The more you escape your comfort zone and be comfortable with discomfort, the more you’ll grow and be capable of taking on life’s challenges. That sacrifice can come in different forms, but it always entails suffering, whether heartbreak, refusing to eat highly-processed foods, or having that difficult conversation. Truth is, you can only get long-term satisfaction with some short-term sacrifice. We could lose loved ones, face health ailments, or other challenging scenarios threatening our material or physical livelihood. If we’re shielded our entire lives from going through difficult situations, how can we expect to react appropriately to what life throws at us?Īnd sure enough, life has some curveballs to throw as time passes. If you want to be slim and in shape, you must workout and get rid of junk food. If you want more money, you need to work hard. Nothing good comes in life without pain or suffering. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.” “ This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. To Be Happy, You Must Accept Suffering Figure 19: Suffering by Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne, 1854–56, printed 1862, via the Met Museum.
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You always have a choice on how to live life.Ĥ. It’s a fallacy to think that our past influences our present or future in any way. Change isn’t possible since we are the same person, we think. We often cringe at moments of the past or cling to some image of ourselves that we feel we somehow must showcase today. “ The past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.”Īs much as we place our hopes on a better future, we allow our past to define our present with the same enthusiasm. There are countless moments around you that you can appreciate, small or big. You can be grateful for your family and your loving and supporting friends, or your health is in check, and you can provide for yourself. Instead of thinking about what good (or bad) things await us in the future, it’s infinitely better to focus on what good things we have at the moment. Clinging to future expectations and desires only prevents us from enjoying our life.
He is much more concerned to have enjoyable memories and expectations-especially the latter.” Alan WattsĪmbitions and aspirations… seem to never materialize, don’t they? The perfect partner, the million-dollar idea, the promotion that could arrive any day: they’re all ideas that we keep in our mind to prevent us from feeling the pain we’ll feel if those moments don’t arrive. But man is hardly satisfied with this at all. “For the animal to be happy, it is enough that this moment be enjoyable. We’re Constantly Looking to the Future for Happiness Photo of Alan Watts via Twitter.
Today is all we have, so why go through life without enjoying it to the fullest?Ģ. Activities that provide you with life energy instead of depleting it.
Or, when you’re slaving away at the desk 60+ hours a week, with the excuse that you’re earning more money, achieving a higher status, or working for that coveted promotion.īut you’re doing that at the expense of your energy and time that you could spend pursuing hobbies, personal interests, or spending time with family and friends. When you isolate yourself from others for fear that relationships can negatively affect you, you’re depleting yourself of the opportunity to grow, hear other people’s ideas and opinions, even question your outlook on life and how you live it. You see, the more you try to escape insecurity, the more you invite it into your fold. Throughout our lives, we’re constantly trying to find ways to shed our insecurities. Meditation by Birger Carlstedt, 1945, via Wikimedia Commons.
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