Happiness is less about doing and more about undoing.
How to undo? By doing inner work.
The happiness is there. You just have to “uninvite” the unwelcomed company that’s causing chaos in your mind.
“Freedom in its own right doesn’t take on meaning. It’s like ‘culture’—it’s only when it’s applied to ‘freedom from…’ or ‘freedom to…’”
Daniel Greenwald
It’s a frequently discussed topic: freedom. Many people claim it’s their ultimate goal. But, is it really? Because you could up and quit your job, walk away from all of your responsibilities, say goodbye to all of the relationships in your life, venture into the nearest forest and be completely, “free.”
But, I suspect you won’t be happy for very long.
Which is why, as Daniel outlines so brilliantly above, we have to give “freedom” specific context. Context that allows “freedom” to take on a shape and/or gives it deeper meaning that will lead us to what we’re really after… a long-term, deeply felt, constantly renewing source of joy.
And an excellent way to give freedom context is by specifying what it is *exactly* that you want freedom from and/or what it is you crave the freedom to do. I suspect, if you spend even 15 minutes filling in the blanks as honestly as you can… you might just bring to light a vision of freedom that doesn’t feel so blurry and far-fetched after all.
For example, does “financial freedom” equate to some arbitrary seven digit number that you copy and pasted into your head from somebody else’s mind? Because what you might realize is that what you really want is, “freedom from work that sucks” or “the freedom to work only 20 hours per week (so you can spend the rest of your time doing whatever you want).”
…And you don’t need seven figures to do either one of those now do you?
Some of the most liberating feelings in life:
And maybe the most liberating thought of them all… maybe freedom isn’t something that is a lifetime away and is actually something that’s far closer than we’ve been trained to believe.
…Because freedom is a feeling; not a seven figure fund.
P.s. I published 57 quotes from The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest. They’re incredible.
Remember this about comfort:
It’s a lot more enjoyable when it’s closely preceded by discomfort.
E.g. Think about the couch after hard exercise or bed after the demanding day.
Comfort minus discomfort leads to a sort of long-term discomfort that’s far more brutal than anything we push ourselves through in the short-term.
Remember this: the only time you DON’T grow from what happens in life is when you DON’T reflect.
Mindlessly moving from one experience to the next is what leads to repeated mistakes, cyclical thinking, and stagnation.
Which means, if reflection is in your life… regardless of the hardships, trials, and challenges… you can, at minimum, count on the fact that you’re steady growing with every happening as a result.
And if you can put trust in your growth (which you should), you can also count on the fact that you’ll eventually outgrow your current hardships, trials, and challenges (which is how it works).
…And they won’t, in fact, be an unending source of pain and suffering in your life.
Each of these situations, too, shall pass (in proportion to the quality of your reflections)—believe it.
Remember this, when you say you don’t have time for reflection in your “busy” life.
P.s. Everyone who says you should never look back is wrong.