This morning, I was feeling a little restless in my cubicle, which prompted a FB status update to the lottery and my request to win it. About 2 minutes later I got a comment from a yoga instructor that lives in Mpls. Anyway, she then sent me a facebook message about how life is short and how important it is to be happy in the moment. I really liked it so I thought I would share...
Happiness is THE WAY
One of my favorite quotes is from the Dalai Lama - "There is no road to happiness. Happiness is the way". I truly believe that happiness exists within all of us and strive to live this way-each and every day.
Ben Stein provided commentary on CBS Sunday morning - How to Live: Follow Your Heart- Risk Be Damned - his advice to graduating students. In the commentary Stein talks about the fundamental difference between unhappy people and happy people:
Unhappy people let others talk them into careers that were not them, careers that were not what they wanted to do. They end up complaining about it to their psychiatrists.
Happy people "made a decision to live"...to do what their hearts told them to do. They took risks...tried a lot of different things until they got where they wanted to be. As Ben put it, "this very often means working incredibly hard and living on the edge. But it gets you to where you can look back on your life and say it wasn't wasted. Choose to live a life you want to live, not one that's safe or what someone else thinks you should do."
"Decide to live." Wise words Ben Stein. As I watched the piece, I kept thinking of parallels to something I had heard before. Finally it came to me - Steven Jobs' Stanford Commencement speech from 2005-of his philosophy on life. In his commencement speech, Jobs told 3 simple stories.
He dropped out of college, lived with friends, collected bottles, and ate weekly at the Hare Krishna temple - while at the same time auditing classes that interested him. Ultimately this led to Mac offering a universe of font types. Jobs has made the most of his life by drawing on his experiences. "...you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference."
He got fired from Apple - and turned that experience into a chance to start NeXT and Pixar - because startups and technology was his passion. "Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle."
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, only to find it was a rare form that was treatable vs. incurable. From that he learned that time on Earth is limited, to not waste it living someone else's life. "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." Jobs' parting advice to the audience - "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."
I'm often asked questions about Marianne Wells Yoga School and yoga teacher training more generally. How many graduates actually teach? How many open their own studios? How much money can they expect to make? All very good questions that miss the mark in my opinion. Sure you've got to pay the bills - and most do go on to teaching yoga - but I believe the greatest value of my yoga teacher training lies in developing a greater understanding of one's self while also learning to develop this understanding of self in others.
Many attendees of my school use the training as a way of determining whether their current job or place in life is right for them. It's their way of developing a life experience from which they may draw upon in the future - their own dot connecting process. One student from a few years back just recently left a very unfulfilling corporate position to open his studio. Many use the training as a building block for careers in non-profits, counseling, therapy, personal training, life coaching and education. Many continue on the path to deeper self study. Some leave stale relationships. Others strengthen and renew relationships, or commit to new ones.
Been thinking of attending a yoga teacher training? Of changing careers? Of starting the journey of self study? The Upanishads state that "it is easier to act yourself into a new way of feeling than feel yourself into a new way of acting." You must find ways to feed your creative source, your spirit. As your consciousness expands, you will become a better person than you ever thought you could be. Act now, for I truly believe that when you know yourself very well, you will know what you love to do. When this happens, life is much easier, simpler, and happier.
Happiness is THE WAY.
Namaste,
Marianne
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