The purpose of life is to be happy
Since childhood, I have truly believed that the purpose of life is to be happy. Yet, like everyone, throughout my life I have sometimes found myself not feeling happy at all. On one of those days I asked Amy “What do you think is the common denominator of all human-caused suffering?” Without a moment’s hesitation she replied, “Poor decision-making.”
It is hard for most people to admit their mistakes. However, deep down inside, it is hard for anyone to deny that it has usually been their own poor decisions that have led to their difficulties. We are all too painfully aware to admit even to ourselves that we could have and should have been able to foresee the outcome of our decisions and the actions we took based on those decisions.
Of course there are those who are challenged by the circumstances of their birth or by accidents. However, as the inspirational stories of Helen Keller and many other people have shown, when we are challenged by circumstances over which we have no apparent control, we still have the power to decide how we are going to react to those circumstances. Are we going spend our time bemoaning our fate or are we going to experience the hard times, pick ourselves up, learn from our situation as best we can, and do the best we can?
© Monte Farber, from his book THE SOULMATE PATH