IT’S YOUR CHOICE

You can’t control what happens to you—but you can always choose contentment. Here’s how to start today.

Have you ever been in a tough situation and felt really good? If you shared your lousy set of circumstances with others, they might have remarked on what they saw as an inappropriate attitude. Is it really inappropriate, though? Why not choose to be upbeat when times are tough?

Life can be hard. Sometimes your life is going along splendidly, and then you are dealt the worst possible cards out of nowhere. You have to deal with some setbacks or losses. What happened was out of your control. You couldn’t stop it and certainly didn’t see it coming.

What do you do now? How are you going to get past this devastating experience?

You can let that difficulty wreck your emotions. People sometimes have such a hard time overcoming a traumatic event that it cripples them for the rest of their lives. Instead, you can choose that you are going to recover. At first, this may seem impossible. However, when you consciously choose to move past one of life’s great difficulties, that’s the first step to eventual recovery.

Contentment is the same way. It’s all about choice.

You may have a tough set of circumstances. There may not be the possibility of your circumstances changing for a very long time. In this situation, why not choose to be happy and think good thoughts? If you know the details of your situation may not change for the better any time soon, why not choose happiness over sadness?

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Our Busy, Fast-Paced World

The modern world is always begging for more. You can give everything you’ve got, and it will expect you to produce more effort. It constantly tells you that you’re not good enough and you must consistently strive to be better than you currently are.

The distractions you get daily simply moving through your daily routine are constant. So many things going on around you are out of your control. This leads to experiences you didn’t ask for.

When these negative situations enter your life, you must deal with them. Ignoring them might make them worse, and ignorance never solves any problem. While you can’t control much of what happens to you, there is one thing you can control.

Think about your daily life. What are the top three external pressures or distractions that affect your sense of peace?

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You Always Have a Choice

Happiness is short-term. You smile or laugh at something, and then just as quickly as it appears that short-term dose of joy is gone. Contentment lasts long-term. It’s about accepting who you are, all you have right now, and your place in the world. You are enough right now. Don’t believe the constant barrage of messages saying you need to buy more, be more, and experience more.

Happiness is great. You should have a lot of happy moments in your life. Contentment is what you should strive for because it’s long-lasting. Accept yourself for who you are, giving you a better appreciation of yourself and the world. You choose positive feelings and emotions rather than despair and stress when things don’t go your way.

Life is going to catch you off-guard. That’s a truth you need to wrap your mind around. When it does, choose hope and happiness, and contentment. You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can always control how you decide to feel about it.

Reflection Exercises

Understanding Happiness vs. Contentment

What is the difference between happiness and contentment in your own words?

Think of a recent moment when you felt happy. How long did that feeling last?

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Choosing Your Response

Describe a challenging situation you’re currently facing or have faced recently.

How did you initially react to this situation?

Looking back, how could you choose to respond differently to create more contentment?

Your Contentment Action Plan

Recognizing What You Can’t Control

List three things in your life that are currently outside your control:

☐  ____________________________________________________________________________

☐  ____________________________________________________________________________

☐  ____________________________________________________________________________

Choosing Your Response

For each item above, write how you can choose to respond with contentment instead of stress:

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Affirming Your Enough-ness

The modern world constantly tells you that you’re not enough. But the truth is different. Complete this affirmation by filling in what makes you enough right now:

I am enough because:

Daily Contentment Practice

Remember: You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can always control how you decide to feel about it.

Use this tracker to practice choosing contentment each day for the next week. When something challenging happens, pause and consciously choose your response.

Day	What challenged me & how I chose to respond
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

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Weekly Reflection

After practicing for a week, what have you learned about choosing contentment?

What will you continue doing to maintain contentment in your daily life?

Life is unpredictable—but your response doesn’t have to be.
This simple contentment guide helps you:

✔ Let go of what you can’t control
✔ Choose peace during tough moments
✔ Build daily habits for lasting calm

Because contentment isn’t luck — it’s a skill you can practice.

https://fabulous-innovator-745.kit.com/0f49032fb2

The Hare And The Tortoise (Beat The Bullies!)

Written by Mike Nach

This book is certainly not a rehash of the familiar tale, but rather a unique guide on the problem of bullying written to inform, entertain and enlighten children and adults. In the introduction, the author presents an overview on what bullying is, the effects of bullying, and the problems it causes. He promises that the story will help out victims of bullying.

His story is set in the peaceful forest where an alligator, bear, owl and python maintain law and order. Harry Hare is a natural athlete. His wife, Cathy scolds him for his vanity and tells him, “Your attitude sucks.” On the other hand, Tom Tortoise and his family are the slowest creatures in the forest, but they are kind and peaceful. One day while on his way to collect mushrooms for his family, Tom is accosted by Harry who taps on his shell and belittles him for his slowness. Poor Tom tries to avoid Harry and becomes troubled and anxious. But one day, Mr. Fox notices his worry and assures Tom he has a plan. Tom follows his suggestion, even though he is not confident that the plan will work. Harry will learn his lesson and Tom will have a peaceful life once more.

That is not the end of the lesson for the reader. In the second half of the book Nach provides a summary of the seven types of bullies: verbal bullies, emotional bullies, physical bullies, cyber bullies, sexual bullies, racist/status bullies, and adult bullies. More importantly, he sets up an action plan for the victims of bullies to pursue. The strategy includes remaining calm and confident, avoiding the bully whenever possible, controlling your emotions, reporting all instances to an authority figure, blocking gossip from the bully, and learning self defense. Nach’s final advice to a victim of bullying is never give up on yourself or give in to bullying others.

I recommend this book to parents, librarians, and teachers as an much needed and effective guide to introducing and discussing the problem of bullying to all school age children. The author does not preach, rather he talks to children in language they understand using phrases like, “whatever” and “don’t mess with me.” Makes the reader feel as if he is speaking with a good friend discussing a problem. In my opinion, that is what makes this book so enjoyable, informative and effective.

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