If life is a game, then most of us are racking up points…on the wrong net.
Even the most enlightened of us fixate on getting more money, recognition, and safety. We believe that we should maximize these so that we can–at last–have more happiness, freedom, and growth. “When I have this many dollars/this position/this situation, I’ll finally be happy.” Despite this formula never really working, we–often unwittingly–dedicate most of our focus, time, and energy to racking up money, recognition, and safety.
But we’ve got it backwards. Happiness, freedom, and growth cause money, recognition, and safety. Focusing on money, recognition, and safety limit our happiness, freedom, and growth. It’s like we’re taking shots on our own net. We need to turn around.
Money, recognition, and safety are wonderful. They are desirable byproducts of being happy and growing ourselves via our fundamental freedom. We can tell we are shooting at the wrong net because we feel bad and those desirable byproducts come slowly if ever. We can tell when we are shooting at the right net because we feel good doing it and those wonderful byproducts show up with ease.
In your corner,
Michael
PS: We think we need to keep shooting at the wrong net because we’ve inherited a faulty notion. We’ve been taught for generations that we can stop feeling bad by acting against what we see is wrong (e.g. not enough money, recognition, or safety). Oddly, acting against anything typically makes it worse (think how the “war on drugs”). Instead, let’s use our sense of what’s wrong to focus on what we’d rather have, feel how great that will be, and then act as inspired to create (really, allow) what we want.
PPS: If all this seems foreign, let it sit. Come back in two days–or two weeks, or two months. Then compare your experience to these ideas.