Always Happy, Never Satisfied

I saw a quote by John Mayer that I stumbled upon from another blog and HAD to post it. Take a look for yourself. And yes, John Mayer is fine as wine, but...read the quote he spits below his picture.

I'll wait....





Doper words on life and social interaction have never been spoken. I feel like with the more people progress as individuals, the more other individuals within a group or a relationship, that are in direct relation to said individual, have a tendency to either 1. stay where they are or B. fall off completely due to "comfort level" within the relationship. It's like a chain reaction of sorts.

Of course this doesn't happen in EVERY interaction/relationship/friendship....but it happens. And when it does, someone is left feeling inadequate or as Mayer eloquently puts it, "...and I'm like, "no--I want magenta!" Someone (if not all parties involved) is bound to feel some kinda way when the individual is "progressin' in the Recession".

As we grow older, we as individuals shouldn't aspire to reach a "peak" (or "desired color") and live in comfort atop our own personal mountaintop. There's always another mountain to climb and a higher peak to reach. Of course there are those that vie for a simple life--middle class and happiness. Nothing major. This blog isn't about the materialistic. It's about personal growth. We should ALWAYS be growing. No excuses. Humans evolve and with human evolution also comes evolution of the mind. We are constantly changing, constantly having to adjust to said changes, and constantly molding into new beings, new positions, better humans. After all, if there was a limit to life (and I obviously don't mean the fundamentals of life and death either), why is the sky limitless? There's no end to it for a reason.

How is purple all you see when sitting next to you there's blue and red and next to them orange and green? And on the ends there's black and white? And when you meet new people and do new things, there's a wide array of ciruleans and mahogoneys abounds? How are you comfy with "just being purple"? How does that work? You don't even want to try out for Magenta? Weird. Very weird. But then again...maybe the 64-count isn't your thing. Or even an 8-count for that matter. And if that's the case.......that sucks. Who wants to just be with "their kind" only day in and day out? No one moves. Everyone remains the same. And all the while, minds deteriorate. As Jay put it...."[that] can't be life".

This reminds me of a book I read when I was in college in a class I was taking over the summer in 2007. In my Children's Literature class, I chose to do my Final Project on "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. The book is about a structured "world" where people are birthed and from then on are handed their "assignments" or roles in life. There are those that have kids, those that do labor work, etc etc. They are "programmed" from birth not to "look beyond the scope" of their Life's lens and for that reason, they are ALL very limited and extremely boring beings. One child was given the "assignment" of "The Giver", the person that knows the secrets to the world and beyond. Only--he can't really question what's out there, though unlike everyone else, he KNOWS there is more out there. The amazing part? He goes above and beyond his duties and UTILIZES his role and goes for more, leaves the world and goes beyond.

Though it's a child's book, the schematics and the mindset is definitely adult. I had to keep looking at it and even went as far as too research this book to make sure that it is indeed for kids. "Children should not be reading this book", I thought. Then again...they should. So they know ahead of time....evolution is necessary for growth. Without it, our souls are dead.

So as Mayer said (I'm just gonna summarize what he meant), since we (should) all change and evolve as humans are prone to do, "purple" shouldn't be as far as the eye can see. Magenta should be what we're aiming for. And after that? Well there'll always be a better, more inventive color after "Magenta".


My homie and I engaged in a discussion to which he countered this entire blog. Click HERE to read it. Enjoy!

Sadness by Jim Rohn

"The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy."

Thoughts?




Taking You Back Part 2 on Monday...

Happiness Is...

Albert Schweitzer said it best, “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”

But of course he didn’t mean that in it’s purest most literal form. I believe that he meant it figuratively as well. Here’s how I interpret his quote:

Everyone’s got their demons and/or periods of their past that aren’t/weren’t considered “happy” or “good” times for them. If a person is in a solid place now (or even a bad one now for that matter), they could look back on their past (or present) status and say, “damn, I remember when—“ and try to apply their past situation to their present if it fits.

Happiness is good health. Health should be the most important thing in a person’s life, be it physical health or mental heath. Health, above education, financial security, and even family spirituality, should rank. At least it’s at the top of my hierarchy.

If a person has good health (again—physical and mental), they, as individuals, should feel a sense of satisfaction. Someone could say, “I don’t have a job, but I don’t have any diseases. I can breathe and walk with ease. I’ve got all my limbs and I feel fine”. I take this to be a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Not really being selfish but putting things into perspective that, ”above all else, I have my sense of self, and I’m fine with myself”. I think that that is very important.

Happiness is also having a bad memory. Some people have the keenest of memories. This, in my opinion, means that they don’t want to forget that lay off from ’94 or that foreclosure they endured or that horrible divorce they underwent fifteen years before. Some people like to wallow in the negative sense.

[slight sidebar]

I say, “wallow in the negative sense” because I tend to see a lot of things in two different ways at times. For this, I see a positive side of wallowing as well as a negative side. The positive being the lingering of a situation in search of clarity and understanding in order to move on or accept. This wallow, in my opinion, is closely related to that element called, “Closure”. While some people don’t really feel closure is necessary, I am one that believes that it is absolutely necessary, of course depending on the situation in question.

Consequently, the negative sense of wallowing is the unnecessary dragging on of a situation well past its expiration date and then applying said situation to a present situation to see how the two situations “align with each other”. At times, the negative wallower isn’t even in a bad situation in their present; rather, they are just reminiscing and BOOM! They start to drift into the bad days and…depression can set and their once happy lives are, in the blink of an eye, turned upside down. Again.

[sidebar over]

So, yes, happiness is having a bad memory, in the figurative sense of course. Of course you may never ever EVER forget about that devastating divorce or that sudden lay off or if you’re on Wall Street, you’ll undoubtedly NEVER forget about the Bail Out that America is undergoing. It’s inevitable. We’ve all got our demons and not so good times in our lives. No one’s situation is the “exception to the rule”. No one is “special so this rule doesn’t apply to them”.

It’s a simple yet possibly difficult concept to grasp:

Wanna be happy? Try not to remember those bad days. Be grateful for your health, physically, mentally, and otherwise, and gain a sense of amnesia towards the negatives.