+ “An important fact of life is that it’s often difficult to know what will make you happy, but quite easy to identify what will make you miserable.” – Morgan Housel
I took this quote from an excellent article (excerpt from a book) which I read this morning. The article is so good, I sent it unsolicited to my four adult children this morning. The quote is from Morgan Housel’s latest book, The Art of Spending Money. These are listed as the key takeaways of the article:
“Happiness in life can be elusive, but misery often follows clear patterns.
Chasing status, wealth, or others’ approval with your money almost always undermines independence and contentment.
Treating money as your identity or a social scorecard also leads to regret, while using it as a tool to create freedom has the opposite effect.”
The author argues that it is much easier to eliminate what is bad for you, or what makes you sick, or what is unhealthy for you (i.e. certain toxic relationships, your detrimental habits, what you eat and drink and consume, etc.) than to come up with a perfect formula of what to do in your every day that will make you happy. In other words, happiness can sometimes more easily come from a process of elimination. See the entire article here (it is well worth the read):
****On an aside, I am a huge proponent of gratitude lists. I do believe that basking in gratitude on a daily basis, is one of the best vehicles to take you towards what makes you happy and peaceful and contented and filled with awe.
+ Like so many people, my breath was taken away a little bit when I heard that the actress Diane Keaton had passed. She was so unique and iconic and it wasn’t a forced, rehearsed pretense to be so. Diane Keaton was just one of those rare birds, who was absolutely authentic, comfortable in her own skin, and true to herself (Brian Philips of The Ringer called her “effortlessly original“) and we all recognized and resonated with that fact. As Ingrid Bergman said, “The world worships an original.” In Diane Keaton’s own words:
“Memories are simply moments that refuse to be ordinary.”
“What is perfection, anyway? It’s the death of creativity, that’s what I think, while change on the other hand, is the cornerstone of new ideas. God knows I want new ideas and new experiences.”
“I never understood the idea that you’re supposed to mellow as you get older. Slowing down isn’t something I relate to at all. The goal is to continue in good and bad, all of it. To continue to express myself, particularly. To feel the world. To explore. To be with people. To take things far. To risk. To love. I just want to know more and see more.”
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.