“Let us be grateful to the people that make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
(Marcel Proust)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy—Thanks—Giving . . . all great words.
Giving is central for the peace of the soul, and Thanks is vital for the contentment of life. Yet it’s the first word, Happy, that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.
You see, I started this company four-and-a-half years ago with the big, bold mission to “improve the health and wellbeing of the world, one person at a time.”
We created what we called the foundations of health—physical fitness, mental fitness, spiritual fitness, financial fitness; love, adventure, and significance. We sought to be a “health and wellness” company, inspiring others to generally get healthier in order to live happier.
But now, I think I had it all wrong.
It’s said that legendary jazz musician, B.B King frequently ate country catfish and fried dill pickles—hardly the centerpiece of a healthy diet. Nor was his plumpness a role model for physical fitness. But he loved life, loved making sweet music, loved playing his beloved guitar, Lucille, right up until the day he died. And he lived happy.
I’m a true believer in the benefits of sleep and make it my practice to get seven to eight hours every night. However, some of the greatest minds in history believed otherwise.
Thomas Edison thought sleep was a “tremendous waste of time.” He tended to clock about three hours of “zzz’s” a night. Nicola Tesla about two.
I’ve never been a smoker, but Hollywood Icon, Bette Davis, chain-smoked her entire career… for “without a smoke, she couldn’t entirely be Bette Davis.” And she was still acting at age 79.
Bette Davis lived 81 years. Edison, 84. Tesla, 86. And King, 89. So, maybe we at Happy Living have had it backward.
Happiness, perhaps, lay not in eating better, exercising properly, and sleeping well—but in doing fulfilling work that makes you happy. Whether you are paid for it or not. The doing, thus, may be the source of capacity for all the rest.
I suppose what I am saying is that it might all “start with Happy.” By doing things you love, with people you love, in places you love.
If you love being an athlete, you’ll increase your capacity with physical and mental fitness. If you’re an artist, it may come from spiritual fitness. An entrepreneur in the city? Financial fitness over physical fitness. A farmer in the countryside may find strength from being in nature and cultivating food for the world.
Therefore, the personal practices of capacity-building should be just that—highly-personal and custom-fit for the life you desire.
Certainly, improving your diet is good. Increasing physical, mental, spiritual, and financial fitness can feel great. But Happy trumps health and wellness. Happy is finding your unique, B.B. King thing. You know, that thing you want to do for the rest of your life. It’s doing work you love that also provides value to others—that’s what creates the inner strength and capacity needed to become your “absolute best self.” Even if a cigarette might dangle from your lip or your love handles somehow keep getting bigger.
So, to everyone in our Happy Living community, I wish you the happiest Thanksgiving ever. And while you celebrate with family and friends, worry just a little less about diet and exercise and “all things healthy”—and double down on love and joy and all things Happy!
Image via Unsplash | This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and then purchase we will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for reading & supporting Happy Living!