedding ring and the few other jewellery pieces she still
possessed to help buy food and necessities. By the early 1860s, the number of
boys and young men sheltered by the Oratory was 800.
Some of these youths decided to
spend their lives serving other needy young men. Thus began the Salesian Order of
priests. John Bosco also founded an order of religious nuns: Daughters of Mary,
Help of Christians.
Before his death, John Bosco
founded 59 Salesian houses in six nations. Today the Salesians serve others in
many countries around the globe.
The saint himself published a
series of popular books and invented a education system founded on the values
of reason, religion and love. Many educators today recognize it as an ideal
system for training young people.
Don Bosco died on January 31,
1888. His last words to the Salesians watching at his bedside:
"Love each other as
brothers. Do good to all and evil to none.... Tell my boys that I wait for them
all in Paradise."
John Bosco was canonized a saint
of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1934. He is the patron saint of
apprentices, boys, laborers, school children, students and young people.
