"Practice is not about escaping life—it's about meeting it fully."

Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness. 

As I sit in the front room of my house, on my big comfy red chair, with my precious red heeler, Lila, sleeping on her ottoman and ignoring the view of her outside domain, I am so touched. The evening sun is lighting up the bushes and trees outside in such a lovely autumnal glow. I have some instrumental guitar music playing on Spotify, supporting my creative endeavor of writing something that matters. Or at least doesn’t suck. 

I’m basking in a moment like this, because it feels hard earned. I’ve been driven and goal-oriented since my youth, and contentment does not come naturally. 

I first learned about contentment, or santosha in Sanskrit, in yoga teacher training back in New York City, 2004, which was probably the most competitive era of my life. Just hearing about santosha, which is one of the inner practices of yoga (niyama), spark...