The second limb of yoga's eight limbs is niyama, the five rules of self-discipline. The one I am currently working on (practicing actively) is santosha. It is especially challenging for me on a day like today--when I am tired and uncertain of many things going on in my life--to practice santosha. But the show must go on, as they say.
Santosha is the practice and cultivation of contentment. Every breath, every moment,
provides the opportunity to practice patience and acceptance of what we are experiencing so that we can become happy. Even in tough situations, even in moments that are so far from joy we are stunned that life is so this or that (read 'anything but good!') this niyama according to Patanjali offers us the opportunity to reside in the state of contentment.
Santosha is not the same as complacency. Santosha requires us to simply notice and be as even-keeled as we can, flowing with calm and a non-rattled mentality with the forces of difficult times, life change, or disappointments. Complacency is giving in, defeated. Complacency takes little work and has dire consequences. Santosha takes active self-study and helps set us onto the path of liberation from suffering. In a nutshell, the attainment of contentment/santosha/happiness requires work.
"Owing to contentment, there is an unexcelled attainment of happiness" or...
"antoshad anuttama sukha labhah"
-Patanjali Yoga Sutras ii:42
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