Contentment

I was reading a post on a blog the other day, dont ask me which one, I seem to pop in on so many lately, and the theme was life changing moments.
It set me to thinking, something we have time for now we live here. What is the most important thing I have since coming to Portugal... well I cant say one thing above many, but one thats way way up there on the list is contentment. When you consider we have, in material means , many times less than we ever had in our lives, less money, less stuff (I dislike stuff) as in belongings, no tv, radio or home computer, few really of modern day 'things'. We've downsized our complete lives, but in so many other ways our lives are richer and more fullfilled then I ever dreamed they would be.
We effectively ´'got off´ the whole bandwagon, well as much as possible anyway, we've tried to take our pleasure and enjoyment in different ways, we look back to a simpler lifestyle where work wasnt a dirty word that everyone hoped to avoid. So much time in the UK was and is spent trying to avoid work, disliking work, inventing and buying 'labour saving devices' , whats actually wrong with a bit of hard work.... nothing really. providing that work is something you enjoy, something you feel is productive and relevant. We are lucky now, ours is...
We work harder here than ever before, but I have come to enjoy it, I like to look at the wood pile we've created, I know we'll be warm this winter.
I hope this isnt to much of a ramble... Im trying to make my thoughts coherent..
I think what Im trying to say is ... we look at things differently now, before I tried to fit so much into one day, everything was rushed and stressfull, now I try to just do my best at whatever Im doing, I enjoy cooking, so all our food is homemade, homegrown, and fresh. I mend our clothes rather than buy new, we try to simplify everything we can, including our attitudes to life and people . We dont crave what we know we'll never have, we are content with what we have, our house is still a semi ruin, it wll effectively take us the rest of our lives to finish, but thats not a problem.
We can enjoy our time, feel the glow of satisfaction of a job well done, enjoy the simple things like the swallows flying above the house in such intricate patterns, the Eagles calling to each other across the valley, the smell of the forest early in the morning, picking and eating our food fresher than ever... so many things we have.... such richness of life... we are blessed...