How Does One Live A Truly Happy Life?
Today I want to shift gears into a very positive light — something that I did for my birthday last year because of all the negative commentary regarding ‘new realities’ which people were being faced. Just a few weeks ago I once again had a birthday on September 24th, a big one — age 60! So it is time to reassess how I am living my life — always a great thing to do on one’s birthday. My birthday corresponds nicely to Rosh Hashana — which is the Jewish New Year — making it a doubly important time of the year for me.
First, I want to make it clear that though I do my best to do those things that I feel ‘called’ to do and to go to those places that I am ‘called’ to go to — thus my world travels — I do so knowing that one has to deal with the reality of the world.
Now, just because there is a ‘reality of the world’ does not mean that one needs to put one’s life on hold for any reason — it only means that we need to better understand the world in which we live figuring out what we put our attention towards and that which we pull our attention from. Unfortunately, this is something that too many people have not figured out or they would not be wasting their time arguing over many things that they have zero understanding of regardless of the fancy degrees they may hold.
Do understand that memorizing a bunch of facts is very different than synthesizing those facts with many other areas of knowledge to have a much broader understanding than one with a narrow focus because everything is connected. Our job as human beings is to understand those connections and work from that much deeper understanding.
So, I had a much deeper understanding of the Japanese philosophy of Arigato — of how we need to appreciate that which comes into our world and that which flows out of our world in terms of kindness, generosity, and money. This comes from the fantastic work of Ken Honda who teaches people how to have ‘happy money’ flow into their lives.
People live either in fear which brings scarcity or in appreciation which brings abundance — not in the overused manner of those who prey after those who feel desperate to make money — rather in feeling the abundance in the simple things that bring joy to one’s life especially when one has lost everything they once had. This is something that many people are feeling these days with the inane policies of many governments shutting down businesses — especially the small businesses which create more jobs and help build the economy much more than the much larger businesses.
I have been in these places of not having the resources to pay for rent or for mechanical fixes for my car, or even decent food at the grocery store over the years. However, I had something that many people do not have because they never realized the importance of it. That is having loving, caring people who love, appreciated, and supported the work that I do in this world coming in to help me out — many times without my even needing to ask. Gifts sent to me in the mail of beautiful clothes — the majority of which make up the majority of the clothes that I am carrying with me currently on my adventures for the last 2 years. Money miraculously put into my bank account because that person knew that I needed money for gas for the car and food to eat knowing I was going through a really rough time. And, someone who was so sweet as to help me with my bookkeeping and even purchased the Quick Books program for me — put it on my computer — set up the categories, and uploaded all the info for my company to date as she uploaded all her favorite music onto my brand new MacBook Pro at the time — Yes, that was my amazing bookkeeper and soul mate Miss Midgie — right before I left for my first trip to Isreal 11 years ago. One never ever forgets these major gifts that are given. And, how about that amazing trip to Israel that my cousin felt ‘moved’ to give me so that I had time to heal my own physical and emotional issues of that time while on a personal pilgrimage of my own to get a better sense of my religious/spiritual roots, meet cousins that I never knew i had till my cousin researched them all finding them all around the world, and just exploring the rich history and culture of the country while working to learn a bit of Hebrew along the way.
You see, this philosophy of appreciation of what others do for you brings more loving-kindness into one’s life. And, then you are able to give what you have when your friends need what you have to offer them in whatever manner you have to share it. In short, your well is full. In my case, it is helping my friends and family to overcome really difficult emotional issues that are creating unhappiness and maybe even a sense of despair in some cases. In some cases, it is making a bank transfer of some cash if they need that while they are going through a difficult time due to illness or being laid off or fired from a job. Because these are the actions that allow one to always have people there to help you out when you need it most!
As many people are finding out these days, that just because they once had a lot of money — much more than enough, all of a sudden they are finding themselves with little to none, because of the policies of the government in which they live creating many difficulties for them causing great emotional distress.
One of the most important things that one learns when one realizes that money is unable to keep one secure — is that true security comes from knowing that you have a network of true friends who actually do give a damn about you to the degree that they will offer you whatever they can because they can.
Another thing that one realizes in this situation, is that one needs a lot less material things than most Americans believe. I have been living with the contents of one larger suitcase (not huge by any means, but large enough to be hard to manage when full) and a large backpack. I did have more things while I was living in the dorms in Isreal and left much of the stuff that I bought for the kitchen behind not being able to bring kitchen appliances, cookware, silverware, etc with me on my next adventure. My goal was to take exactly what would fit into the two items I had brought with me to carry my stuff as I took there with me and that is what I did.
You see ‘security’ never comes from your possessions or those events that occur outside of you. It comes from within you in the appreciation for what you have — love and kindness, and most of all fulfilling your life’s purpose by getting your message through your work out into the world based on whatever it is that you have had to overcome yourself.
I have never taught people how to make a ton of money because that is not something that I have accomplished in my life as of yet, so I can not teach it — however, what I do teach is how to love one’s self enough to spend one’s time and therefore one’s life on those things that bring joy and fulfillment because that leads to a contented life — a goal that I have found is much more worth having than most anything else in this life. It is truly something worth your deep contemplation.
Stop pushing toward that which is meaningless to you, and allow yourself to unfold to that happy place of contentment doing that which will allow loving-kindness to flow right into your heart and therefore out of your heart in a most beautiful cycle of life-giving energy.
For more information from Ken Honda go to:
I promise that you will feel much calmer and happier just from his beautiful energy which is something we all need to emulate to feel true security and true abundance in the much broader definition he uses.
