#Contentment February 26
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Last week I got to present at the Twin City Kiwanis Club at the invitation of my good friend Jeff Neelon. Just getting to see Jeff in Winston-Salem NC made it a remarkable day but I wanted to experience CONTENTMENT with my talk.
Jeff had asked me to share part of my journey from starting out as the world’s most amateur & naïve blogger to starting a business and becoming a leadership coach.
I framed my talk around getting the Twin City Club to remember leadership lessons from their past. Paying close attention to lessons they were not practicing. If I could get them to recall past lessons and re-apply them it would be a remarkable day for me.
I attempted to do that by telling them some of my favorite leadership stories. One I shared with them was about the importance of CONTENTMENT.
When you are in ease in your current situation it is defined as CONTENTMENT. When you don’t feel your performance or self-esteem needs to be validated by others it brings you a sense of calm.
When you learn how to apply CONTENTMENT in your life it is amazing the riches you will find that you are in possession of. CONTENTMENT is a state of mind.
The story I shared last week actually belongs to Russell Conwell.
Conwell was an American Baptist minister, orator, philanthropist, lawyer, and writer. He is best remembered as the founder and first president of Temple University in Philadelphia, as the Pastor of The Baptist Temple, and for his inspirational lecture.
That lecture was called Acres of Diamonds and here is a link to that talk in its totality.
Russell Conwell in his lecture talks about ancient Persian, and a man named Ali Hafed, who owned a very large farm that had orchards, grain fields, and gardens. Ali was a wealthy and a CONTENT man. One day Ali entertained a guest who told him all about diamonds and how wealthy he would be if he owned a diamond mine. Ali Hafed went to bed that night a poor man—poor because he was DISCONTENTED.
Craving a mine of diamonds, he sold his farm to search for the rare stones. He traveled the world over, finally becoming so poor, broken, and defeated that he committed suicide.
One day, the man who purchased Ali Hafed’s farm led his camel into the garden to drink. As his camel put its nose into the brook, the man saw a flash of light from the sands of the stream. He pulled out a stone that reflected all the hues of the rainbow. The man had discovered the mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond mine in all history.
Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own garden, he would have had acres of diamonds instead of experiencing death in a strange land. The more we want from a human perspective, the less we have.
CONTENTMENT starts with taking stock of what you have in your life and expressing gratitude for that. Take out a pen and piece of paper and make a list of all the wonderful things you have in your life. Your spiritual health, your friends, a bed to sleep in, and the gift of today are all places you can start.
It ‘s okay to want to improve and have goals but Ali Hafed let discontentment be the driving force and that is not a good thing. Happiness can be fleeting but experiencing CONTENTMENT can remain constant with the right mind set of gratitude.
Last Wednesday seeing an old friend and reminding others of leadership lessons provided me CONTENTMENT.
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