Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart

Author Gordon Livingston, M.D., says there are three components to happiness:

1) something to do

2) someone to love

3) and something to look forward to.

Simple enough right….No. How many people do you actually know that are happy with their lives??Something to do… is usually taken as work….but it doesn’t count if you don’t get a feeling of personal significance. Routine can take over and suck out the passion that people have when they start somewhere new. How do you stop what you do from turning into what you hate?Someone to love…need I say more. Most of the unhappiness that people feel are due to lack of love in their lives. Feelings loneliness and desperation overwhelm them to such an extent that it leaves no room for hope. Fears of the unknown take over making them vulnerable to self-deception and disillusionment. Love requires people to have the courage to become totally vulnerable to another. “Feelings of love or lack of it are noticeable in all the mundane ways we show that someone matters to us, especially in the amount and quality of the time we are willing to give them.” What then when one cause the person they love to give up on them?Something to look forward to is fundamentally part of the previous two points. When there is a goal, a purpose, a point to any situation, the end result usually justifies the means. When what we do will have a greater end result than the actual work that people put in, then it encourages us to continue. When a love is shared and a vision of a future together awaits it, then the heartaches melt away. Something to look forward to keeps us willing to get up in when it’s cold, run when we’re tired, work late when we want to go home, call when we know we shouldn't, hold back our tears when all we want to do is sob, study when all we want to do is sleep, write when all we want to do is watch T.V.Being happy shouldn't be as difficult as we make it.

Why can't we just do want makes us feel accomplished, be with the only person that makes life worthwhile, and set goals for ourselves so that thoughts of the future inspire us continue?