I am not saying such books are bad or making any comments about their value, it just seems people in general are looking for an escape from real life.
I can attest to that in my own life. If fact, I used to not like to read at all. Then about 30 years ago, someone I was close to told me I should read the Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. I was hooked and read every book Mr. Ludlum wrote. I have the BluRay version of the Bourne trilogy starring Matt Damon and enjoy them very much. When I ran out of Ludlum’s books, I moved on to Tom Clancy’s books. I read a great deal of his books. I enjoyed the older ones the best. It seemed like he had 5 stories going on all at the same time. I never knew whether I should be elated or confused. He really challenged my ability to follow where he was leading. I read many of the Jack Ryan novels and enjoyed them too. In some novels, things got a little too graphic for me. In my enjoyment of suspense, some writer’s took the challenge of making the reader so angry and filled with disgust toward the bad guys, I think they crossed into subject matter that was a bit too distasteful.
I have read hundreds of self improvement and inspirational books, as well as faith based and religious books. I have set myself on a journey to become a better person, a better man. I think some of it helped but I believe I still have much work to do.
About 16 years ago, I got in touch with my inside person and regardless of how I might compare myself to others and regardless of what anyone else thought, I came up with a spirit led notion I wanted to simply be a better person and man. I searched for the holy grail of books, tapes, and seminars. I found one book that was not written as a self improvement book, although it did just that. It set me on a journey in ways I never expected. I learned a great deal through Dan Millman’s "Peaceful Warrior," which I have mentioned before. Surprisingly, things that stimulate growth can come from unexpected places. It opened me up to gain an awareness that serving others was the greatest way of living. It taught me that all the wonder of life is in the journey not in the destination. It taught me to enjoy the journey because you never know what you will find when you get to the end of any particular journey. It taught me that the wonder and joy of the journey was not what many of us always think it is or should be. It taught me to not see life through others' eyes but to see my journey for what my journey is. I have learned to "do what you love for the love of what you do" and not for the reward it might bring. I have been trying to master those things for 14 years and still have not arrived. I still fight with some of those views and how they are contrary to what the majority of the world thinks. I guess I am cleary still on the journey. Sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes I have an awakening of sorts and am elated. The author of the book said some people walk though life never being fully awake. Think about that - that is a big statement. Jimmy Buffet sang, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead." Think about that one too. Both strong statements, both ones that I ponder regularly.
Jesus taught us lessons such as to be joyful in all things, to not be anxious for anything, to notice how God cares for even a sparrow and to be confident that He will take care of us, and many others. All these things did not set out to tell me how to be “happy” but are having an impact on how I see life, thus bringing joy and contentment. Those of you who know me, know I am not walking around like Ghandi, at peace with all life’s struggles, but I am awake to the truth that I have a long way to go.
My daughter and I were talking in her backyard the other day and she mentioned a book about being happy. My thought was that if we keep reading books about how we should be happy and how to get happy we may run the risk of actually ending up believing we are never really happy and may fall short of what life is all about.
For me, life is about accepting all of it both good and bad. Things are things and life is life and none of it will ever be written the way we would write it if we were God. If we love ice cream and had nothing but ice cream, nutritionists would call it an unbalanced, unhealthy diet. I think life is the same. Things will not always go my way. Sure, I may not like that they didn’t and may wish they had gone differently. But, I don’t have to get emotional about them and that is where I lose some people. They think when I talk about something, I am automatically upset and disturbed by those events or situations. Reacting that way is what most people do and is a reaction that most people expect. Sometimes I may get emotional but most times I try to accept things as part of the journey.
I was a competitive bodybuilder and some days I could squat with 425 pounds. Some of the guys in the gym couldn’t handle that weight while others could handle a lot more. Should I have ranted and raved and beat myself up because I couldn't handle more? Should I have thought that life was dumping on me? Should I think that God had abandoned me? Of course not. At one time I was into running. I trained and bought all the right shoes, read books and magazines about running, and ran six out of seven days. At my best, I ran twelve miles five days a week and eighteen on Saturdays. I put all that effort and expense into my running but only managed to run one marathon. If I was going to run one, it was going to be in a special place, so I ran the Honolulu Marathon. I lived in Los Angeles at the time and in the year prior to the race, I should have run a three and a half hour race. I ran it in five hours and five minutes. This was back in 1982 and back then you didn’t run into a lot of people who had run a marathon. I set out to accomplish something not a lot of people like me had done. I was and still am thrilled I did it. Does the fact that I could have run it in under four hours take anything away from the accomplishment or goal? No. I could ask the same questions, should I have pounded myself for failing to run to my expectations? Of course not.
Sometimes things come our way and may not be what we expected nor may they be what we planned, but that is the journey. Think about the marathon. I trained in the Los Angeles area. Nice weather, no humidity and not overwhelmingly hot in November. When I ran the marathon in Hawaii it was hot, drizzling off and on and humid well beyond what I had trained in. When I ran over little hills, I could see a mirage like effect which was actually the heat waves rising off the pavement. I fought the heat the entire way and the end result was that I was slower than I was in California.
That is what life is like and we may need to see life for the journey that it is and not for a sequence of events that fit into the box we have attempted to put life into.
When we stumble and fall short that is when we start feeling like we are not getting something out of life. It is when we feel that what we are doing is not benefitting us or contributing to our dreams. Often, that is the battleground for us. For me, that very place is where I battle at times. I fully try to serve others yet at times I wonder what I am getting out if it. I wonder where is life leading me, I wonder why my plans have not unfolded as I want them to. Maybe some of you feel the same way but that is where I lose most often.
It is human nature. It is a place we all battle. Look to Lucifer - the beautiful, glorious one. His fall happened when he stopped being content serving God and wanted to be served, recognized, acknowledged, praised, and worshipped. We have a similar battle and the devil uses the same things, feelings and emotions on us that brought him to his fall. He whispers that we should get more for what we do, he uses ideas like you deserve more, who is doing things for you, or that you are working so hard and getting nothing out of it. That is a trap we all need to be aware of. It is a trap that will rob us of the joy of life, the joy of the journey.
If we travel through life focused on what we are getting or not getting we will miss all the wonder of traveling through life. If all we can see as we journey is what we are not getting or how our plans have not worked out, we will miss what we have been given and the things around us that would bring great joy if we were open to seeing them.
I took a long path around my point and my point is this; if we continually search for the key to happiness whether it be in our thinking, books, movies, friends or even counselors, we are quietly telling ourselves we are not happy. If we live life from the basic thought we are not happy, how will we ever be happy? Living life searching for happiness will become “a destination” and will limit our vision blinding us to the joy of all that makes up the amazing journey of life. There is no journey that perfectly matches anyones dream of what life should be. Like the marathon, some days there is rain, heat, and humidity and some days it is cool and overcast. Some days you run uphill and some days you run down hill. Some days you may run through the woods and others on a city street. Some days you will run with a friend and some days you may run alone. All that being said, you are still running. You are still living life. Live life for the joy of living a life with so many twists and turns and unexpected occurrences. Don’t live life only searching for the destination of the mythical place called “happiness." Just enjoy the run.
Runners have a thing called the runners high. (From Fitday.com) The runner's high is a state of euphoria that is experienced by not only runners, but by anyone engaged in a vigorous workout. Boxers and bikers have reported similar states of being, as have weight lifters, cross country skiers and rugby players.
The high itself is variously described as a feeling of well-being, to being one with the world or to a total out of body experience. It is typically related to longer periods of vigorous exercise rather than shorter, easier workouts, possibly due to the stress the body undergoes as the major muscle groups begin to run short on glucose. The experience of the high also seems to rely on the individual makeup of the runners themselves, with some experiencing it at 5 miles, while others must run 20 before the euphoric feelings kick in.
I have felt it both in the gym when training and on the road while running. For me, it was a sense of peace that all is well with the world. It was as if I was in a place and time that everything was good. No worries about bills or sore knees, no worries that I was not getting my fair share, no worries that life was fitting into the box I had made for it and there were no expectations on the run. I was just running and relishing every minute of it.
Notice that the runner’s high did not come when the run was over with the runner sitting back and admiring what he or she had accomplished. The high came during the run, during the stress of the workout, the high came during the journey. Happiness is found in the journey. Happiness is found in living not in looking back over what has been accomplished.
When we speak of a run, we talk of the hills and valleys, of the hot sun and cool rain and those are all part of that journey. When we talk of such things, they are not complaints or dissatisfactions those things are simply the things of that journey and not to be grumbled at but treasured. It is the same with life.
I have gone on way too long but I hope you have caught what I am trying to say. Maybe I am writing this to remind myself as well as for some out there who constantly search for happiness. Happiness is not the destination of life. Happiness is the journey of life. If we blast through life searching for happiness, we will miss the happiness that is spread all around us while we live life.
Go put on some nice shorts. Put on your running shoes and get out there and have a great run today. Live life excited about what the journey will bring and pay attention all along the way for joy is scattered all throughout the journey. Love yourself and love your life and you will see how wonderful life actually is.