Pursuit of happiness, wealth and prosperity are fine goals to strive for, and we encourage you to diligently work towards your dreams - your intent and commitment will surely bring forth the rewards you seek. Hand in hand with this pursuit, alternating with it like night and day, sun and shade, heat and cold - is the holy grail of contentment. When you take a break from the striving, from the continuous engagement of the mind, when you shift your focus to the present moment, taking in the wonders of creation around you, and drink deep from the rich flavor of life itself - you have applied the algorithm of contentment. For that time, however brief it may be, you are finally yourself - complete and perfect. This is your natural state, away from the strife and the pursuit - pleased, calm and relaxed.

This state of being, which can only imperfectly be described in words, refreshes you, replenishes you, and prepares you to take on new, meaningful challenges. Resting in this fashion, say even for 5 minutes for every two hours of work, will keep you alive and raring to go all day long. The contentment that those few minutes bring, also helps keep the world in perspective, prevents your being taken over by your own goals, and keeps the joy of living alive within you. Chasing our own thoughts has become a disease today, and this algorithm of contentment - of being more awake, aware and present - even for short periods of time - has the power to completely transform your life.

For many years in the West, especially until about mid-20th century, the career-oriented workaholic, who sacrificed family life and personal pleasures for work and money oriented goals was considered a hero. This slowly gave way to the "Work hard, Play hard" motto which continued to imply 'work' one way or the other. But humanity was observing its own fallacies, and family life slowly began gaining prominence. In fact, executives who ignore their own families are being looked at today as those who do not know how to lead a balanced life - and so of course, our ultra-career oriented friends will make sure that they somehow 'work it out'. Every situation continues to be seen as a problem that needs a solution, and can be 'worked out'. But sooner or later, we begin seeing burnouts, fatigue and a total lack of freshness in ideas. Executives parrot what their superiors are mouthing, and creative breakthroughs are few and far between. The whole world seems to be sweating it out, but going nowhere - even as basic issues such as poverty and hunger continue to drown large masses of humanity.

Humankind, and that means each one of us, has forgotten our natural state of grace - of lightness, of ease, of contentment. We have forgotten our true nature and have allowed our own thoughts to become masters of our destiny.

Take a break.

Rest a while.

Let the thoughts wash over you - don't pursue them. They are not worthy of your attention. Just for 5 minutes in every two hours, come back home. Truly come back, by fully observing your own body, from inside and out; your own breath, moving in and out; the colors around you, the texture of what you are holding, the air around you; come back, come back and recognize yourself as the entity that is aware of it all. In that moment of awareness, you, the Master, has returned, and all is well with the world - this, is your algorithm of contentment.