Contentment is bliss and I have found it in the present moment. #Contentment

The plovers have returned to our garden again and walk around like they own the place. They nest on the ground, as Howard found out one year in the middle of the night. He could hear a bird calling in a very distressed way for hours in the night so he ventured out to investigate. He came back in laughing and telling me how funny it was to see three sheep looking over the plovers nest harmlessly as the bird remained with her eggs.
My topic for today is contentment and I wonder how often we carry on like the plover when the things we fear are really no threat at all??

* The chickens were happy feeding until I called out for them to look at the camera. This was the result as they ran for their lives! (These are the chickens I photographed earlier in the year, they have grown hey!) The unknown is scary thats for sure...

*This is a photo of the fog lifting and in some ways contentment has this effect. The oxford dictionary defines contentment as; satisfied, willing. I am finding that my meditation practice and mindful lifestyle is enhancing a sense of contentment. It is interesting to be able to choose this beautiful feeling on any type of day. I find the contentment within myself these days, is less reliant on a set of perfect circumstances. Contentment is in the stillness, it is beyond time, beyond reason, it is within 'Now'.  

 *Basil knows contentment - he has it all sorted. Basil is the first farm dog that has managed to convince me to let him inside the house. He will sit by the heater for a while and when the day warms up a bit he will head back out to play. He runs from the sheep dogs to the horses and around the sheds with a bounce in his step. Basil loves to see that school bus turn up late in the day and if he is not too muddy he is let inside again and once they are ready to play, he follows the girls around until dark.
Echkart Tolle and Patrick McDonnell have a gorgeous book called 'Guardians of Being'. It describes the contentment we find in our pets and why it is so appealing.

Mindfulness is key to contentment. In the new book by Dr Stephen McKenzie and Dr Craig Hassed, 'Mindfulness for life,' the question is asked, 'Does paying attention matter?' The authors explain that we're happiest when we're paying attention to what we are doing.

When I move my awareness into the present moment, time stands still and the most incredible detail opens up. This is contentment and it feels blissful...it is coming form a place within. When I bring this sense of satisfaction to what I do and who I am with, I am a better person..complete, loving and compassionate...I can give from a place of fullness. Life goes from being one busy job ofter another to a meaningful, exciting opportunity to be the best I can be in any situation.