Talk:Contentment

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Contentment is a paradox. By definition contentment is true happiness with one’s situation in life. Discontentment is a longing for something better than the present situation. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make one’s life situation better. As Carl Jung puts it “while balancing heaven and earth”; in other words, “remaining alive to life’s struggles and others’ needs”. Hinduism points toward learning to live with what we have rather than ceaselessly straining for more. Jesus had no worldly possessions "or place to lay his head". Early Christianity was much more anti-materialistic than it is now and almost communistic in regards to possessions. “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.”-Socrates / “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you don’t have; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”-Epicurus / “We tend to forget that happiness does not come as the result of getting something we don’t have, but rather recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”-Frederick Keonig / “Unhappiness follows happiness whenever the well of suffering runs dry.”-Mahabharata / “There is no end to craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.”-Swami Sivananda / Happiness should not be mistaken for contentment for one can have the later in the absence of the former. One can be content in the worst of circumstance, though they may not be "happy". It is a treasure for those who find it.

Mark Powell

(the above was left unsigned) Contentment, a "neuro-physiological experience"? Positivist bias, to the point of sounding ridiculous. Why not just write "feeling", for example? Positivists will understand "feeling" as "neuro-physiological experience", others will interpret it as they please. 80.14.181.162 (talk) 07:55, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

That this page is so short shows that people have no idea how to be happy, and it is sad. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.133.73.146 (talk) 15:08, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Complacency redirects here. Is it only me feeling that there is an abyss of difference between Complacency and Contentment? Both are feelings of satisfaction but whereas complacency is "a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one’s achievements" (OED Pro), there is no smugness or being uncritical in contentment. 130.195.146.77 (talk) 22:08, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

Rationale for templates

I am seeing opinions and personal conclusions. This article reads like a non-fiction book about the subject, which means that there is editorializing and original research. References are concentrated near the end of the page, so almost none are in the first half.

Wikipedia is not a science journal. Wikipedia is not a publisher for original thought. Wikipedia is not a place to be editorializing. Wikipedia is not a place for non-cited info. That is the reason why I added those templates.

--Mr. Guye (talk) 21:38, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Seeking consensus

This article is such an essay that I can't add Wikipedia approved secondary-source dictionary definitions to the lead without pretty much subjecting the lead to fire and brimstone. I don't really feel like doing such an audacious, risky edit, especially without consensus.

Citations for these dictionary citations:

"Contented." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 May 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contented>.

"Contentment." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 May 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contentment>.

I also need consensus on what definition to choose, and where to use appropriate synthesis.

--Mr. Guye (talk) 21:40, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Why does the page look like this?

"This may be a harsh reality for some to accept..." This writing doesn't line up with Wikipedia's style. It reads like a blog post. Secondplanet (talk) 03:26, 4 June 2014 (UTC)

Essay-like

I agree with the comments above: this page contains WP:SYNTH, reads more like a blog post (especially with the embedded external links) and needs major reworking. I have been bold and done the following things:

• Removed this passage, because it is unsourced, opinion, and unlikely to be worthy of being included in an encyclopedia.

"The global market for funny cartoons in the daily papers is a testament to humanity's search for happiness delivered via laughter. However good jokes in such publications are unfortunately far less common.

Happiness or Contentment resulting from a series of good laughs can make a qualitative difference in one's life. It is just that people usually do not make a habit of making it a daily diet."

• Removed many other bits and pieces ("in fact", "surprisingly", etc.) that read as editorializing or opinion.
• Rewrote to include gender neutral/no second-person pronouns (still awkward, though. If anyone can help fix it, please do).
• Added a reference to this, because it is directly at odds with the unsourced "Research has shown that personality is 50% heritable". If this is unreliable or unsatisfactory, please do remove it.
• Moved most external links out of body and into ref tags, then expanded (some may be unreliable, haven't checked them all yet)
• On the minor side, added headings, wikilinks (perhaps too many) and changed the capitalization to sentence case, and named a reference.

That's all for now. Any comments and further improvements are welcome. Me, Myself & I (☮) (talk) 20:43, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20150815213243/https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/01/26/105394/the-reality-of-the-retirement-crisis/ to https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/01/26/105394/the-reality-of-the-retirement-crisis/

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