The Happiness of Low Expectations
The basis of Buddhist belief is that desire is the root cause of all negative emotions, and that the elimination of desire is the path to happiness.
So aim for the gutter and work up…
We live in a world driven by consumerism and we are constantly told that wanting and having things is good. We must strive to be our best, we must be better than the person next to us, we have to have the latest and best of everything, and if not we are a failure and obviously we are not motivated to achieve.
Unfortunately this has also become the mantra of much of the so-called ‘self-help’ industry. Many have fallen prey to the “3 simple rules to success” or the “5 things you need to know to be wealthy” type books and many other similar titles.
But what if we looked at life completely the opposite? What if we desired nothing? What if we were grateful for what we had now? What if we did not feel the need to have to own more things? What if we were happy for the successes of others and did not feel the need to compare our lives to anyone else?
There is happiness in low expectations. Unfortunately most people see low expectations as having a low expectation of yourself and what you can achieve, when what it should mean is that we are happy with what we have. It doesn’t mean we don’t try to better ourselves, we should always try and be the best we can be, but our success is not measured in our achievements...it is measured on our effort.
Live a Life Worth Living
John Rosel
info@the4pillarsoflife.com.au
www.the4pillarsoflife.com.au