Is it not easier to be happy when your wants are few?

Henry David Thoreau

A man would go to Walden Pond daily to catch fish.  Unlike the other people who went to the same pond, this man did not use a boat.  Instead, he sat by the edge of the pond and waited for the fish.  Without fail, he would catch one and, here is the interesting bit, regardless of the size of the fish, he would pack up and leave.  Daily.

It’s not as if he was antisocial.  He would smile and acknowledge others but curiously, he maintained a routine or made an agreement with himself that as soon as he caught a fish, he would leave.

“So what’s with this guy?” I hear you asking.

Someone actually did ask Thoreau this question when he related this story in a lecture in March 1846.  What did Thoreau say:  Your answer is as good as mine.

Why did Thoreau choose to tell this story?  What message was he hoping to convey?

Now, I am not necessarily claiming to answer these questions but here is what went through my mind as I read this story and as I wrote about it.  It occurs to me that when a person makes a conscious choice about his/her actions and does so without attaching to a particular outcome, that person has established the conditions for his/her happiness.

In other words, regardless of the outcome, I am going to be happy, at peace.

There have been numerous times when I have felt disappointed, frustrated or very much a failure as a result of how things turned out.  Sometimes, this would cause me to give up what I was doing.  Other times, it would ensure that I did whatever I did with a degree of resentment.  Neither of these left me feeling particularly happy or satisfied.

On the other hand, when I have done something motivated by the sheer joy and thrill of doing it, with little attachment to the outcome, I have not only enjoyed the ‘doing ’so much more, I have been far less influenced by the outcomes, rather like the man and his fish.

Why did he fish?  Who knows.  Your answer is as good as mine.  But that he fished and accepted whatever fish he caught strikes me as the behavior and attitude of someone who knows how to be happy!

What do you think?  Why did the man fish?  Do you ‘fish’ like this man?

Lucy Lopez – Hire Me!

Happy by Nature, Aware by Choice!

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This is the question that I asked people in a survey that I recently conducted at my other blog, The Mentor’s Method. In that survey about Happiness and The Perfect Relationship, I asked people to make a choice from one of the following:

- Happiness
- The Perfect Relationship
- Happiness even without the Perfect Relationship
- The Perfect Relationship even without Happiness
- I don’t know. It’s too confusing.

I have looked at the responses and written about my interpretations as well as looked into the beliefs and attitudes that underlie each choice. I think you will find the results and my interpretations worth reading. So do take a look here: Which would you prefer? Happiness or The Perfect Relationship? I would love to hear what your thoughts are regarding the survey, the results and my interpretations, so do leave a comment!

Anyway, aside from wanting to invite you to look at that post, my reason for mentioning it here is to explore, a little, the issue of choice. In particular, I would like to look at why we sometimes find making a choice difficult.

I distinctly remember times in the past when I would agonize over choices or decisions (which are also choices) I had to make. More than anything else, I was afraid of making the ‘wrong’ choice/decision. But there were also times when I struggled because I was afraid of the difficulty associated with a particular choice/decision. These days, however, I am less inclined to be fearful of either making a ‘wrong’ choice/decision or any perceived difficulty that I might associate with that choice/decision. Why do suppose that has happened?

I attribute this change to four main things:

1) My realization that there is no such thing as a ‘wrong’ choice/decision
2) My realization that any ‘difficulty’ that I perceive is a result of past experiences that have no bearing on future events unless I allow them to
3) My growing faith that all things, including choices/decisions and the outcomes of these, are just so – perfect
4) My growing ability to feel my way towards a choice/decision

I’d like to briefly discuss the first of these in this post.

There is no such thing as a ‘wrong’ decision

When I examine it, ‘wrong’ is a judgment I make about a choice/decision because its outcome is one that I do not want or like. This applies to any outcome including those that others may view as morally defined eg murder. The bottom line is that my choice/decision is an outcome that I am not happy or comfortable with, regardless of what beliefs, moral positions or past experiences underlie it.

In reviewing past and current choices/decisions, I have come to realize that a choice/decision in one situation may not be appropriate in another. In fact, I now find it important and necessary to view each situation as a unique one, calling me to make a choice/decision that is specific to it, allowing neither past nor future events to interfere with it.

This does not mean that I do not allow myself to be guided by past experiences or even projections about future possibilities. Of course I do, but I choose to use these judiciously, regarding them as possibilities rather than probabilities. Nothing is set in stone. Everything, including my beliefs and attitudes, is open to review and change. If anything, my past experiences and future projections provide rich data that enable me to examine my beliefs and attitudes. To me, this is critical, for after all, it is my beliefs and attitudes that determine the choices I make, not my experiences!

Thus, even if the actions that I take and the words that I say may appear similar to past situations, I am making them in full and free consciousness or awareness of the situation at hand and no other. When I do this, I am freed from the tyranny of absolutism i.e. viewing a choice/decision as always right/wrong. Instead, I choose to think in terms of what is useful, given the information at hand (which is never complete) in this particular situation and based on what I have set as my goal.

I also remind myself that judgments of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ are always retrospective. They are based on outcomes of past choices/decisions. These outcomes are forms of information themselves that we did not have at the time of the choice/decision-making! To judge them, therefore, as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ is not something I consider useful. On the other hand, to consider if they have been ‘useful’ or ‘not so useful’ with respect to a particular goal that I had in mind allows me to review my choice/decision and its ensuing events much more objectively and freely.

Well, these are some of my thoughts on the matter of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ choices/decisions. What about you? Do you find it difficult to make choices/decisions sometimes? Why do you think you do?

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