Wednesday, February 7, 2001

Living happiness

When you chase happiness it can be frustratingly elusive. Once you arrive at where you thought it would be, it has sped off to somewhere else. A sure sign that you’re chasing happiness to no avail is the phrase “if only,” as in “if only I had a new car, then I’d be happy” or “if only I had a better job, then I’d be happy."

It’s great to have higher and higher ambitions. Yet when you make your happiness conditional, you never seem to be able to meet all the conditions. You arrive at one “if only” to discover a whole set of new “if onlys."

A better strategy is not to chase happiness but to make it right where you are. Rather than putting conditions on your happiness, simply allow it to be. Could you be happy right now, right here? Of course. By all means pursue your dreams. Make things better. And enjoy each moment along the way. There’s no need to wait for happiness. You don’t get it by chasing it. You have it by living it.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©2001 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.