Not directed at you, I've just been a bit confused by the tension between contentment and complacency. I think the resolution is some sort of pragmatic middle ground: fix what's wrong in your life, but at the same time, appreciate what's right.
Not directed at you, I've just been a bit confused by the tension between contentment and complacency. I think the resolution is some sort of pragmatic middle ground: fix what's wrong in your life, but at the same time, appreciate what's right.
The moment you say that something is "wrong" in your life is the moment you abandon the deepest (and, I think, most powerful) variety of tranquility.
You cannot categorize parts of life as "right" and "wrong" without discarding the general equanimity of true inner peace.
I think this is a common dilemma for Americans in particular, because the concept of success is so ingrained in our perspective of life that we cannot let go of it.
On the other hand, in the complete absence of right and wrong, words like complacency lose their meaning. Someone with true inner peace is not complacent per se, nor are they even indifferent. Instead, on a deep and abiding level, they are accepting and nonjudgemental.
After all, what could cause a person to lack internal happiness/peace except external influences and, perhaps most importantly, their own judgments about those influences? Even judgments about themselves must be based on external factors, otherwise what is one to consider deficient in his/her own existence?