Santosha, the 2nd Niyama of the Yoga Sutras, wants us to have a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness with our life, relationships, and what we have. The first thought that comes to my mind is “I am happy, I am grateful for all that I have.” Santosha is a call to capture your thoughts and/or feelings that don’t match your beliefs in happiness. So even though I am satisfied with my life I still have moments when I have caught myself thinking or saying “I wish I had ______ ” or “If only I could _______ “ or “When I get _______ then I will be happy.” There are probably a hundred ways to fill in the blanks for these statements and all of them point the mind away from contentment, because no matter how much a person has, if they are not able to tap into that internal sense of happiness with where they are at, then they will always be working to fill the void that can never be satisfied.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough”

– Oprah Winfrey

Practicing contentment doesn’t mean that you can’t have things or set goals for yourself and take action towards improving your living conditions, love life, or career. It means recognizing the places within yourself that make you feel like what you have or what you are isn’t good enough and coming to peace with where you are at right in that very moment so you can experience your own happiness, your own infinity. When you long for what others have you are setting yourself up to believing that happiness comes from outside of yourself. This causes a great internal battle and a lot of unnecessary suffering. When you practice Santosha you are dissolving the illusion that you need certain people or things in your life to feel fulfilled or make you whole. You are already whole and perfect as you are.

“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”

– Dale Carnegie

Santosha invites us to recognize that happiness starts from within and extends outward. If you are longing to find more peace and happiness in your life then Santosha is a practice to come back to over and over again. When we recognize or remind ourselves that we are already perfect and that we are connected to an infinite source of love/energy, than we are better equipped to deal with the circumstances we find ourselves in. So this week give yourself permission to stop waiting for the right moment, the right training, or the right person to make you feel happy because everything you need to feel happy is already inside you.

Namaste

Paula

“There’s nothing which can be more precious in you than your own relationship with your own consciousness.”

– Yogi Bhajan