Happiness It not about getting a bigger house, it is about how you feel in the one you have.
Nobody holds the key to your happiness but yourself. All you need to do is to learn how to unlock it.
Let me share a story with you, it involves a fisherman and an investment banker:
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “Only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
Stop searching for happiness – it’s already there!
I’m sure that by now you’ve already realized that happiness is not what you achieve but how you feel while getting there. It is not about a job, a house, a car or number of kids, t is the way you choose to live your life.
I believe we are all happy, but somewhere along the way we become oblivious of the fact.
So here are some things you can do to remind yourself of how incredibly happy you already are.
Happiness is within you
It not about getting a bigger house, it is about how you feel in the one you have.
First you have to realize that happiness is not some external thing that you can achieve, but the state of your inner being. Some externally obtained things can give us the sense of happiness but it is a very short-lived emotional state. Take a look at desires. Feeling happy after one of your desires is fulfilled is a simple mind game: you want something and your mind is focused on getting you that. While thinking of the ways to achieve its goal you mind is occupied, working in overdrive and feeling tormented with desire. Once you obtain the object of your desire your mind finally rests. It is that rest, that lowered mind activity that gives you the feeling of happiness. But for how long? Unfortunately not long enough. Pretty soon that feeling of joy starts to fade and you look for new things to focus your attention to.
Happiness vs pleasure
Happiness is often confused with pleasure. Whereas pleasure is the feeling that comes from enjoyment of one or more of our five senses, happiness is not dependent on physical sensations. You can easily remember the times when you were genuinely happy regardless of unpleasant things happening around you, or not being able to feel the joy despite the wonderful circumstances at the time. It’s because happiness is an emotion coming from within, a state of mind that you choose to be in.
Who holds the key to your happiness?
We commonly forget that we have the power to choose how we feel and get caught up in believing that somebody else can make us feel happy or miserable. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Somebody’s actions, words or presence itself can only give us pleasure or make us feel uncomfortable but certainly can’t change the way we feel inside. Thinking that our happiness depends on somebody else is renouncing ourselves of the birth-given right to be free, independent and to choose our life. Nobody holds the key to your happiness but yourself.
The sooner you realize that happiness lives within you, the sooner you will regain your power back and start living a free and happy life.