On the matter of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness I have long been a proponent of the notion that you must first be free within your limitations before you can be free of your limitations. Accepting limitations as they now are does not require acquiescence, only the willingness to rest in them while …
Category: Observations on Life
Royal Road to Happiness VI
"Unhappiness is the hunger to get; Happiness is the hunger to give. True happiness must ever have the tinge of sorrow outlived, the sense of pain softened by the mellowing years, the chastening of loss that in the wondrous mystery of time transmutes our suffering into love and sympathy with others. If the individual should …
Royal Road to Happiness V
"Happiness is the voice of optimism, of faith, of simple, steadfast love. No cynic or pessimist can be really happy. A cynic is a man who is morally near-sighted, – and brags about it. He sees the evil in his own heart, and thinks he sees the world. He lets a mote in his eye …
Royal Road to Happiness IV
What are the conditions necessary for happiness to flourish in your life? As we've considered, happiness comes not as a result of the perfect arrangement of things, people or circumstances, instead, happiness comes as you unselfishly dedicate your life to true purpose. Most see it as the sweet flavor of the carrot on the stick, …
Royal Road to Happiness III
Have you discovered your purpose in life? If so, you likely measure all against the fulfillment of that purpose. If not, you probably feel as though there is something yet missing. Rightly so. Purpose drives meaning, and no amount of busywork around the point of purpose can bring a sense of meaning quite the same …
Royal Road to Happiness II
"Happiness has a number of under-studies, – gratification, satisfaction, content, and pleasure, – clever imitators that simulate its appearance rather than emulate its method. Gratification is a harmony between our desires and our possessions. It is ever incomplete, it is the thankful acceptance of part. It is a mental pleasure in the quality of what …
Royal Road to Happiness I
"'During my whole life I have not had twenty-four hours of happiness.' So said Prince Bismarck, one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century. Eighty-three years of wealth, fame, honors, power, influence, prosperity and triumph, – years when he held an empire in his fingers, – but not one day of happiness!" ~ William …
Doing Your Best VI
"And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." ~ Deuteronomy 34:7 No matter how old you are at this moment, you should be in the prime of your life. For many the prime years are too few and too late, relegated …
Doing Your Best V
"The honest, faithful struggler should always realize that failure is but an episode in a true man's life,--never the whole story. It is never easy to meet, and no philosophy can make it so, but the steadfast courage to master conditions, instead of complaining of them, will help him on his way; it will ever …
Doing Your Best IV
Successful people know how to connect the dots between their present situation and their future goals. That said, successful people are not always happy people, which I imagine occurs whenever one's goals are not well-aligned with true purpose. The ability to connect the dots is something we learn from a very early age. We practice …
Gregory Hake 