“Many people only dream of a life that’s different from the one they inhabit and are too paralyzed by fear and inertia to do anything about it.”
– Dr. Mao
Excerpted from Live Your Ultimate Life: Ancient Wisdom to Harness Success, Health and Happiness
We, humans, are very complicated. We imagine that if we have enough money or love that we’ll be happy. We conjure up a happiness list in our minds, and we’re not happy unless we get what we want. Oddly enough for some of us, when we actually achieve our goals, we are uncomfortable with success.
Some of our expectations come from the way we were brought up; our parents may have told us not to expect much in life in order to shield us from disappointment. To others, feeling successful is both uncomfortable and unfamiliar although we knew perfectly well how to deal with a lack of money, poor health, a lousy job, or loneliness.
Illogical negative reactions to success also include expecting or waiting for the other shoe to drop and believing that good things are only temporary. Some of us worry that we might ruin our success or we may look for imperceptible flaws when none exist. Rather than feeling happy, we may worry and feel insecure about losing our newfound money, job or person that we love.
To train ourselves to lean into our good fortune, we have, to begin with the present. Start by noticing everything that is positive about success. Repeat noticing the positive until acknowledging the positive becomes more natural than worrying about the future. With repetition and practice, enjoying good fortune is yet one more skill that we can learn.
It may help you to consider your past, acknowledging the fact that things, interests, friends, finances, and relationships all tend to ebb and flow. No matter what, the flow of our lives never stops, but in the meantime it is okay to plan and hope for good things, to enjoy what we have and to use our resources wisely, rather than worrying about what we might lose.
May you Live Long, Live Strong and Live Happy!
Dr. Mao
Originally published at medium.com