| I suspect that most people are unhappy to a greater | | | | yourself, you will be happy. |
| or lesser degree. They are unhappy because they | | | | Unhappiness is the result of wanting what you can't |
| don't know how to achieve happiness. Worse, they do | | | | have...yet. |
| things that they think will lead to happiness and instead | | | | I was exactly where I wanted to be doing exactly |
| achieve the opposite result. | | | | what I wanted to do at that moment and all my needs |
| I'm going to tell you the secret to happiness. I | | | | were met to my satisfaction. In the decades since |
| discovered it in my youth and it's so simple that I'm | | | | then, my wants and needs have increased but so has |
| amazed that it's not universally known. | | | | my ability to provide them for myself. |
| In my mid twenties, I achieved a lifelong dream when I | | | | Whenever my desires have exceeded my ability to |
| acquired the necessary credentials to become a | | | | meet them, I stumbled and the resultant stress has |
| professional pilot. I was only on the first rung of a tall | | | | made me unhappy until I've reminded myself of the |
| ladder but at least I was on the ladder and my future | | | | basic truth about happiness and returned to the path. |
| was in sight and it thrilled me. | | | | Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that you |
| I accepted my sister's invitation to come stay with her | | | | shouldn't set goals beyond your present ability to |
| for awhile in New Mexico. My sister, her husband and | | | | achieve. The Scottish poet, Robert Burns said: "A |
| their neighbors were all relics of the '60's. Flower | | | | man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a |
| children and 'hippies' who hadn't joined us in the next | | | | heaven for?" |
| decade yet. They lived in homemade log cabins in a | | | | I had lofty goals but I broke them up into small |
| remote valley near Guadalupita. | | | | sequential and achievable steps and set my foot firmly |
| While there I got a job as a cowboy on a small ranch | | | | upon the first one before taking each of the others in |
| in Mora and worked for $10 per day plus meals and a | | | | turn. Then I lived fully in each moment as it came. |
| patch of floor upon which to spread my bedroll. | | | | Consequently, while there have been times I'd rather |
| In time I saved enough money to put gas in my old | | | | not live through again, for thirty years I've enjoyed a life |
| Ford Cortina, with the oil light and water light frequently | | | | of adventure and travel and can honestly say, though |
| illuminating my dashboard, and go searching for my first | | | | wealth has eluded me, for the most part I've been |
| flying job. | | | | happy. |
| In Albuquerque, I landed a job as a flight instructor with | | | | Take stock of your circumstances. Are you using debt |
| a small flying school. I started my career with $15 in my | | | | to acquire things NOW that might better wait till later? |
| pocket, a homemade loaf of bread, jar of pickled | | | | Are you driving a $25,000 car when a $2,500 car |
| beets and sack of potatoes with which my sister had | | | | would do? Are you living beyond your means? Are |
| sent me off and I lived in a pup tent at a campground | | | | you eating your seed stock instead of planting your |
| a few miles outside the city. I was a member of the | | | | fields? |
| class known as 'the working poor'...and I was happier | | | | If your answers to these questions are yes, I'm betting |
| than I'd ever been before. | | | | you are unhappy. It's time to reassess what you can |
| I had neither the proverbial pot nor the window. My | | | | realistically achieve with your present capabilities and |
| sole indulgence was breakfast at a diner where I could | | | | reduce your wants and needs to fit within your abilities. |
| get a 'short stack' and a cup of coffee for $1.25. I was | | | | THEN take steps to create surplus and use that |
| undeniably impoverished but I was nearly in a state of | | | | surplus to create more surplus. You are infinitely more |
| bliss. How could this be? | | | | likely to achieve all the goals you've set for yourself |
| I had stumbled upon the secret to happiness: | | | | and what's more important, you will thoroughly enjoy |
| If you want and need LESS than you can provide for | | | | the journey. |