“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” — Socrates
Socrates would agree, contentment is the primary aspect of inner peace. But, it doesn’t take a philosopher to say that contentment should be something we strive towards. Not only does contentment provide the opportunity for inner peace, it also reduces stress, relaxes the body, and makes life enjoyable. Being "at peace" is the opposite of being stressed or anxious, and is a healthy habit to exercise in your daily life. Inner peace is thus generally associated with happiness and contentment.
However, discontentment will always, at some point, rear its ugly head and become a great obstacle to keep us from fully thriving in what ought to be a simple life. Many of us seem to struggle with staying content with our lives and it can be easy to fall into a mindset of desperately wanting something different from what we currently have. There will always be someone with something we want or someone that we see as “better” based on their possessions, but fixating on this can actually cause stress, anxiety, and even depression, all of which can have a negative influence on our contentment with life.
The struggle is, we fail to step back and recognize just how wildly unfair and unrealistic these comparisons are. Comparing ourselves to others with respect to our financial, emotional, or social condition keeps us unhappy about our own lives, and leads to low self-esteem. We tend to rarely focus on our own unique talents and abilities, or what we already have. Next time you make an unfair comparison, instead of allowing it to make you feel poorly, view it as an opportunity for a little self-evaluating.
Perhaps, when you need a moment to retreat and do a little self-evaluation, float therapy can prove to be the perfect environment for thought. Float therapy provides an emotional relief through meditation and relaxation while bringing ease to the body. Because absolute peace comes from within, being entirely alone in a float room will help you reconnect to yourself. Our body’s stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline,are lowered while our body produces more epinephrine as if pressing a reset button for our mind and body.
For anyone who feels the need to realign their innermost self to find peace and contentment, here are a few tips to keep in mind for everyday life or while floating:
1. Stop comparing yourself to others - Comparisons always lead to discontentment. There will always be people who “appear” to be better off than you and live a seemingly perfect life. But be advised, we always compare the worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions that we make about others. When you go for a float, leave those thoughts at the door. It is you alone with your emotions, which you alone should have control over.
2. Take hold of your attitude. A person who lacks contentment will often engage in “when and then thinking” – “when i get _______, then i will be happy.” Instead take control of your own life. Remember, your happiness is not reliant on the acquisition of any possession. Your happiness is based solely on your decision to be happy.
3. Finally, RELAX – Duh! Right? Of course, if you're going for a float, you want to relax. This is crucial not only for floating, but for everyday life. Just take a moment - close your eyes and do some deep breathing, put away your phone and read a book, or simply repeat a mantra to yourself while preparing for a float. "No one is an overnight success story. Put in the work."