IN THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
” A retired business executive went on vacation to enjoy the white sandy beaches of a tropical island paradise.While there, he saw a fisherman lying lazily beneath the shade of the coconut trees along the seashore. Curious he proudly accosted the fisherman.
Hombre shouldn’t you be working earning a living? Look at me. I’ve been working hard my whole life so I can afford to retire and enjoy going to the beach doing nothing.
To which the fisherman retorted.
Sir: I am waiting for the high tide so I can cast my boat out to sea and catch some fish to take to my family. All my life I’ve been enjoying the ocean relaxing while earning my living.
After hearing the fisherman’s reply the proud businessman retreated embarrassingly into the shadows.”
MORAL OF THE STORY: Happiness is relative. What is best for you may not be the other guy’s idea of success and fulfillment.
Goodness is inherent in a person”s character. And good manners can be taught and learned in the way we are brought up and molded.
No one is inherently all bad, he has some goodness deep inside.Yet we are a manifestation of the constant struggle of our “yin and yang”, of the raging battle between good and evil within ourselves.
When we succumb to our frailties and weaknesses, we let the animal in us out. But we must rise above ourselves and control our earthly desires to let the goodness flow.
When we seek power and wealth what are we hoping to achieve? When we desire life’s pleasures and indulge in self-gratification what will it bring us?
We pursue all the good things life can offer in a bid to gain happiness. But can all those material wealth and riches bring us joy?
While we relish and savor the pleasures our material possessions bring, can it get us lasting joy and peace? Many rich and powerful men died distraught and empty despite their great wealth. They couldn’t reconcile their life’s meaning and purpose.
Yet we continue to clamber our way to the top, even stepping on others just to get ahead of the pack. Ironically men spend an entire life acquiring wealth only to give it all away to charity at their end of days.
So how then should we live our lives? We all have some set of moral philosophy or beliefs to live by, depending on how we were raised and born into. But as men with free will and inherent goodness we can always choose the paths we take.We are what we make of ourselves.
Therefore it is important that we understand what we truly want in life. As we mature life’s stages can have different meanings for us. Younger we want more and more. Older and wiser we desire less but those more meaningful.
Finding contentment in every aspect of our lives is key to our happiness and peace. We can never have enough if we are not content with what we have. We can never be happy if we can’t find purpose in our lives.
In the pursuit of happiness, having purpose and finding meaning to it are crucial to a joyous existence.Less is more and frees us to do good and better things.