End your pursuit of happiness.
What?!
Uh, Will Smith wouldn’t like that Evan…
I know.
But this isn’t a movie.
And I didn’t spell happiness wrong haha…
(I know it was on purpose in the movie don’t hassle me for that one)
Let me drop a seed into your mind and see what happens…
If you went out onto the street and asked 10 people what their main goal in life was, they would probably shoot something back at you about happiness…
I have no qualms with wanting to live a happy life at all. We should all do what we can to bring happiness into our life, or at least create a type of life that allows for it to arrive.
But to seek it…hmm
Problematic.
Society has fed us this story that we must always be in the pursuit of happiness throughout our entire lives. Like…”Go out there and you can catch it or buy it somehow.”
However, there’s not really much support in terms of how to live a happy life.
Sure books have been written and countless movies made, but there’s still a hole in the entire teaching of the concept altogether.
What if…
Instead of always chasing happiness…
We tried something else entirely? What if, in the end, it was our daily actions and development in all areas of our lives that allowed for happiness to crawl in when it was supposed to?
Wouldn’t this just open everything up?
Think about it as if you were planting a seed.
You would tend to it every single day day, make sure it had enough water and good soil, and give it the best chance to grow.
Wouldn’t that be pretty interesting to do with your own life?
Wouldn’t it also take us out of this place of seeking…bring us into the present (today’s actions) and not make us feel like we were doing something wrong if happiness didn’t show up (“it should look this way” type of thinking)?
Could you try that on?
Happiness is absolutely a great thing to have in your life, but it’s also something that’s very fleeting like any other emotion.
If you try to run after it directly, time and time again it will elude you. However, if you start to focus on building your dreams and being the best person you could be, happiness effortlessly enters into your life.
Isn’t that interesting? Maybe we shouldn’t be chasing happiness after all.
If we are continually growing, we feel that we are making progress in our lives and are therefore okay with how things are going.
Nevertheless, aimlessly searching for an emotion that cannot be gripped onto… like every other emotion we experience seems a bit nuts in the first place.
So what if you tried on this idea for awhile and allowed yourself to focus on development instead of happiness?
Give it a try
Action Steps For Today
Intention: To build awareness of how you are changing
Practice: How Am I Growing & Developing?
It’s time to sit down with your journal and answer the question, “How am I growing and developing?” What has been changing for you going through these lessons? What realizations are you having? This is about seeing how the seed is taking root vs. demanding a tree as soon as you plant it.
PS. If you’re feeling a bit “stuck” in life right now and looking for some help in navigating through your challenges, here at the 7 ways I can help you as a life coach www.1on1withevan.com