You’ll only be happy when…

You drive that new car.

You live in that big house.

You have that athletic body.

You’re in a relationship with the perfect spouse.

You have a prosperous business.

And, when you make tons of money.

Yup.

Everything must be perfect.

Right?

We’ve all heard that before.

And, yes, on the surface, it sounds pretty ridiculous.

We all know that’s not true – that’s not what will bring us happiness.

Sure, it definitely sounds nice, and having all those things would definitely be nice – I wouldn’t turn any of them away.

In fact, I welcome all of those things into my life.

It’s just, deep down, I recognize that NONE of them will BRING me happiness.

You know what I mean, right?

“Great is the delusion that “I will be happy when… (fill int he blank) There is no true happiness in accomplishment, other than the fleeting moment of exhilaration. Tomorrow we have to find the vision to meet a new day. Happiness comes when one knows that they are in the flow of life and of the guidance to live it fully and well.” – Eric Butterworth

So, why do we constantly take all the great things in our life for granted, in the pursuit of the “next best”?

Surely, we’re smart enough to know that nothing external will bring us happiness.

That’s something we create for ourselves – from inside.

We know that.

But yet, looking around, I can’t help but notice how so many design their life WITHOUT this understanding.

Like, they know it to be true, but they want to prove it to themselves.

“Let me just make sure millions of dollars won’t make me happy, then I’ll know for sure.”

Except, in the pursuit of those millions, we neglect our real riches – the gifts life hands to us – and, we move forward ungrateful and full of disappointment.

As you might be able to tell, I’ve been pretty lucky.

Forces have came together to put me in the right place, at the right time, after I had the right information.

But, before that, I made a TON of mistakes (still make some today).

As stupid as it sounds, I, too, wanted to prove to myself that things outside myself wouldn’t make me happy.

I mean, that’s not what I was telling myself, but that’s definitely how I behaved.

Then, something pretty cool happened.

I realized something, and I surrendered to it – in the best way possible.

I decided to just choose to be happy.

And that’s why I’m here, writing this.

If you haven’t already, I want you to choose happiness, too.

Like, to really choose it.

To stop chasing what society wants of you, and to really go deep inside yourself, recognize and TEAR APART those MYTHS you’ve been conditioned with, and to choose.

Because when we do that, we begin to go after the things that really matter to us.

We begin to go after things that bring us genuine satisfaction.

And, not just for a fleeting moment at the end, when we’ve reached what we wanted, but the entire way there – we appreciate the PROCESS.

That’s what “work” is about. That’s how we turn “work” into play.

“This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”- Alan Watts