ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY

 

Or are you in contentment or acceptance that your life is what it is and all you have to do now is make it to death when you part.

 

I have to ask it again, Are you really happy. How can you possibly know until you have something to compare it to. For our profound self we compare the answer to our past experiences. Others compare their existence to the past and forces outside of us. Specifically to others. Some of us actually dream. Dreams are a great comparison to the question. We are often able to be thankful for where we are compared to some of our past experiences. But where to compare it to is our dreams. For the most part, dreams are free. They begin to cost when you begin to chase them. Review the words of when you wish upon a star. I believe our unconscious mind is the star to wish on.

 

Humans have a basic instinct to like feeling good.

 

My life’s pro and con list is what I compared it to. However several years back I had a huge breakthrough. I was living in a world of pretense and ego. I bought a large abandon building to develop into living spaces. The short of that story is I ended up developing and operating one of the city’s largest and most sought-after event spaces. This was the real beginning of my self discovery. It became something I didn’t even dream of. Why?, because I let it. Then one night while I looked over the 250 guests dancing I began to cry. The epiphany came to me. If I had done all this without a general plan, what then could I be missing. What was out there in me waiting to be discovered. The next day I met with my general manager and told her I was taking a leave of absence. Knowing I was a workaholic she put on a perplexed look and asked my plans. I wasn’t sure but I was heading west for a few weeks. I took my car and a backpack and ended up in Utah. There I discovered hiking in the beautiful red rock canyons of Zion and Bryce. This awakening of nature was the beginning of a new standard for me. It was more so the awakening and awareness of something inside myself. I had discovered a place inside me bursting with possibilities and creativity. An untapped goldmine. My life was the canvas just waiting to be painted.

At the onset of the next spring I was having my reserve parachute repacked by a licensed rigger. That is something that has to happen to your reserve shoot. He says he’s going to jump off the Perrine Bridge in Idaho. It crosses over the Snake River. I said I’m in. so it was in early May that I packed up the car and headed west again. After a few jumps off the bridge a local suggested I head to Yellowstone. So I did. I had no idea I was about to encounter nature’s spring births of some of the wildest animals. It was one more humbling introduction that I never compared my “Am i really happy” question to. How amazing was this.

 

I returned home and made a casting decision. After going in circles of ego and fear I decided to sell my business and begin discovering. While attending the local RV show to buy an RV, I stumbled on a booth offering safari tours. I scrapped the RV idea and booked a trip to Africa. OMG!!! After three weeks in the bush of five countries I traveled on to Tanzania and climbed Kilimanjaro. Imagine, I had not ventured out to the unknown until my first adventure west. Intentional self discovery was not on my mind. Most of my life was scripted by what I thought I knew. But that was only derived from what my experiences were. I was a city boy and never really knew to expose myself to all the beautiful nature we own here in the US. More so, I asked myself what I might be missing out on about myself.

 

I began to study. I studied so many motivational and spiritual books. All this for the ultimate adventure. That was to free myself of the person holding me back. During all these travels I naturally had to take photos so I studied photography. Its amazing the colors that can be enhanced in a photo taken RAW. And while I was traveling I thought I’d take up the Guitar. Its not that big and can be taken on travels.

With all these revelations I began to really dig into my mind. I no longer sat at the recovery table and lowered myself with “Hi, my name is John and I’m an alcoholic” . I replaced that self inflicting statement with “Hello, my name is John and I am in discovery”.

 

Today I live with the phrase “Anything is possible.” I turned someday into now. I know many of you say “I can’t”. Well listen to this. While I was hiking through the Virgin River In Zion canyon I met a woman with a her four month old daughter in her backpack. I asked her what was up with that. She was discovering what the American Indian woman experienced years ago. If you really want to, you just have to twist the priorities and not make excuses. Take your kids with you. Take them out of school. This is life.

 

Sometimes others may be hurt if you leave them. This is your one life to live. Every single day is important.

 

I can only imagine beyond infinity what studying the human brain can do for us. The brain, one of the sciences most complex organs. When you discover how controlling it can be if you let it, you will learn to take over.

I began studying neuroscience and the conscious mind. I hear some of you say I can’t afford it and don’t have the time. I didn’t want to spend the money at MIT either. Its amazing what you can learn on Youtube and in books

So if someone asks you “Are you really happy?”, you might consider exploring in the area that you don’t know. That is where my miracles lie.

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