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In last week’s newsletter: If you have people that love you and people you love, you will more likely have sustained happiness throughout your life.
I noticed something in common with many patients who suffered from severe depression. They did not feel they were loved. Unfortunately, some of them also could not point to anyone that they love.
There seems to be a very clear relationship between Love and Happiness. By extension, if God is Love, then Love may provide the appropriate link between God and Happiness.
However, this touches upon a larger question for yourself. Where do you fit in society?
If you have great clarity on where you fit in society, whether it be a mother, or a lawyer, or a pizza owner, or a priest, then you have a good idea of your daily life. The nature of your love towards others is well defined. You will interact with society in a circumscribed and pre-defined way.
But if you don’t have clarity on where you fit in society, then feeling fulfilled and connected to a Higher Power and Purpose will be challenging.
So how do you gain clarity on this? It is traditionally through Prayer and Meditation.
Meditation is the act of taking the time to get to know yourself. Prayer is the act of taking the time to get to know a Higher Power.
If you understand yourself very well, you will have a stronger sense of your identity, your strengths and weaknesses, your passions, and your aversions. If you understand God very well, God will point you towards your optimal place in society.
Once you’ve been given your “mission,” Happiness and Unhappiness are irrelevant. Your life becomes bringing society to a better place as inspired by your interactions with a Higher Power. You’re able to side-step the Hedonic Adaptation trap because your happiness is not about a singular fleeting event, experience, or gain. It’s about a relationship between you and the world as envisioned by a Higher Power.
Meaningful relationships are the key to long, everlasting happiness and fulfillment. Get more of those.
Chez Eric Media
