Some Thoughts
“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness.”
– Dalai Lama
The right to happiness and the ability to achieve it is within everybody. It’s an attitude – a state of mind – and it is not primarily dependent on external conditions. Happiness is the purpose of life — but it’s also the journey. Each day is a challenge to remain positive; there are so many external factors that have the ability to influence your mood and disposition, your mind and your spirit. Once you are able to move past the external circumstances that you can’t change, it becomes almost instinct to brush off the feelings and stresses caused by your environment, and to use your own self — your own energy — to change your mood into what you want it to be. This is ‘being centered’ or ‘at peace with one’s self;’ it is complete knowledge of your own emotions and reactions.
The most important use of knowledge is to understand ourselves and make changes from within — to develop a good heart. Once you understand yourself, it becomes easier and easier to relate to and understand those around you. Once you’re familiar and comfortable with your own perspective, your own ideals and morals, it becomes almost second nature to see things through other’s eyes, and this is one of the most important abilities a person can cultivate. To walk a mile in someone else’s shoes is to try and feel the way they feel, and think the way they think. It allows you to empathize, and more importantly, to relate.
To come at this idea from a different perspective, consider the emotion ‘anger.’ While happiness is positive for you and all around you, anger is the exact opposite. It is not productive, it is not helpful, and it is not healthy. Emotions are natural, and there is no shame in being angry, but consider how your anger in a given moment can affect not only those around you, but also yourself, and the potential consequences of your externalization of anger. Is action influenced by anger not likely to cause more negativity?
Don’t expect appreciation — don’t wait for signs of gratification. To control your anger, or to use your happiness and positive energy to your advantage, is not something you can explain or describe to someone else. Be your own inspiration and motivation. If you live your life waiting for others to praise and inspire you, you will not accomplish the things that you want to accomplish. Don’t expect immediate results from those around you — this will follow naturally.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
–Steve Jobs
I’ve come to a crossroads in my life. I was a student and a child, and then I started attending college. Once I stopped going to college, I was just dropped into the real world — no experience, nobody to tell me what to do, and nobody watching me to make sure I didn’t do something stupid. But I didn’t understand this. In my mind, I was still a child — waiting for this weird interim of work to end so my life could go back to normal. But the truth is, there is no ‘normal’. Life isn’t a plan, it’s not a race, and there’s nothing and nobody telling you how to live your life. The expression “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” is common, but is one of the most important ideals one could ever try to understand. Life isn’t on ‘pause’ waiting for me to get back. This is real life — and I’m in charge.
“I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life… to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
–Henry David Thoreau
Take a few minutes out of your daily routine, and ask yourself ‘When I die, what do I want to have done with my life?’ How do you want to live? How do you want to be remembered? More importantly, what do you want right now, and how are you going to go about getting it?
“It’s been two years now and I still haven’t had mine..I’m starting to think this is who i’m supposed to be.”