Do something you love
There’s a default way to live life, a process given to us by a society that we unconsciously follow without putting too much thought into. We finish school, get a degree or two, find work to earn a living, get married, have children and so on. Our mind accepts and works within the framework on default mode.
What also happens more often than not is that life within the framework eventually becomes an exercise we’re getting through that chips away at our heart and fails to bring us the joy we’ve always sought, dreamed about and hoped for.
We go from one day to another, a year to the next, one decade to another and life flies out of our hands. We do find happiness from time to time but it’s fleeting and doesn’t stay for long.
Is it not possible to CREATE joy as we go along daily?
It is. Do something you love, something that you know makes you happy.
The aim of doing something you love is:
1. To engage your mind actively (not passively such as happens when you consume social media, TV, even books though they’re a better substitute)
2. To force you to forget your worries, problems and be present
(Do not multitask while you do it)
3. To learn and grow emotionally and intellectually
Spending time on the activity should put you into a state of flow (when you forget that you’re doing something because you’re completely engaged but when you finish, you find yourself to be replenished mentally)
WHAT WILL IT DO FOR YOU?
The human mind seeks FULFILMENT (which leads to joy) once your basic needs have been met. Eg if you’re given something that you don’t like to eat as dinner every day, you might eat it because of lack of a choice but you won’t feel satisfied. At some point, you’ll lose interest in having dinner at all.
You have to eat because your body needs fuel but you’ll not want to and might stop as well. Why?
Because fulfilment matters.
We’re living our lives like this, going through it like machines, we do things because they need to be done, we seek and satisfy ourselves with highs. This can go on for a long time but we reach a point at which the pointlessness of it gets to us and leads to an existential crisis or a breakdown.
Doing something you love is a SMALL STEP to fulfil yourself daily.
Moreover to build a happy life: SMALL STEPS are more important than BIG STEPS because:
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They’re easier to take
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Make a bigger difference in the long run
TO-DO:
Find an activity that makes you joyful and do it EVERY SINGLE DAY for 30-60 minutes, whatever time you can afford. The only way to a build a habit is:
Fix a time. Show up at that hour to do it daily.