Hide and Seek and the Pursuit of Happiness

Besides mental wellness, what else are we pursuing on our recovery journey?

I believe one of the main and obvious answers is…

happiness.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.~Henry David Thoreau

Hide-and-seek is an old and popular children’s game in which one player closes his or her eyes for a brief period of time while the other players hide. The seeker then opens his eyes and tries to find the hiders. There are more rules but you get the idea.

Hide and Seek would not work or be any fun if the following were true:

1. You hid, but there were no seekers.
2. No one hid, so the seeker had no one or nothing to find.
3. You did not know what or who you were seeking.
4. You did not know where to look, so you would look endlessly and find nothing.

The pursuit of happiness or “Happiness Pursuit” is similar to the game of Hide and Seek in the following ways:

1. Happiness must be missing, hidden or lost for you to find it.
2. You must want to seek it first before you will find it or achieve it.
3.  You must understand what happiness is before you can realize you found it.
4. You must know where to look and how to obtain it before you can find happiness.

The difference between Hide and Seek and the pursuit of happiness is that happiness is not hidden. Happiness has always been right under your nose, as happiness lies within YOU lying dormant, waiting patiently for you to find it. Happiness didn’t purposely hide like the hiders in the game Hide and Seek, but still happiness is hidden from many people. So, even though it was never truly hidden we are often seeking happiness or searching for more happiness.

Until you stop thinking that happiness is somewhere else,

it will never be where you are. ~unknown

If you look at happiness and success as a destination, you may never reach it. Try not to look at happiness and success as a destination. Instead try to make where you are presently as enjoyable as possible. Love the moment you are in right now and let where you are planted and resting right now determine your success. Of course we always want to improve ourselves, but don’t let the improvement become the deciding factor towards your happiness. Instead let the journey and the process of growth and evolving become the beauty and joy of your life.

Sure, there are many times we have to convince ourselves that better times are ahead just to make it through the day. But the key to being happy and mentally well is to find happiness and peace with the life you have and to achieve the goals that are important to YOU. Do not achieve goals for others for that will never make you truly happy.

You must learn to be happy and content with what you have before you can be truly happy within. You must learn to live and appreciate the beauty of the moment you are in. Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you carefully observe your thoughts and feelings without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to your current experience, rather than dwelling on the past or anticipating the future.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. ~Henry David Thoreau

Because people are preoccupied with the belief that happiness will be their future, they miss out on their present happiness. They miss out on enjoying where they are right now and do not try to find happiness in their today.

Happiness is NEVER about things or appearances. Who cares how you look to others. Don’t try to impress others. You ONLY need to impress yourself about who you are. Be you. Do you. You are the one living your life and you are not living it for anyone else but you (and God). You need to do what makes you happy and what you think you need. Your life is no one else’s but your own. Make it yours. Be you.

Many people think things like, “We just redid our five bedroom house, but I just need one more thing. Just one more thing. It will always be one more thing if you are living for things. I don’t feel happy. I must be missing one thing.  I don’t have a warmer oven. If I get a warmer oven then I will have everything and I will be happy.” What the heck is a warmer oven?

It seems the more you have the more you want.

Some people think, “If I get this, then I will be happy.” For example,”I am homeless. If I just had house, I would be happy. Now I have a house to live in, but now I want a better one, a bigger one. I need to own my house. Now we own our home and I need a better, bigger and brighter house. It will never end until you know what you are looking for, until you know what will make you happy, and until you know who you are.”

If you are not happy with yourself, NO-THING can make you happy.

People always think they would be happy, if only… Other people have things and they seem happy. I think that is all I need. If you don’t have things you think when you get things you will be happy. When you get things, you think you just need more things. The more you get, the more you think you need. It is never-ending.

You cannot be happy until you are happy with yourself. Happiness comes from within. Obviously, the solution to most problems lies within yourself. You must know what will make you happy first, and before that you must know what happiness is. What is true happiness? What is happiness for you? What will make you happy?

The answer to happiness is Jesus.

If you have not experienced the joy Jesus brings then you haven’t met Him or don’t know Him yet, not fully, not completely. Surrender yourself completely into the loving arms of Jesus and you will know happiness. Jesus will lead you there.

You do not need to play Hide and Seek or the pursuit of happiness game. Jesus is what you are pursuing and Jesus is not hiding. You do not need to seek Jesus for He has already found you. Open your arms to Jesus, surrender completely to Him and let Jesus into your heart forever.

When you find Jesus, you will know it and you will know you FOUND HAPPINESS.

Hide and Seek…

and you shall be found.

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Copyright © 2018 Susan Walz | myloudbipolarwhispers.com | All Rights Reserved

 

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