Wednesday, December 5

Money can't buy you happiness - are you doing what you love?


Do you spend your days doing exactly what makes you feel fulfilled?

It's in those enlightenment books that we read, in Oprah's life classes and in many, many religions. But it’s something that is still hard for us to grasp. Life should not be spent chasing dollars, it should be spent living!

We spend our days shuffling back and forth to jobs that we hate, so that we can pay the mortgage on our dream home (which we never have the time to enjoy), own the fanciest phone (yet we ignore our friends’ calls because we’re always too busy) and drive the flashiest car (which takes premium gas which, of course, is just another expense). And even when we are in jobs that "we like" we count down the days until the weekend so that we an escape the office. 

Imagine what the world might be like if money, and all of the things that money can buy, didn’t matter. If we all had our basic necessities and there was plenty of everything for everyone. We could all do the things that we love all of the time and no one would have to be stuck in a job that they hate. 

But it's not only the fact that money is a necessity that makes this idea impossible. More importantly is the fact that in reality most of us don’t even know what our passion is, and way too many people go through their whole lives not realizing what it is that they love.  

My work is my passion – I do it because I love it and it excites me. Which doesn’t mean it’s never hard, but in general I enjoy what I do. And yet, some of the decisions I make are because of money – for example it’s hard not to think about ticket sales while working on marketing for a play. Even as I am able to do the thing I love daily, I realize that money has more of an effect on my choices than I realize.

Check out the video below and meet me in the comments section to let me know if you know what you would be doing if money were not an issue or if you are already doing it every day!

PS. The recording, and this concept, is not new. You’re hearing the voice of the late Alan Watts, a philosopher who was way ahead of his time. 


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm stuck in a career that I don't enjoy because once you get used to the paycheques it's too hard to walk away.