This is the race that never ends. Thankfully too. If the race ends, you do too. I guess in that sense it’s more like a marathon.
What is it?
Life.
If you don’t stop and take a nice big step back you’ll wind up 75, wondering where all of the time went. You’ll probably think that the time has flown by so fast but in reality, every day is comprised of the same 24 hours as the last one. We’re surprised when the day seems to just get away from us.
On top of this, we’re also very good at searching for the next best thing. We’re always looking for the next best workout, diet program, tv-series, restaurant, etc. Perhaps more than any of those things above we’re searching for the keys to success but above all, most people seem to be on the endless quest for happiness.
We’ve got books on happiness, we’ve got courses on happiness, and plenty of marketing to support the messaging that happiness is only a purchase away or at a destination escape a few hours away. You hear it from both young people and old people. No one can escape the grips of the happiness quest.
Younger people say the elusive sentence of “I just want to be happy.” Old people say nothing is more important than living a life of happiness. Maybe it’s because they’ve squandered the majority of their own lives without finding it or maybe they were one of the lucky ones to understand where to find it?
Where is this happiness thing?
Why is it so difficult to find for some and yet others have no problem living a full life of happiness?
Ultimately, happiness is the collective make-up of your internal thoughts mixed with your external environment, and the feedback loop that connects the two. By understanding that happiness comes from within, through the decisions you’ve chosen to make mentally, you hold all of the keys. You are both the master locksmith and the lock itself.
If we consider it that way then you have both the ability to try different keys which represent the internal thoughts you have towards situations every time you’re presented with anything that challenges your happiness.
Additionally, you’re in control to the point that if your thoughts, no matter how positive or reassuring they are to yourself, fall short because of your environment, then as the locksmith you can change the environment (lock) in which you’re working with altogether. You can decide to paint a picture of what you want your happiness to look like. Sometimes people think they’re happy but over time realize they loaned out their happiness to external factors. In the end, sometimes all it takes is trusting yourself to