Resolutions? I might take up smoking. So many people quit, at least someone should take it up? Just kidding of course, I never really liked smoking, just the odd cigar every now and again. Ria, my wife, and I were joking around at the end of last year, listing all the new year’s ‘resolutions’ we will take up, smoking being top of the list:
seriously though, What do you want?Isn’t that the question that start new year’s resolutions? What do you want? Now quickly, before you think too much and your moral goody self pops out, what is it that you want? What was that first thing that popped into your mind?
Tony Robbins, actually also tackles this question in one of his books: “what do you want?” The true answer, he says, and I agree, is to be happy. That is what we all want, we want a happy life, free from worry, stress, anxiety. Right? The real reason we want these things, or people, or adventures, is that we think that when we get them, or have them or do them, we will be happy. Happiness is your problem.The catch, as always, is that all these things won’t make you happy.Wishing for that thing, that moment, that person, that job, will never make you happy, not for very long anyway. Happiness is something that only you can create. Self help really is the only help. If I don’t choose to be happy, to be content, to engage and to live life. If I don’t choose to let go of the past and quit worrying about the future then it is not going to happen. Therefore, I resolve to be just one thing, not get one thing, and not be it by July, but now, today, as you read this. I resolve to be happy. Happiness is not only your own responsibility, it is also your duty to be happy.Happiness is our moral obligation, choosing to live in joy, in happiness is deeply embedded in our journey to freedom, as Simone De Beauvoir the philosopher and feminist states; “It must not be forgotten that there is a concrete bond between freedom and existence; to will man free is … to will the disclosure of being in the joy of existence” Another way to think about it, the relation between freedom and happiness, is to ask the question a different way, what do you need when you are truly content, happy? Nothing. So what does one do with this happy, content, smiling like an idiot life? Skip everywhere? You could, but no, when one is truly happy, content, satisfied, you cannot help but to become generous, to give, to create. And that is what the world needs, more than ever is truly generous creators. Of course, this, for many, including me, is easier said than done. The trick is to not choose goals that will make you ‘happy’, but chose practices that will make you happy. Gumnasia (goom-na-see-ah), is the greek term for gymnasium, where men trained physically and mentally (in the nude, but that is another story). And this is fundamentally what this blog is about, training, training to be happy, training to be human. Resolutions, Your Turn:Relook your new year’s list and write at the top:
Then write down at least two or three practices that will amplify this choice:
or whatever you need. Post by Pierre du Plessis, originally appeared on Gumnasia, Happiness is a skill.
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Enjoyed this post from Seth Godin's blog today. Know you will too, Be Brave. Explosive action. Training by jumping from a standing start. Not worrying about getting up to speed, but going from standing still to flight. Not everyone needs to be good at this, but you can bet that most organizations need people who are. Not, "I'll think about it," or, "I'll ask Susan what her take is," or, "Let's reconvene tomorrow..." but, instead, words like, "go," and "now." Plyometrics is an attitude, the willingness (the bravery) to try things on small groups, in controlled situations, to say, "here, I made this." It's not a slipshod way of doing business for your core customers (that's another form of hiding). No, it's the posture of urgency. Will you leap? Seth Godin. |
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