Quotes & statements from Holland by contention (the twelve elements of contentment) - The Netherlands

Self-awareness & Self-insight

• what you say, is what you are.

Independency & Steadfastness

• Sometimes I'm so independent I forget to listen to myself.
• By 'Loesje' (a Dutch Quote community)

Limitlessness & Freedom

• “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
• “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
• “I've found that there is always some beauty left -- in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.”
• By 'Anne Frank' written during wartime while hiding.

Usefulness & Meaning

• “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
• By 'Anne Frank'

Experience & Feeling alive

• Did you find a coin? It will bring you luck - The Netherlands.

Helpfulness & Attentiveness

• Vragen staat vrij. It means it is your freedom to ask, you can always ask. The other person can always say no. When you want to help people, it is also best to ask, do they want help? What kind of help? Everything starts with a question. So many things can be done with a good heart, but the effect is gone, when your help doesnt fit.

Engagement & Sense of surroundings

• Blow away the seeds of a dandelion in one breath. You may make a wish

Goal Orientation & Sense of perspective

• Did you hit the goalpost at football? You will win the next match

Balance & Stability

• Doe maar normaal, dan doe je al gek genoeg: Act normal, that is already crazy enough.

Result awareness & Positivity

• Are we going Dutch? Everyone pays for themselves. It might not seem positive, but it connects with the Dutch believe in equality. In a way it is straightforward and clear, you pay what you order, so no need to be worried about your expenses. PS only when you divide the bill and the other person has ordered more expensive drinks or food. Just remember what you ordered and give it to the person who will pay. We have a thing called Tikkie or a possibility on any bank app to send a whatsapp message with a link so people can pay back easily. To me as a dutch person, it is positive and it is going towards your own results: saving money, if that is what you are after. 

Connectivity & Contacts

• Wat gij niet wilt dat u geschiedt, doe dat ook een ander niet. ' Het rijmpje' komt uit de Lutherbijbel van 1545. It means don't do to others what you don't want to be done towards yourself. The rhyme (in dutch) is from the Lutherbible of 1545.

Attention & Focus

• Did you step in dog poo? It will bring you luck.

Quotes & statements from around Africa by country and contention (the twelve elements of contentment)

Self-awareness & Self-insight

• We are what our thinking makes us: Nigeria.
• Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand: Guinea.
• Those who are happy at home should remain at home.

Independency & Steadfastness

• Examine what is said, not him who speaks: Egypt.

Limitlessness & Freedom

• Happiness often sneaks through your door when you left the door open.
• Dance even if the hump on your back does not allow you.

Usefulness & Meaning

• Ubuntu: I am a person through other people. (Zulu)
  • Desmond Tutu said: “One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu, the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. We believe that a person is a person through other persons.. It is a form of humanism which can be expressed
  • "I am, like because of who we all are." Ubuntu signifies emphatically that: “The life of another person is at least as valuable as one’s own,” and that “Respect for the dignity of every person is integral to this concept.”
  • Source

Experience & Feeling alive

• Those who are absent are always wrong: Congo.

Helpfulness & Attentiveness

• Happiness is not perfected until it is shared.

Engagement & Sense of surroundings

• Happiness is like a perfume, you cannot pour it all on others without allowing a few drops to fall on yourself.
• The chameleon changes color to match the earth; the earth doesn’t change colors to match the chameleon: Senegal.

Goal Orientation & Sense of perspective

Balance & Stability

• If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building, or do you change the nail?
• Who swims never sinks.

Result awareness & Positivity

Connectivity & Contacts

• Lonely is one: Masai.
• Alone in counsel, alone in sorrow.

Attention & Focus

• Coffee and love taste best when hot: Ethiopia.
• He who learns teaches: Ethiopia.