Contentment: Definition, Examples, & Quotes

By Angela Saulsbery, M.A.
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
What is contentment? Discover its meaning, examples of contentment, and causes of discontentment. Also, learn how to become more content!
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The word “contentment” often evokes pleasant, cozy images: For me, contentment is reading an absorbing novel on a rainy fall day. The scent of aged paper rises from the pages. My cat curls up against my side, purring, and a steaming mug of hot cocoa waits on my nightstand. What is your idea of contentment?
Maybe, like me, you’ve found contentment harder and harder to reach since the pandemic began. If you want to cultivate contentment in your life, know that you can even if your life and surroundings are imperfect. You don’t have to wait until you’ve solved every last problem. In this article, we’ll discuss strategies for reaching contentment, conditions that could create discontent, and examples of contentment. We’ll also talk about the contentment challenge, the contentment foundation, and contentment beads.
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What Is Contentment? (A Definition)

Contentment is the calm joy or quiet pleasure we feel when our needs are (even transiently) satisfied and we are in harmony with ourselves and our surroundings. Researchers Monnot and Beehr describe contentment as “low in activation,” “high positive valence,” and “the lack of anxiety” (2014). 

Contented people feel “the urge to savor and integrate” (Fredrickson, 1998). When we’re content, we feel safe and not under pressure (Fredrickson, 1998), and we’re usually engaged in a personally meaningful activity. In my image of contentment, for example, my cat provides companionship, my book provides meaning and intellectual stimulation, and I’m safe from the chilly rain in my warm, dry house. Contentment can also follow a period of accomplishment, when we “stop to smell the roses” before pushing ahead with other life goals (Fredrickson, 1998). Indeed, contentment is associated with “mastery activities,” i.e., activities that provide a sense of competence (Berenbaum, Huang, & Flores, 2019, p. 252).

Contentment Versus Happiness

​Compared with contentment, happiness depends more on external circumstances. When good things happen to us, we feel happy. We’re happy because we’re making progress toward life goals–because, for example, we just got married or received a job offer. By contrast, you can create moments of contentment even in adverse circumstances, and contentment doesn’t depend on the achievement of big milestones. According to Jordan Mckenzie, happiness is “positive affect” whereas contentment is “positive reflection” (2015, p. 252). Mckenzie agrees that “happiness involves pleasurable experiences”; by contrast, contentment is “a fulfilling relationship with the self and society” (2015, p. 252).

Contentment Versus Complacency

Unlike contentment, complacency carries a negative connotation. Complacent people haven’t necessarily met their needs, but they accept the status quo anyway. Complacency happens when we accept things that we not only can change, but should—for example, complacency helped keep the Jim Crow-era South segregated. Apathy and self-satisfaction often accompany complacency but are generally not part of contentment, which usually shows up alongside unself-conscious interest in the world around you. Indeed, greater contentment is associated with greater enthusiasm (Monnot & Beehr, 2014).

Contentment Versus Gratitude

Gratitude and contentment can reinforce each other. When you feel content, you’re likely grateful for the present’s small pleasures. For example, I’m often grateful for my cat and my books. Conversely, gratitude keeps you aware of the ways your life is meaningful and satisfying, so it likely promotes contentment.

Below, Neil Ihde explains that contentment is deciding that what you already have is enough–in other words, trading envy and the sense of scarcity for gratitude can make you content. He points out that “gratitude and contentment have a lot in common.”

Video: Dr. Seuss' Guide to Contentment

Opposite of Contentment

The opposite of contentment is discontent or dissatisfaction. When you’re discontented, you feel uneasy and deprived. You may feel overwhelmed, underachieving, and at odds with the world around you. Although contentment is generally positive, discontent isn’t straightforwardly negative—it can motivate you to make necessary changes in your life. If these changes are correct, your body and mind will tell you by generating feelings of contentment and happiness.

Examples of Contentment

What are examples of contentment? In this article’s introduction, I’ve already painted a picture of my typical contented weekend afternoon. To all appearances, my cat’s idea of contentment is a daily 8-hour nap (with breaks to look out the window and meow at birds). In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Catherine Linton memorably describes her vision of contentment: “rocking in a rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright white clouds flitting rapidly above [...]” (Bronte, 1847).

Other examples of contentment include
  • Resting after a satisfying workout
  • Relaxing in the park with old high school friends after a successful college semester
  • Enjoying a pancake brunch and manicure outing with a close friend
  • Sunbathing on the beach after a busy season at work
  • Playing fetch with your dog in a grassy park

Causes of Discontentment

Discontentment happens when our needs (including those for meaning, mastery, and peace) go unmet. It’s hard to feel content if you’re starving, living with high community violence, lonely, or working a job you see as pointless. If contentment stems from your sense of mastery and competence, you may also feel discontent when you fall short of your own standards or struggle to learn a new skill. 

How to Cultivate Contentment

Here are several strategies you can try to bring more contentment into your life:

  1. Do something you’re good at. What is your element? Whether it’s stock market investing, painting, throwing parties, or something else, devoting more time to it may bring you contentment. I learned this lesson in graduate school–although writing gives me a sense of mastery and I feel contented when I write, I thought school left me too busy and tired to write. I felt unfulfilled and not quite contented for several years, until recently, when I challenged myself to get back into the habit of writing every day. Even though I’ve had to cut back on other activities (like socializing) to make time to write, the changes are worthwhile. I feel more confident, at ease, purposeful, and yes–contented–than I did when I wrote infrequently.
  2. Practice gratitude. Practicing gratitude may help you tune into the ways your needs are already being met and appreciate the goals you’ve already achieved. Shifting your focus to the positive and meaningful parts of your life might bring on contentment.
  3. Identify your needs and do your best to meet them. Easier said than done, especially if you’re facing financial, health, political, or other constraints. (Even identifying our exact needs may be difficult.) Most of us can’t meet all our needs, perfectly, all the time, but the good news is that you don’t have to perfect your life to feel contentment. When I’m unsure of my needs, I often reverse-engineer them from my wants. For example, I wanted a bike, so I could ask how I hoped the bike would improve my life. In my case, a bike would let me move around my city far more easily and quickly than walking–in other words, a bike would satisfy my need for more freedom. Now I can think about what specific changes (aside from acquiring a bike) I can make to maximize my freedom, and thus, possibly, my contentment. 
  4. Connect with loved ones. Quality time with loved ones can promote features of contentment, including meaning and safety. If you plan interactions around a shared activity, you might also encourage mastery for all attendees. For example, if you and a friend both excel at baking, you could plan a cozy, contented afternoon replicating a recipe from a baking show. 
  5. Protect your time. Overscheduling and overcommitting yourself could cause discontentment–it’s hard to feel meaning, peace, or competence as you frantically rush to check off every last item on your to-do list. Rushing also interferes with “savor[ing] and integrat[ing]” (Fredrickson, 1998) achievements.
  6. ​Try not to compare yourself to others. A well-known (and successfully replicated) study found that, counterintuitively, Olympic bronze medalists are happier with their achievements than silver medalists. This finding has been attributed to comparison–whereas silver medalists compare themselves to higher-achieving gold medalists, bronze medalists compare themselves to competitors who didn’t win a medal (discussed in Goldman, 9 August 2012). Thus, silver medalists feel disappointment while bronze medalists feel relief. I’ve found that trading some social media time for daily journaling helps me reconnect with contentment–after an hour or two with my notebook, I’m less concerned with what everyone else is doing and more aware of what I want for my life.

The Contentment Challenge

What is the contentment challenge? The contentment challenge is a 90-day shopping moratorium proposed by Nancy Ray (n.d.). She set the challenge to help her audience balance their budgets, break financial bad habits, and reconnect with values beyond material consumption (Ray, n.d.).

In the video below, YouTuber Christianna of The Well-Behaved Wallet discusses her participation in the Contentment Challenge, saying, “I don’t need to buy anything to make myself better–I am enough.”

Video: Contentment Challenge

The Contentment Foundation

What is the contentment foundation? The Contentment Foundation educates both children and adults about well-being. Its team includes philosophers, psychologists, educators, scientists, and other well-being experts who offer training to businesses and schools. The foundation collaborates with the UC Berkeley Social Interaction Lab to scientifically validate its tools and strategies (“Wellbeing Lab,” n.d.).

Contentment Quotes

Many artists, writers, historical figures, and other thinkers have shared their thoughts on contentment. Their words may aid your own understanding of contentment:  

  • “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” – Walt Whitman
  • “We may pass violets looking for roses. We may pass contentment looking for victory.” – Bernard Williams
  • “When you're heartbroken, you're at your most creative - you have to channel all your energies into something else to not think about it. Contentment is a creativity killer, but don't worry - I'm very capable of making myself discontented.” – Florence Welch
  • “True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
  • “Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu

These quotes highlight the importance of gratitude and mindfulness to contentment, as well as the motivating force of discontentment.

What Are Contentment Beads?

Contentment beads are a variation of traditional mala beads, which meditators use to enhance focus. You can buy mala beads in various colors and materials and use them to ground yourself during prayer, reflection, and meditation.

Contentment Journals

Journaling, including guided journaling, is associated with a number of benefits. If you find writing helpful and enjoyable, you can try one (or more) of the many contentment-themed guided journals out there. For example, Rachel Cruze’s The Contentment Journal has a 4.24-star rating on Goodreads and includes sections on humility, gratitude, and contentment itself.

Articles Related to Contentment

​Want to learn more about contentment? Check out these articles:​​​

Books Related to Contentment​

If you’d like to keep learning more about contentment, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Contentment

Contentment is unself-conscious, satisfied, calm, sometimes masterful engagement with the world around you. When you’re contented, you might also feel peaceful, safe, competent, and in harmony with yourself. Unlike happiness, contentment doesn’t depend on external events going perfectly right; it rests more on the quality of your relationships with yourself and the world. Contentment can signal that we’re meeting our needs, and its absence can push us to make changes. Unlike complacency, contentment is not apathetic and does not tolerate an unjust status quo. 

To cultivate contentment, we can use our strengths, practice gratitude, identify and meet our needs, commune with our loved ones, set boundaries to prevent overwhelm, and avoid comparison. Although these changes are difficult, they may not all be necessary for your contentment, and you definitely don’t need to be perfect to cultivate contentment in your life. These changes are also only suggestions–everyone’s vision of contentment will differ, after all. When do you feel most contented? If you can shift your goals and schedule to accommodate more of these moments, you’ll be well on your way to a contented life.

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