Reaching a place of enduring contentment with ourselves

When sadness descends like a heavy
fog, our first instinct is to stop giving ourselves privileges. 

To deny
ourselves healthy experiences and emotions. To feel virtuous for depriving
ourselves. And to contract our lives and become small, because that will keep things predictable and
safe. 

Our sweet little routine will protect us. Even though joy has left the
building. 

But’s a completely false solution. To punish ourselves for deviating
from the happy path, that doesn’t make us heroic and empowered, it only serves
to compound the pain. 

And so, instead of depriving ourselves when we already
feel sad enough, a healthier choice is to do something nice for ourselves. To
give ourselves the freedom to enjoy life in spite of our unsolved problems. To
find a portal to transcendence, whatever that might look and feel like for our
individual personality. 

Russell’s final paragraph in his book on the conquest
of happiness put it perfectly:

The
happy man is the man who does not suffer from failures of unity, whose personality
is neither divided against itself nor pitted against the world. Such a person
feels himself a citizen of the universe, enjoying freely the spectacle that it
offers and the joys that it affords, untroubled by the thought of death because
he feels himself not really separate from those who will come after him. It is
in such profound instinctive union with the stream of life that the greatest
joy is to be found. 

This is how we reach a place of enduring contentment with
ourselves. 

By engaging in activities that match our vision of life, rather than
depriving ourselves of joy. 

By embracing a diverse set of pursuits that form a
complete identity, rather than letting one bad mood fill our entire identity
screen.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

What privileges are you denying yourself because of sadness?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 

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