How do we find happiness, or at least contentment in life? In a previous article I discussed how to use your vision to navigate through life’s journey. As I pointed out, the importance lies not in the final destination but in making the journey, planning the course and meeting the obstacles laid out in front of us.
A couple of weeks ago my daughter got married. This was a journey I had foreseen, a great happy event. All the relatives and friends came to celebrate a new start in my daughter’s life. A few days later, a close relative died, and relatives and friends came to grieve and start life anew. Each of these events changed our lives. Each was a gathering of people who gave support and shared love. All those present went away from both events more content with our own lives. We had a chance to stop, look around and self-evaluate: How do I live with a married daughter and her new husband? How do I live with one less important person in my life? It is this self-evaluation that brings contentment and happiness within our lives.
A few years back I took a sailing trip that started in Monastir, Tunisia. The first part of the journey would take us to the island of Malta. It was the trip I had envisioned making ever since I had learned to sail. For the first eight hours of the trip I was excited and happy. The second eight hours were a different story. I became seasick -- the sickness that comes on and cannot be turned off. I periodically studied the back of the boat. My vision of the journey was being destroyed by something I thought I had no control over. I had come here to sail, and now I was wasting my vision, my idea of happiness and fun. Would I have to change my vision?
When we arrived in Malta, I went ashore and the illness passed. Leaving the next day, I was bound and determined not to become ill again. I talked to the others about how they controlled seasickness and elected to beat it by determination. I succeeded and wasn’t ill for the rest of the trip. If you asked me now how was the trip and was I happy with it, I would answer that the trip was great, one of the best experiences of my life. I would happily do it again -- and I have.
We all need time to stop and go for a walk and decide what is important to us -- what makes us happy and content with our lives. We need to recognize those people who are important to us and how they make us happy. Most of all, we need to do what makes us feel good in all aspects of our lives.
Search for Happiness - To learn more about this author, visit Robert Boucher's Website.
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