How happy are you?
It’s the million dollar question, right?
Y’all know I love tea.
As I was sipping my daily morning dose of it today, here’s what I read on my Yogi tea bag.
“Give happiness and you will end up happy.”
Sounds nice, right?
From where I am sitting, I clearly see three problems with that statement.
We read these sorts of ‘good-feel’ messages all day long.
On some level, I’d even argue that we know they are true.
We believe it, right?
They make sense – so we do.
No doubt about it.
But then – something happens.
Something distracts us, something steals our attention and on we go.
With our day.
With our week.
Our life.
And we keep moving, we ignore it and we don’t take action.
It ends up being just that cute little thing we read on a tea bag one day a long time ago.
Now, what’s the problem with that, you say.
We don’t benefit from it.
Neither does anyone else.
And the story ends there.
Therefore, end of tragic story number one.
We read these and we automatically move out of our inner circle.
We move out as far as we can.
What I mean is – We think in broad terms – how can we give happiness out there?
How can we make a difference far, far away?
And we do that.
We volunteer.
We donate.
We even cook meals and deliver them to people in need.
We travel to do some good work in a foreign country somewhere thousands of miles away.
And don’t get me wrong – There is nothing wrong with that.
Don’t let me discourage you from doing those things altogether.
That’s not what I am trying to point out.
Here’s what I am trying to say.
We don’t apply the same thing at home.
With the people closest to us.
We ignore the most inner ring of people surrounding us.
So – again – in the end – they don’t benefit.
We set out to engage in relationships, to engage in partnerships and marriages wanting the other person to make us happy.
We want the other people around us to fill in the gaps.
To fill our tank.
All day, every day.
And we are so unapologetic about it most of the time.
We are looking for the other person – the husband, the wife – to bring happiness to us.
But it’s so often extremely one-sided.
From them to me, that’s it.
One-directional.
Instead of walking into the marriage with the biggest desire being that of generosity.
Generosity with our own spouse.
With our kids, if you have any.
So – on this random April Friday – let’s break the mold.
What kind of happiness would you give to the person who asked you (or to the one who answered) that one monumental question all those years ago?
Maybe for you it’s more recent history.
How would you make that happen this evening?
This weekend?
What would you deliver?
What might you say?
What would you offer?
Instead of expecting happiness your way, happiness received – Give it.
And make it a habit.
You know your Person — I don’t.
But I’m confident you can come up with something unique.
Something grand.
I know I will.
For more excellent ‘Relationship Tips of the Day’ that you can put into your life TODAY, go to this page here.
