Our "Stimulus" Check

"Happiness depends on ourselves" -Aristotle

What a time in life to be alive and aware. It seems everywhere we turn we see the results of society's current situation. We see our country and our world through tinted shades. Bad thoughts lead to bad intentions, lead to bad decisions, lead to bad results, ending with a bad state of affairs. Most people feel it, or feel like they feel it, or feel like they are supposed to feel it. The result is general pessimism and unhappiness, approaching downright hopelessness.

And now we need someone to blame......

We are now a population waiting. Waiting for help, waiting for answers, waiting for someone to pose the questions because we don't even know what to ask. We wait for the end of the day to see what the market did. We wait for the news to come in on how many jobs are lost. We wait for answers to those questions we have for the economy and our government. We wait for the results on how others are and will affect our lives. We wait for our "stimulus" check.

Who is to blame?

The democrats? The republicans? The CEOs? The banks? The greedy corporations? The mortgage companies? The insurance companies? Your company? Your boss? The powers that be?

First of all, blame is such an empty word. It has little value, little flavor and little interest to me. As a verb, it is a debate amongst the hopeless. As a state of being, it is a worthless commodity carried by or delivered by the hopeless. I say why bother.

I am here to personally deliver your "stimulus" check. My hope is that reading this will help you realize how to let go of some burden and start feeling lighter and "stimulated". Now this "stimulus" check has no money (which you end up paying back on your tax returns, by the way), but is more of a "stimulus check", like a doctor's appointment. This will check how you stimulate the environment around you.

Notice I say stimulate as action performed, rather than how others stimulate you. Now, if you just can't let go of trying to blame, I'm OK with that. Let's just start in our own backyards. How have we contributed to our own mess? How have we purchased things we don't need with money we don't have? How have we coveted others lives and commodities? How have we waited for someone else to deliver our happiness?

Wait a minute....that might just be the one thing we are neglecting......happiness. Here we are, waiting. Hoping someone, something to come to our rescue. Just once...just once....when's it gonna be my time......my time is coming for sure.......something is just gonna turn around for me. All the while, the ultimate end, happiness, is a vague notion in most of our imaginations.

I see on a daily basis people trying to make a living that are not making a life. I see people performing similar tasks, and getting similar results. I see people run out of month before money. I see people being caught in their very own tornado. And its mostly based on a few decisions made a crucial times in their lives.

Rather than focus on all those things, I would rather talk about your "stimulus check". How can you be a light, rather than searching for the light? What can you do about your own situation, rather than worry about the concerns of others? When can you start? Where will you make the most impact? Why are you able? It's very simple.....happiness.

I asked my wife a couple weeks back, (who we will refer to as Auntie A, or decision maker), "what would be your ideal schedule if you could make it?" Most people would be taken aback when asked this, because they wouldn't take it very seriously. Auntie A knows me better than that. She shared with me some of the things that would be ideal. I simply said, "Let's do THOSE things." Why would we want to do anything else? Why should se settle?

I will not settle. I have recently made a career change. As of last week. I have things I want to do in my life that I've allowed my career to prevent. I worked among pessimism and chaos and turmoil and pain. I have neglected happiness, but I've always tried to be a light and not search for the light. Now I have the freedom to choose my path. Live my life while making a living. Work my ideal schedule and not have that schedule work me. Run an business and not have it run me.

Happiness is the ultimate end. It is a result of what you put into it. Nothing out there will MAKE us happy. We must contribute. All activities should result in happiness. There is no pursuit of happiness. There is just the result, and it is up to us. All paths should lead to it, but no paths lead from it.

Make decisions today that will help you live your life, not just make a living.

Use your "stimulus check" wisely!