Choose Your Meaning Carefully

Often we forget that we are the ones who created our system of meaning in life. We are the ones who decided what measure will be used to judge us.

Are we more worthy of happiness if we work hard?

Do we deserve more self-worth if we are creative? Intelligent? Funny or entertaining?

How in your mind do you judge yourself as having sufficiently earned your keep?

Or do you not ever truly earn your keep? Are you always just a little short of the mark and needing to try harder? Or do you simply accept a fundamental sense of insecurity always being there with you?

Meaning that Fulfills

There is only one system of meaning I have come across that seems to lead to actual fulfillment. All the rest put us on a roller coaster ride. Sometimes we’re coming up, but inevitably we’re always falling at points too.

We can’t always be the smart one in the conversation. We can’t entertain everyone. We can’t always be productive. Sometimes creativity dries up. In those moments, do we truly have less value? If you’re measuring your value by those things, then yes.

But if you measure your value by a different yardstick, in those moments of not being able to perform up to snuff you still have the perfect value you were born with. And that system of meaning (and measure) is enjoyment.

What if you were born so that you could enjoy this life?

What if that was the sole purpose of your entire life, simply that you enjoy it however you find to?

A lot of people fear such ideas. They suspect the worst in themselves and others, as if that is only being held back by the need to constantly be serving in some way to mitigate one’s fundamental evil.

I don’t think like that. I know that people can be very selfish, but I think a healthy selfishness leads people to engage in activities that help them and others. With a health system of meaning, we don’t do what we do because we think we should; we do it because we want to.

I’m not going to shy away from saying that I’ve done a lot of good in this world. I’ve helped a lot of people in a lot of ways. I’ve even built an entire community up from the ground, providing low cost housing to 26 poor families. Those people still live in that community and their families are changed for generations by what I did. But I didn’t do it for them. I did it for me.

I do all that I do because I enjoy it. And what I don’t enjoy, I don’t do. I love that so many people are helped by my actions, but that never confuses me. Never for a moment do I think I am actually serving anyone but myself.

I see the fundamental nature of myself and all others as Love extending itself to all the parts of itself as love. We are that, and we love ourself unconditionally. This truth is hidden from most people most of the time, but it sometimes emerges in most people (if not everyone at some time). And I’m not willing to play along to get along. I’m not willing to pretend I know less than I know just because so many others are walking around as if they don’t know.

You can’t get to a true solution with a dishonest question.

The question is not, “How do I prove my worth?” For your worth was determined with your first breath. The question is only, “How do I enjoy this moment whatever it contains?” For that is the secret question that reveals the path to a truly happy life.

Learn how to know what you want most in any moment. It isn’t as easy as it might sound. Master this though. Then also master knowing how to truly turn any contents of your experience into a part of your path of joyful living. Master your emotions and the way you shape meaning out of raw experience.

If you do this, I have faith in you that you will leave a trail of joy behind you in the world. It will be the joy you live and the joy and well-being that you foster in others. It won’t be because you were trying to. It will simply be because you allowed the truth to express itself through you without your trying to manipulate it any.

Trust in your fundamental goodness, and that of others too. Don’t make rules to chain the beast you imagine that actually condemn the angel that is your true birthright.

One of the last shots I took of the lovely cottonwood trees at my house I sold, right before I left CA. I spent so many hours lying in that hammock, staring up at those trees, watching them shimmer in the breeze. In those moments, I was living my highest purpose, just as I am right now.

Resteems always appreciated!