Why do we do anything? Really…in the end…what makes us do the things we do? I mean, why do we play certain sports? Go on certain diets? Work certain jobs? Buy certain things? Hang out with certain people? Go to certain places? etc…
Do we do it for the money? The perfect body? The company we work for? The title? The image? etc… If we are doing it to attain these things…what do we believe getting those things will do for us?
What does choosing these things, places, people and events give us?
How much of our TIME is spent going after these things? Why do we want them so badly?
It occurred to me that in the end…most people want things that they believe will make them feel HAPPY. It’s never really the stuff, events, etc… that we want, it’s the feeling we think it’ll give us.
How many times have you thought…”if only I had more money, I’d be happy,” or “if only I could find my life partner, I’d be happy,” or “if only I could get rid of my life partner, I’d be happy (lol),” or “I’ll be happy when I get that job, promotion, title, ideal body weight,” etc…
If most of the things we do, are because we feel that on some level it will help us be happy…is it even possible to “waste” precious TIME if we’re happy doing whatever it is we’re doing that makes us feel happy?
Is it really more important to get that degree, promotion, new car, new house, etc…if the simply act of going for a walk in the forest makes us feel happy? Are we really being any less productive if we’re not chasing all the stuff that we’ve been programed to believe will make us happy? People have so much stuff these days…yet the feeling of happiness seems to elude them.
If it’s true that the reason we do things is because we think it’ll make us happy…then aren’t we being more productive simply by BEING HAPPY?
What if we chose to be happy regardless of outside circumstances. Wouldn’t we be honoring the sacredness of the moment of Now so much more than if we kept chasing happiness in the next relationship, job, diet, etc…?
I’ve come to believe that there is no such thing as wasting time if we are happy in that moment, and that we are in fact being our most productive when we are happy regardless of what we are doing (or not doing)!
The notion of living a life based on chasing external sources of happiness (which is only temporary…remember how the excitement of a new purchase, relationship, etc…fades after a while?) sounds more like a waste of time to me than doing something that brings up feelings of happiness regardless of how “unproductive” that thing may be (i.e.: going for a nature walk, reading a good book, or listening to music, etc…)
I suppose one way to know if we are chasing our happiness in something outside to ourselves is how we would feel if we lost it or never got it.
Yes…we all have bills to pay, and of course it’s possible to be very happy with one’s work, relationships, financial success, etc… and as long as we’re happy while we’re doing it…it’s time well spent!!