>Don’t forget to join the ‘guest blogger’ contest from Friday! And I not just talking to Americans. I know many of you are from other countries (see below). I want to hear great quotes from all over the world so don’t think I am not inviting you too! Come on, let us hear your best proverbs or saying from wherever you are from.
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The pursuit of happiness versus the art of avoiding pain. Interesting contrast in the focus of one’s life. It is appropo to mention the pursuit of happiness because the quote above is by the same author, Thomas Jefferson.
The pursuit of happiness versus the art of avoiding pain. Interesting contrast in the focus of one’s life. It is appropo to mention the pursuit of happiness because the quote above is by the same author, Thomas Jefferson.
So, my dilemma about pain is this: I am not surprised some people willingly allow pain into their lives for a purpose or goal that can’t be achieved without it. I just ran 16 miles yesterday in my training for my first marathon. It was painful afterwards (worse than while running). I KNEW it would be painful. I accepted I would face that pain if I wanted to achieve my goal. That is common and it is understandable.
What is much harder to comprehend, in myself as well as in others, is the pain that you create for yourself when you don’t want it. Why do people sabotage their pursuit of happiness? Why do they see the rocky shoals, know they should avoid it, but decide to flirt with it? Why do we purposely lose sight of the rolling green hills and the warm sun in the distance and the beautiful ocean we are sailing on and decide to focus on the rocks? What draws us to that pain?
What do we gain from that purposeless pain? Seriously, think about it. We aren’t drawn to the rocks without reason. There is a reason, even if we are not aware of it at the time. Maybe childhood, maybe self-loathing, maybe stupidity, who knows. But avoiding that pain is not just having a ‘happiness’ goal ahead of you, it’s also understanding how that pain brings you some perverted sense of happiness, how it fulfills you, why you need it.
Learn that and you are going to be the better pilot when you come close to those rocky shores.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd US president, author of the American Declaration of Independence
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It’s geographic Sunday!
In the last month The Napkin Dad Daily has been read in 34 different countries, including:
Sofia, Bulgaria
Algiers, Algeria
Tel Aviv, Israel
Doha, Qatar
Windhoek, Namibia
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Helsinki, Finland
