It’s normal to want to go further, to have more, to become a better version of ourselves. However, when all this leads to more unhappiness and frustration, it’s time to stop racing against the clock. In fact, it’s perfectly possible to be content with what you’ve got, to be satisfied with your life. But how? How do you go about it? Here are 10 powerful tips for being satisfied with what you’ve got.

1 – Identify your values and life goals

What prevents us from being satisfied with our lives is that we always want more, we always aim higher and further. Worse still, we aim for things that don’t even suit us.

In fact, we copy each other. For example, we come across an advertisement for a traveler and we want to travel. We come across someone who’s thriving in his or her own business, and we too want to become a self-employed entrepreneur.

And it’s only natural to want to try something new, to see if the grass is greener elsewhere.

But, to be happy in life, we need to be aware of what’s going on inside us. It’s not our heart talking, it’s just the urge to copy and want more.

Finally, what do you want? What’s important to you? What makes you, or would make you, truly happy?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself to build your happiness. Healthy, solid happiness.

That’s why, to be satisfied with our lives and stop always running after something with frustration and impatience, we need to take some time to identify our values and life goals.

The ones that really drive us, the ones that really nourish us.

Because happiness isn’t about constantly running after a goal or a project. Happiness is knowing how to be satisfied with your life, because it’s in line with your values and because your life goals truly nourish you.

2 – Cultivate gratitude to be satisfied with your life

We live in a world full of advertising. And the purpose of these ads is to invent new needs for us. Needs that are often useless, futile and even toxic.

That’s why, to be satisfied with our lives, we need to stop letting our gaze wander from ad to ad, and stop letting our imagination run wild with the satisfaction of new needs.

To achieve this, we can anchor our gaze in the present moment and nourish ourselves with all the beautiful things already present in our lives, which already enable us to satisfy our needs.

These beautiful things can be as simple as a good meal that satisfies our body or the song of a bird that delights our soul.

Indeed, to be satisfied with our lives, we need to open our eyes and hearts to all that is already present in our lives.

It can even be a game. Yes, regularly, in the same day, we can stop and answer this question: “What are the 3 things that make me want to say thank you to life right now?”

Let’s look around us and within ourselves. It’s a wonderful game, the game of life.

3 – Better relations with others

We dream of new friendships, new loves. More authentic, more joyful, more beautiful relationships. Without realizing that while we’re dreaming of our future relationships, we’re neglecting our present ones.

In fact, to be satisfied with life, we need to live it rather than dream it.

So let’s take care of our current relationships, even if they’re not perfect, even if there aren’t as many of them as we’d like.

Let’s start with what’s already present in our lives, rather than dreaming about things that don’t yet exist.

4 – Cultivate your passions to be satisfied with your life

It’s hard for us to be satisfied with our lives, because we’re far too serious. We have schedules for everything, and we constantly set limits for ourselves.

What’s more, we don’t dare do certain things because they seem trivial and we’re afraid of being laughed at.

Maybe you like coloring, drawing, maybe you’d like to learn to play the guitar, start a sport… but you don’t dare for fear of other people’s judgment and your own.

But how can you be satisfied with your life if you don’t cultivate your current passions?

Indeed, it’s time you felt free to express what drives you, and to give free rein to your creativity and your joie de vivre.

Because we don’t need to go to the Maldives to be happy, sometimes we just need to take time out to read, color or take a few guitar lessons.

5 – Know how to take care of yourself to be happy in your life

To be satisfied with our lives, we need to learn to take care of ourselves. Yes, it’s an apprenticeship in this world in which we’re always doing, doing for others.

Of course, pleasing others, taking care of others is pleasant and even obligatory in a certain sense when we’re talking about our children, but for all that, we can make time for ourselves.

These times for ourselves are necessary. Because if we’re so dissatisfied with our lives, it’s because we don’t know ourselves.

But taking care of others doesn’t mean completely forgetting about ourselves. So it’s time to find a healthier balance between time for others and time for ourselves.

6 – Appreciate the present moment to be satisfied with your life

The present moment can seem dull compared to everything we’re aiming for or dreaming of.

But once we stop comparing it to imaginary things, the present moment can be magnificent, or at least satisfying.

Indeed, if you want to be satisfied with your life, perhaps it’s time to learn to love the satisfying side of things, and stop wanting them to be extraordinary.

Because we have an extremely negative outlook when we say to be satisfied, to be content, and yet this is the surest path to happiness.

In fact, there’s no shame in being satisfied with what’s satisfying – it’s even a good thing.

After all, aren’t you fed up with always wanting more and not being able to love what you already have?

7 – Get out of your comfort zone

However, being satisfied and content doesn’t mean you stop trying new things, stop striving to reach certain goals or improve as a person.

In fact, happiness also lies in novelty, improvement and evolution.

We simply have to keep our balance.

That is, not to fall into the self-satisfaction that prevents us from nourishing our need for novelty and improvement, and not to fall into the compulsive need to keep moving forward, completely rejecting the present moment and its satisfactions.

8 – Accept imperfections to be satisfied with life

We think that happiness is achieved when everything is perfect. In fact, when things go wrong, we almost prevent ourselves from being happy.

This is because we have a far too perfectionist image of happiness. It has to be perfect! Which is completely false.

In fact, to be happy, to be satisfied with our lives, we need to learn to accept life’s imperfections and our own imperfections.

Nothing is perfect, and yet there is room for happiness.

9 – Seek peace of heart and mind and be content with what you have

Happiness is not a state of exuberant joy. In fact, happiness is often a gentle, light feeling of peace.

In fact, when we’re happy, it’s not always with joy, but rather when our hearts and minds are at peace.

The problem is that in our society, all we hear about is the joyful, exuberant happiness we show everyone.

But happiness is also and above all (in my opinion) something much more intimate, personal and gentle.

That’s why, instead of constantly seeking your happiness in something as dazzling as joy, why not seek it in peace of heart and mind?

10 – Embrace boredom to be satisfied with life

In fact, when we talk about being satisfied with our lives, there’s a part of us that really wants it, that longs for it, but there’s also another part of us that lives it with fear.

Because being content with what you’ve got, being satisfied with your life, has a very dull side. In effect, we feel as if we’re laying down our weapons, that we no longer have to aspire to more, to better, and that we’re therefore condemning ourselves to a life of boredom.

So, yes and no.

Indeed, to be satisfied with our lives, we need to accept a certain amount of boredom. A boredom that can also be experienced with a certain peace of heart and mind.

But being satisfied with your life doesn’t mean you stop dreaming and pursuing certain life goals.

Ultimately, boredom invites us to live consciously in the present moment, while leaving room for creativity to breathe new ideas into tomorrow.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover Life’s trials and tribulations: 6 tips for overcoming them
Discover How to get clarity in your life: 6 effective steps

I recommend this inspiring book:

The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking

This book looks at the Danish concept of hygge, a cultural approach to conviviality and contentment. It explores how simple, comforting pleasures, along with attention to the present moment, can contribute significantly to a more satisfying and joyful life. Through anecdotes and practical advice, the author shows how incorporating the principles of hygge can improve well-being and foster a sense of fulfillment in everyday life.

One of the best books I’ve read, thanks to it I’ve made my house habitable, everything is in harmony and we think more about enjoying a chai tea or the lighting I have to change the lamps and candles I’m afraid to light them but I love them.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself