Are you chasing happiness in your life, or is it enough to be content?
Happiness seems to be an ideal, which could be hard to reach … at least for the perfectionists among us.
What would it mean to live a happy life? Everything would have to be perfect, be it at work or in our private life. We would be in a good mood and positive every minute of our life. Doesn’t seem very likely, unless you are a monk, spiritual guru or similar.
What would it then be to live a content life? We would have to live with our inner critic and keep him under control as far as possible. Seek calm and be positive when it’s possible and accept that nothing we do will ever perfect, that life will throw a lot of hardships our way. As the saying goes „be happy with small things“ and try to accumulate as many of those moments as possible. This will fuel you thru the next phase, where happiness is just a distant thought.
Very interesting article on Lifehacker, as it hit the moment in my life.
My stress levels, measured by a Garmin watch, go up if I am in a meeting where I need to talk or present something, but also if I had a pizza, drank a beer or went running.
As the article states, some of measurable data is related to „real“ stress but other stuff is actually a positive arousal of the nervous system while e.g. doing sports or having some fun with your partner 😉.
If you would want to keep that reading below 20 (Garmin‘s threshold for Rest) at all times, you would have to turn into a couch potato with healthy eating habits 😀.
A couple of days ago I was going to the office. It was Friday, I had some meetings scheduled and some light office tasks to do. All in all, it should be an easy day as it was the first working week of the year.
As I was walking from the car park to the office, I noticed a guy walking in front of me. He was strolling along, with a coffee in his hand and looking kind of dreamy. Unintentionally I set off to overtake him and hurry along my way.
Then it hit me: “Why am I in a hurry?”. As I wrote above, there is no urgent meeting that I needed to attend or a task I had to do. Where did this urge to overtake him and look busy come from?
The modern life being promoted around us, teaches us not to loose time and to always be busy. If we are not, then we will not be successful, reach our goals or we will simply be brand-marked as slackers.
But this time I intentionally chose to stop my overtaking and match the speed of a dreamy looking guy.
My name is Kemal. I was born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina, now I live in Germany.
My days go by in trying to simultaneously play the roles of a husband, father, team leader, geek, good person ... sometimes it works, but most of the time I run with the flow and give my best.
As a lot of other peoples, I am interested in self improvement. So I read related blog posts, books etc. All of these sources are filled with examples of good habits one should develop, in order to be healthier and happier in life.
Here are some I tried and failed at over the years: