Clark Kent, a 10-year-old boy dubbed "Superman", breaks a record that had been set by 23-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps way back in 1995. The Eagles' greatest hits album has moonwalked past Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to become history's best-selling album of all-time.
Too many people equate happiness with success. What level of success do you imagine will make you happy? I promise you, happiness born from the achievement of that success would be very short-lived. Once you have climbed that mountain, you will cast your gaze to the peak of another, higher mountain. I have met enough successful people to know that success cannot be equated with happiness. Some of them are tremendously happy, others are desperately miserable.
What do you want from life? Think about it. Stop reading. Write your answers down. Make a list. What you are about to write on that paper is infinitely more important than anything else I have to say in this posting.
Even when you write your list now, put it away and don't look at it for a year. When you do take the list out one year from now, you will be amazed by the self-revelation it will afford you.
Whatever you wrote on your list, chances are those are the things, places, people and experiences that you believe will make you happy.
Everybody wants to be happy. You want to be happy, and I want to be happy.
Are you happy?
Really. Think about it for a moment. Don't just float over the question like any other words on a page. Are you happy?
For most people the answer is "Yes and no" or "Yes, but I could be happier."
The pursuit of happiness means different things to different people. It means different things to you and me at different stages in our journey. Of course, expectations have a lot to do with our happiness. It is one of those life lessons that is hardest to learn.
Some people just seem happy on the outside but are desperately sad within. I know a woman like that. She was always smiling and laughing but as I got to know her, I came to learn that it was all just a façade. Deep inside she harboured a whole world of fear and hurt.
Some people are unhappy because they don't like their job or their spouse. Others are unhappy because they don't know how to appreciate who they are and all they have.
Let me tell you about my experiences with happiness. The first thing I learned is that you will never be happy pretending to be someone other than yourself. On too many occasions to count, and in ways to embarrassing to recall, I have tried to impress people by pretending to be someone other than who I really am. Most people can spot someone pretending to be other than who they really are as easily as they can spot a man wearing shoes that are four sizes too big. If we are to be happy, it will be as ourselves.
50% of all marriages end in divorce. 65% of all second marriages end in the same traumatic sadness. Disillusion always seems to follow when we expect someone or something else to make us happy.
My own life experiences have involved me with people in various walks of life. Many have shared with me their personal struggles and successes. There are also clear memories of my own successes and my own failures. The more we look within ourselves and not to other things for our happiness, we more we experience a sense of meaning in our lives.
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