Is Happiness on Your New Year’s Resolution List?
As soon as January 1st arrives we vow to lose weight or spend more time with our families or save money to pay off our credit cards, but why do we do this?
One simple reason: Happiness.
We feel these New Year Resolutions will make us happier people. When in reality all they do is create stress and tension. We would never want to change the stuff we like about ourselves - this creates harmony. Resolutions are made to create a better life, but they mostly create a miserable person.
We should want to improve ourselves so we can extract more joy out of life. Self improvement should be at the top of the list, but becoming slimmer, a better parent, or a wealthier person doesn’t guarantee happiness. They may help, but they aren’t perfect solutions. What if you cut that pesky “middle promise” out of the loop and went straight for the gusto – Just pure happiness.
Adjusting
What if you woke up every morning with the goal of extracting as much joy from the present moment as you could possibly find? The cold tile isn’t just cold tile, but the earth cooling down because of it’s rotation. If the tile was always warm that would mean that it was summer all year long (unless you have floor heaters). I don’t have the money to install floor heaters underneath my tile floor, so I have to adjust my perspective. I wouldn’t want it to be summer all year long. The Texas heat would just be too much to handle. Besides, I love the crisp feeling of the cold tile to shock my senses. It adds a little extra pleasure when jumping into a warm shower.
Happiness should be at the top of your New Year’s Resolution list. If you want to lose weight, spend more time with your family, or make more money – do it, but just make them number two on the list. That way, if you don’t reach your goals, at least you’ll find pleasure in it.
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Karl @ January 4, 2008