"We look for happiness - but, we don't look for things that make us unhappy, and work to get rid of them."
I heard this on a podcast. And, now I can't find the source of who actually said it. I believe it was Jesse Itzler - being interviewed for his book "Living with the Monks."
But, I love this idea.
Often we are focused on things that we feel will make us happy, overlooking the stresses in our lives, the things and relationships that affect how we feel.
The ones who break our peacefulness and cause us to feel "Unhappy", not realizing if we cut out the things that bring us unhappiness, we would be happy!
Say our total happiness scale is at 60, and you want to get happier, you have to look around for the 40% that is irritating and not making you happy!
We often tolerate things that are actually reducing the happiness of life.
They don't have to big and drama filled, they can be simple things that each day zap just a bit of happiness. If we work to eliminate the things that are taking a piece of the happiness pie away, we will be just a bit more happy.
So, I am going to watch for the things that grab me and pull me away from being happy and see how I can reduce or eliminate them.
For, I am one of the very lucky ones, there is nothing huge in front of me that is making me unhappy. However, if there are little unhappiness things floating around in my life, I need to find ways to reduce them.
Stop looking and dreaming of becoming happier, instead locate the unhappy things and deal with them.
Another cool thing that Jesse did say, was "Remember Tomorrow".
So, when you are thinking about quitting, that you have given it your all, and you want to quit, think about how you will feel about this choice tomorrow? Will you have regrets?
As we were hiking on the Pinkerton Creek trail on Saturday, we were almost to the end, and I realized my new hip wasn't feeling so good. And, we still had to walk out as far as we had walked in. We were close to the end, but I said, "We better turn around," and we did. After hiking a few minutes, heading back to the jeep, I then thought of "Remember Tomorrow." And, changed my mind and direction. We finished the trail to the lake.
And, what a gorgeous sight awaited us, and cooler temps and no bugs and a wonderful place to rest a bit before we headed out. The little rest helped my hip recover for the hike out.
This technique works for other things too, like when you are going to break a vow you have with yourself, or when you are hedging from making a decision about whether to go or join etc. What we do today, will affect how we feel about ourselves tomorrow.
I love this.
I will "Remember Tomorrow" when making decisions.
We can also remember tomorrow, when we make the decisions that are hard for the moment. We can do what is hard to day, to make a happier tomorrow!
Often the choices I have made, had a much bigger impact on tomorrow, and in that moment caused me pain.
Remember Tomorrow!
