"Stop searching. Happiness is right next to you." Anonymous.
The months of planning in readiness for our house-move came to a crashing halt last week as the sale of our home fell through and along with it our dreams. After a huge investment of time, money and emotion the upset was profound and surprisingly long lasting. It just didn’t add up? Myself, my wife and family are all healthy. We all love and support each other and we have what many would regard a blessed life. And yet, we both felt miserable and a huge sense of loss.
We had clearly made a big mistake. But not a mistake in the way we negotiated; not a mistake in allowing the process to continue for so long; not even a mistake in the repeated concessions we made which eventually weakened our position. No, we made a mistake in pinning our hopes of happiness to an object, to an event, to a place. We made our happiness conditional and painfully learned that all paths to conditional happiness can only ever lead to sadness and disappointment. We temporarily abandoned all the wonderful things we have and as we lifted our gaze to a future place we were unable to see that which lay right next to us.
I love my house; I love my family; I love my life and I am unconditionally happy because I made a decision to be so right now, today, tomorrow and the days after that.
