I had a great conversation with a friend of mine a few weeks ago and we were talking about the Dalai Lama and how he was asked at a news conference “what’s the meaning of life,” to which he responded “happiness.” As with everything in life, there is a balance there, a healthy and unhealthy way to work towards happiness but, I can’t think of a better goal to commit to than happiness.
I remember thinking earlier this year, and I may have written an email about the thought, where I was “just imaging” that if you had a transplant, as I have, that after you would then have this super immune system. Instead of having one that needs to rebuild from the basement, imagine if you developed this new better than ever immune system. And in some strange way it does seem that since I have played with the scenario I have made some pretty good progress with the very few flus that I have had. I’m presently working through the final stages of one that knocked me down a few notches the days before the Climb and then forced some needed recharging last week. But it never did progress to a really challenging point, which I’m quite thankful for. Maybe, just maybe, I’m getting better at listening to my body and resting before I get too worn down and a mild flu becomes a major deal. Who knows, but I do know that last week’s rest was needed and helped on many levels.
One of the levels it helped on was the happiness level, as that is something I’ve spent a fair bit of time thinking about lately as I’ve been going through another creative phase where I have been going deep inside and answering some more of my many questions. So I spent some time with the happiness questions: What makes me happy? Why is that so? How do I get more of it? Those kinds of questions.
Here’s what I’ve figured: the peak, the pinnacle, the top of the mountain is making the effort to help someone else. I haven’t found anything quite as amazing as the feeling of connecting with another person and helping them. I have also learned that I don’t control whether or not I’m able to help someone, as some people are open to my help, other’s aren’t, some really look for it, others would rather another option. So my focus has been on me, and my effort, and I can say that when you commit to making the effort to help others, however you choose to do it, that commitment becomes a way of life, and it’s a way of life that can be filled with positive reinforcement as your efforts snowball.
As I said happiness comes with balance, and I do feel it is extremely important to take care of ourselves, over-extending ourselves consistently to help others is not, in the long run, helping anyone. I believe we have to take care of us, we are most important, as if we aren’t here how can we possibly help others. There are also lots of other things that contribute very directly to my happiness, and I have developed a pretty reliable method to check my behaviour with my gut to ensure my motives and intentions are coming from a solid place, and I feel great comfort that as long as my gut is happy with my choices, then my commitment to happiness is taken care of.
It’s an interesting process to sit and make a list of what makes you happy, the tangible things, like classic rock and roll, a dance floor and a dancing partner, and the intangible things, like being at a party that needs a kick start, finding some classic rock and roll, the dance floor and a dancing partner. Since beginning to play with my list I have found that the most important element is the intangible component of coming from a healthy place, a place that is aligned with my core values and beliefs, and when that happens, it’s all good. And I have great comfort with that process in the past little while, and it is all good.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
