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 Happiness is a choice, not a destination. You can start choosing with gratitude.
Anyone who has a child, or has had to ride in the car with a child 3 years of age or older, knows that it takes less than 10 minutes into the trip before the child will ask,
"Are we there yet?"
I have never traveled with kids from another culture, but I am pretty sure no matter what language they speak - they know how to say, "Are we there yet?"
As a parent myself, this has been very frustrating.
"Why can't you just be patient?"
What is it about kids that need to know what is next? What are we going to do now? What are we doing in the morning?
And, can they not trust their mom and I have their best interests in mind - and that we will actually take care of their needs?
"Daaaaaaaad...are we there yet?"
And even more, what is the actual age when they quit asking?
Well, a little thought dawned on me the other day. I was running around or doing some errands...and here are some of the thoughts that were bouncing around in my head...
* When will I feel secure about my career?
* Where is my next client going to come from?
* How much money do I need to make to feel comfortable?
Then it hit me! Here I am, chastising my own kids and telling them to trust me, yet these are the same questions in my head.
"Are we there yet?"
That is essentially what my fears are asking me?
The idea here is that there is a future destination that makes our fears go away - and once we get there (or achieve a goal), the fear disappears.
Has this ever been the case for you? Does the fear go away?
I doubt it.
Chances are, by the time we get to the destination we are seeking - we have long since projected out our comfort zone to a more distant destination.
When it comes to deferred happiness, or letting our fears dictate our benchmarks - it is a sliding scale.
And guess what, we will never catch up to it.
Instead, maybe we should take our own advice to our kids - and trust that our future, finances, and happiness are actually being taken care of. If we can accept that as truth - than we can also accept that our personal sense of peace and happiness is attainable right now - right here.
Happiness is a choice - not a destination.
You better start practicing your happiness now - or else you won't know what it looks like when you finally reach that goal.
So, how do you practice happiness?
For me, it starts with gratitude. Acknowledging the good already in my life - and letting my actions express this gratitude. If I am truly living gratitude - it means I am showing up happy, compassionate, forgiving, energetic, peaceful, harmonious, etc. And if that is how I am showing up - ta da - it probably means that I am happy.
Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health captures it a little better when she writes, "In order to apprehend more, we must put into practice what we already know."
Makes sense. If I want to be happy - I need to put happiness into practice and action.
Now, I can easily recognize that the times that I am not feeling this joy - it is because I am being controlled by my fears resulting in asking questions of, "Are we there yet?"
As I have said in my other blogs - this is all pretty simple stuff - just not always easy!
So, the next time you feel yourself asking the question, "Are we there yet?" - remind yourself that the "there" is already "here."
Now live it!
Read more from this blog at Direct Life Coaching .
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