But also work to improve your situation in life if you're not happy with it, 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.
It really depends on how serious you are about seeking inner peace.
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.
A simple, but insightful comment. When you consider the phrase "inner peace", you realize that it must actually be the natural state.
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?
Being unhappy with something and working on it are not necessarily related. You could work on something without thinking about it, or without expectations on the result. You could appreciate something as good but want to make it better. You can also be unhappy with something without working effectively on it.
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.