One key to happiness

Good news - I didn't cry yesterday. I have moments of lightness, moments when I believe this will not last forever.

And great news! I have worked every day during this dark time. I have worked very hard. The lack of emotion, lack of enthusiasm gave me a focus that eludes me when I am happy. I so often skip from project to project, getting nothing finished and nothing accomplished. Lately I make my to-do lists and just mechanically cross off the items. Call the people I need to call, hand out business cards and network, finish my newsletter.

Faking enthusiasm and excitement can be done. I know people will not respond well to depression, anxiety, sadness - who would?? So to strangers I am happy, upbeat, complimentary. They respond better to me and it takes me outside my own grief for awhile. I am sure it helps my mood long term. I know nothing positive comes from sitting on the couch or lying in bed .

I have read a great deal lately about the meaning of life and spirituality. What did the Buddha say about work and money? What have wise people said about happiness?

The same theme repeats itself: find meaningful work, master it, give yourself to it.


This is truly revolutionary.

First the concept that work can make you happy. The people I worked with believed that happiness would be winning the lottery and never having to show up at work again. No one ever said, "If I didn't have to show up here every day, then I could pursue meaningful work." Meaningful would be to stay home. Then what?

The problem for Americans seems to be that we have not restructured the work paradigm since people left their farms and cottage industries and went to work in factories during the Industrial Revolution. Work, for most people, means getting up to punch a literal or figurative time clock, an hour of lunch and 2 weeks of vacation. Everyone has a boss who has a boss who has a boss that makes sure everyone under him is producing. Only rich business owners have any freedom and we only respect the ones that show up at work every day just like we do.

So many of us are unhappy in that mold, but what is the alternative? I never met anyone who thought differently except a bunch of "hippies" (read stoners) who really didn't want to work at all.

I am slowly finding my own alternative and finding I am not alone. This has become the new buzz: there are people out there making adequate or great livings by following their own path.

Here's the catch: it has to be intentional and it takes a lot of mental energy.

Americans are hard workers, but lazy thinkers.

So we must step outside of our society's paradigm. Find a meaningful way to make a living. Master that, devote yourself to it. Balance your life around that.