The topic for this month, for our newsletter and blogs, is “Lifting the Pandemic Curtain.” During the pandemic, it was as if much activity—business and even life—was occurring behind a curtain, and we couldn’t tell exactly what was happening. Now that the curtain has lifted—much like in The Wizard of Oz—we can see what’s going on.
But make sure, now that you can observe what’s happening, that you really take the time to look. Don’t listen to rumors but see for yourself.
What Might You Observe?
Another article in this newsletter covered the topic of happiness—it can be easily observed that happiness comes from producing results.
But how many times have you heard that making money and becoming rich, despite sayings to the contrary, was the only route to happiness? How many ways has this been portrayed in television, movies and books? How many motivational speakers and podcasters have become wealthy themselves by promoting their principles, through books and seminars, of becoming rich?
Look for yourself, though. Are rich people actually happy? Statistically, how many become depressed and even commit suicide? A friend of ours told a story of being at the blackjack tables in a Las Vegas casino and looking across at a high-stakes table. There was one lone person seated at this table, and the stack of chips he was betting each time equaled thousands of dollars. Yet the young man (he was in his early twenties) was obviously very bored and morose. Our friend learned a valuable lesson by seeing this for himself.
Further, you hear or read that successful people are constantly working on their route to a happy life. But look closely: are they happy because they’re successful, or because they love what they do and the results they produce?
Observing The Idle
Another observation you might make along the same lines is of people who have retired from a long working life, for it is often claimed that only in retirement can someone be happy.
Another friend of ours once asked an elderly lady, long retired and living off the money she and her former husband had earned (she was a widow), what she enjoyed about life. Amazingly, she said she wasn’t happy. When asked what had made her happy, she said, “Business.” In other words, she yearned for the days she was producing results.
Clearly, it’s true that it’s not the wealth, but producing the results, that make for happiness. It only takes observation to work this out.
Watch Sources of “Information”
Staying with our other example of the opinions and rumors that not working is the only way to be happy, take a good look at people who push such “conclusions.” You’ll likely find that these individuals avoid work like the plague. In fact, they’re incapable of working.
In the long run, are they happy? No, they are not. But they’re sure going to insist that others not work, too. Anyone who follows that advice will be, unfortunately, miserable.
Majority Opinion?
Another observation you can make, if you pay attention, is that only a small percentage of people insist that becoming rich and not working are the only ways that people can be happy. Such views only seem widespread because they’re carried through the media and therefore appear as “general opinion.”
In this time of the pandemic curtain coming up, take the time to look for yourself at what is truly going on!
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