Motivational Thinking: 1.13.24

Children look forward to birthdays, Halloween, & Christmas with glad eyes & a happy heart. Mostly because they get to see friends & family, but the gifts & candy likely play a part as well. As we age, though, the same things don’t bring us joy in the same way as they did when we were ten. Certainly, we are happy for the friends & family, but we also look forward to the time off of work as a major bonus of these days. The excitement we felt in youth has gone or, at the very least, changed its form to something we don’t immediately recognize.

On the whole, though, this is not a bad thing. Excitement is not the cause of happiness, but rather, a by-product of it. We must find our happiness in other ways than to seek excitement in everything. Certainly, this will make us an interesting person at parties, regaling everyone with tales of our exploits, but it won’t make us happy. There may be a brief spark of happiness as we are the center of attention, but this will fade unless we continue to do more exciting (& more exciting) things to generate new stories. No, this is not happiness, but a pale facsimile of it. So pale, in fact, that a breath will blow its light away.

True happiness comes from contentment with who you are at this moment. Not who you were & certainly not who you will become, but now. If you are not at peace with the person sitting in your chair as you read these words, you cannot be truly happy. Being happy is not born from things or deeds but from the simple inner peace of knowing who you are & what your life means right now. This person is the only person who can comprehend their place in the world & know how they fit into its inner workings. Know yourself & you will know peace. Know peace & you will know happiness. Excitement will fade, so instead, seek understanding yourself. Be happy, be healthy, be well.