Don't chase happiness, be happiness.

[Harry Waywell]

Don't chase happiness, be happiness.

If you place your happiness into the future, you automatically make yourself unhappy now.

Still set goals, and work towards them, just don't say "I'll be happy when I get there".

This is a lesson I've been learning over the past few months and continuing...

Being grateful for what you have and being okay with your life situation now is what really matters.

Don't use this as an excuse to not take action though... do both - be grateful and work hard.

It's good to have big goals and a dream life you're always working towards, but make sure to notice the dream that you're already living.

It's easy for the mind to miss the good stuff that is already here, we have to make a conscious effort to recognise it.

Are you happy with where you are or do you place too much of your happiness into the future?

 

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[SteveO]

Agree!!! If you are not happy now, you will not be happy later. Plus, it will be more difficult to achieve your goals if you are not enjoying the process.

 

[Harry Waywell]

Agree!!! If you are not happy now, you will not be happy later. Plus, it will be more difficult to achieve your goals if you are not enjoying the process.

Exactly!

 

[LightningHelix]

Absolutely agree with this,

While I would definetly say I apply it, I always feel guilty if my fastlane plans aren't progressing in some way. That usually motivates me to keep on keeping on, because it eventually eats away at me, out of fear with being satisfied with my levels of happiness.

It's a tough balance.

 

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[Benedict]

Well written, thanks.

About 10 years ago or so I read a lot Eckhart Tolle. And another good book I really love till today: Momo from Michael Ende.

I declared that, unlike my environment, I wouldn't give up my present for the future. But there is also a pitfall with it:

You don't want to become the hippie just smokin weed all day and saying "live in the present, duuuude". So, I thought you need balance:

Working towards the future, towards a goal or better yet:

Fullfilling my vision and mission.

I realized: Love the future (life) like you love the present (life).

It is said easier as it's done.

As @LightningHelix described: How do you keep balance?

You enjoy a day off and feel like you don't work on your future enough. You hustle for week (while enjoying it) and think you didn't take time for friends, nature - present stuff.

Also, in my country, most people sacrifice their present for the future. The work, build houses and have so few free time to enjoy present live... Taking a day off to enjoy something seems laughable. - It isn't always easy to not feel bad having a different approach towards live.

...

After all, I stick to the "Ying Yang"-kind of philosophy and can handle the balance most of the time. I would raise my children that way. Because, you never know, when it will be over. I had too many people in my family die too young in the last years.

Worship the time that is given to you. Learn to enjoy the process and cultivate it in a way so that it is possible to do so.

 

[Timea Szabo]

Very well written.

I personally believe that people should be consistent in wanting to achieve their goals, and so should dedicate enough of their time to see results. However this can sometimes come in conflict with seeing friends and family, and doing hobbies you enjoy.

Some people dedicate their entire lives to working on a business that may not have been worth it 40 years down the line, at the expense of spending valuable time with their loved ones.
I suppose happiness is subjective though.

When lying on deaths bed, many people will reflect on their lives and ask themselves if they are happy with the life they lived. Make sure the life you live is one worth remembering. Add value to peoples lives and make sure you do enough of what makes you happy.

Time is so important and you must distribute it wisely though.

Edit - In response to your question, I am happy with where I am at now. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Harry Waywell]

Absolutely agree with this,

While I would definetly say I apply it, I always feel guilty if my fastlane plans aren't progressing in some way. That usually motivates me to keep on keeping on, because it eventually eats away at me, out of fear with being satisfied with my levels of happiness.

It's a tough balance.

It's a hard one to master for sure, I think it's a constant lesson. It's so easy for the mind to place happiness into the future, but it's definitely something you can work on with things like gratitude and positive thinking etc!

So do you have fear of being satisfied because you might not want to progress or?

 

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[Harry Waywell]

Well written, thanks.

About 10 years ago or so I read a lot Eckhart Tolle. And another good book I really love till today: Momo from Michael Ende.

I declared that, unlike my environment, I wouldn't give up my present for the future. But there is also a pitfall with it:

You don't want to become the hippie just smokin weed all day and saying "live in the present, duuuude". So, I thought you need balance:

Working towards the future, towards a goal or better yet:

Fullfilling my vision and mission.

I realized: Love the future (life) like you love the present (life).

It is said easier as it's done.

As @LightningHelix described: How do you keep balance?

You enjoy a day off and feel like you don't work on your future enough. You hustle for week (while enjoying it) and think you didn't take time for friends, nature - present stuff.

Also, in my country, most people sacrifice their present for the future. The work, build houses and have so few free time to enjoy present live... Taking a day off to enjoy something seems laughable. - It isn't always easy to not feel bad having a different approach towards live.

...

After all, I stick to the "Ying Yang"-kind of philosophy and can handle the balance most of the time. I would raise my children that way. Because, you never know, when it will be over. I had too many people in my family die too young in the last years.

Worship the time that is given to you. Learn to enjoy the process and cultivate it in a way so that it is possible to do so.

Yes I fully agree, it's a balance and a hard one to get right! Eckhart Tolle's "The Power Of Now" is one of my all time favourite books. I like your philosophy on this though, love the future like you love the present - that's a good one!

 

[Harry Waywell]

Very well written.

I personally believe that people should be consistent in wanting to achieve their goals, and so should dedicate enough of their time to see results. However this can sometimes come in conflict with seeing friends and family, and doing hobbies you enjoy.

Some people dedicate their entire lives to working on a business that may not have been worth it 40 years down the line, at the expense of spending valuable time with their loved ones.
I suppose happiness is subjective though.

When lying on deaths bed, many people will reflect on their lives and ask themselves if they are happy with the life they lived. Make sure the life you live is one worth remembering. Add value to peoples lives and make sure you do enough of what makes you happy.

Time is so important and you must distribute it wisely though.

Edit - In response to your question, I am happy with where I am at now. Onwards and upwards.

Thanks for the great response. I agree, it's quite hard to get the balance right with working on business, relationships and health. It's just good to reflect every now and again, maybe do some journaling on it, to see whether you have been living the life how you actually want to live it - because it's so easy to lose yourself in the hustle!

 

[LightningHelix]

It's a hard one to master for sure, I think it's a constant lesson. It's so easy for the mind to place happiness into the future, but it's definitely something you can work on with things like gratitude and positive thinking etc!

So do you have fear of being satisfied because you might not want to progress or?

To some degree you could say that. I know what kind of lifestyle I'm looking for. But I find that changing my mindset over the last couple of years has done wonders for my outlook on life. Sometimes I wonder if changing my mindset was all I ever needed.

Then I remind myself how I can get easily bored with my current lifestyle and I want to experience other things, I might be okay here today, but probably not tomorrow.

There's also a creative side to me the really needs to get out there too. I know that I have to work at it for that to be possible. Solving people's problems, making things easier for others, expressing myself, these are things that literally give me joy.

The grind of corporate work can be monatanous at times, sometimes you are making great changes that helps others. Sometimes you are stuck in meeting hell, where nothing gets done. Plus none of the things you work on are really "yours".

 

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