Learn to find joy in life and you’ll attract happiness. Unknown
Last night we sat out on the patio eating dinner and laughing with my Mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and great-niece. When we get together in little groups and big groups it warms our hearts. When we gather in the warm glow of family it is especially sweet. The night air is already turning cool as we are reminded summer is turning into fall.
My son tells me his newly married friend’s wife has been offered a fabulous job in San Francisco. With that opportunity comes less togetherness with their families. We believe travel and living abroad will widen our experiences and enrich our lives. The fact that Immanuel Kant born in a small German town in 1724 lived there for seventy-nine years without ever traveling beyond the city limits didn’t limit his writing prowess. He walked every day in the late afternoon, rain or shine always taking the same route. His path through the park became known as the “Philosopher’s Walk.” His book “Critique of Pure Reason” has been referred to as “arguably the most significant single work in the history of modern philosophy.”
We may think our life is stifled because we have not traveled but if we are walkers and thinkers, we can walk and think anywhere. We can build our family anywhere and whether that is in a four-season climate or one with sunshine every day the challenges of life will mostly be the same. Winter adds a dimension to life but so does any other challenge.
My son said to my son-in-law if you want to feel you aren’t doing anything follow Jocko Willink on Twitter. He posts a picture every morning at four o’clock of his watch before he heads off for a run. Jocko Willink is an author, podcaster, and retired Navy Seal. I could get up at four o’clock every morning if I had the fortitude and determination of Jocko Willink and felt the urge to run. I could, but I won’t.
What we accomplish often is not determined by where we live even though we think that plays a part. It is true you can’t work at the head office of a company unless you go where that head office is unless they hire you to work from home. There are circumstances that color our lives, would Jocko be Jocko if he hadn’t joined the Navy Seals? It’s hard to know. We are who we are, and the circumstances of our life have shaped us, but we may think they limit us in ways they might not. When we see what someone else has accomplished in worse circumstances we may ask ourselves is it an excuse or reality why we haven’t accomplished what we hoped to accomplish?
Perhaps we are late bloomers and the autumn of our lives will give us a new round of accomplishments that eluded us in our youth. I find comfort in this as I look at prolific authors and I have only started at this stage in my life. We are living our life, with our challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities. It is tempting to look at the best of what others have done and compare it to the worst of ourselves.
Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all. Robert Louis Stevenson
We may think raising a family isn’t that great of an accomplishment, but it is the one that lasts through the generations. Every new generation takes its place because of the sacrifice of parents for their children. It is lovely to hear the joy and wonder in the voices of a newly pregnant couple. Those of us who have been through it know it is not all joy and wonder, but it is the stuff of life. There is nothing in life sweeter than sticky kisses and watching our children play as they grow and develop.
Joy is greater than happiness. Happiness is eating a cookie, or eating ice cream, but when the cookie or ice cream is finished we are looking around for more. Joy comes from the heart and building a family is where I think the joy is in life. Raising a family won’t leave time for four o’clock runs for most of us, late afternoon walks every day may be beyond what we can manage,
There comes a time when the heavy lifting of parenting is behind us and we have time for other pursuits. We can revel in the family we have built and what we are working on accomplishing. Bill Gates tells us, “We overestimate what we can achieve in a year and underestimate what we can do in ten years.”
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
The real joy in life comes from finding your true purpose and aligning it with what you do every single day. Tony Robbins
Sometimes in life, we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to find joy in the journey. Unknown
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
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Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
