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We cannot look for joy as we do a lost article of clothing (LEO BUSCAGLIA)

We cannot look for joy as we do a lost article of clothing (LEO BUSCAGLIA)

Only a fool expects to find happiness continually, or to hold onto it once found. Happiness is always a by-product of some feeling or action. Even knowing this, there are many of us who spend our lives frantically looking for happiness, constantly in mad pursuit of joy. We complain that our relationships are dull. We act as if these things are to be found out there somewhere. We seldom come to terms with the idea that happiness is in us. Soren Kierkegaard recognizing that when “a man, who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him,” is one of life’s great insights.

 

We cannot look for joy as we do a lost article of clothing. We make our own happiness. We define it for ourselves and experience it in our unique way. No one can be happy for us nor tell us what should make us happy, though people will always try. The sad fact is that we fall into Madison Avenue traps which convince us that happiness is the right drink, the flashy automobile, the scented deodorant, bursting-with-health cereal or the special snack food. Even the wisest among us are seduced by the exuberant TV ad or the seductive graphic into believing that we, too, can change our lives if we switch to a new mouthwash. We never stop to think that there is nothing in the world which can be given or denied us that will bring us happiness unless we decide it. In fact, the happiest people in the world would probably still be happy if stripped of every thing except life.

 

 

 

 

Loving Each Other
Leo Buscaglia

 

Image: Burning Man festival in Nevada, US | http://www.boredpanda.com/burning-man-festival-photography-victor-habchy-nevada/



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