American write Denis Waitley wrote “It is not in the pursuit of happiness that we find fulfillment, it is in the happiness of pursuit.”
In the West we are schooled in working hard today and planning to achieve success tomorrow to reach a ‘someday’ point of being happy; ‘I’ll be truly happy once I’ve passed my exams/got that car/found a partner.’ The trouble is, no matter what you achieve, fulfilment always remains horribly illusive.
In the East people are schooled not to look to the future but to live ‘In the now’ and not get distracted by a feeling tomorrow that never comes. The trouble is, this is the surest way to have your furniture repossessed.
It strikes me that the road less travelled leading to fulfilment is to combine both by setting big goals and having high standards but choosing to love the problems this brings full square into our lives in the now. We need to love getting up at 5 in the morning to train, or the pain we carry, and the ‘t*ssers’ we sometime encounter en route. Love it all or stay unfulfilled.
Happy Easter!
Comments