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I recently had an epiphany at my last mastermind meeting; the secret to achieving true happiness is not in the attainment of individual goals or trying to achieve as many goals as possible, but to be in existential harmony.
Deep, I know –but what does that mean?
Having goals is a positive thing, though it is thinking about our goals on a higher level of what they really mean to us and our journey; ensuring that they align with all aspects of our life at every stage.
Imagine an hourglass that is full on the top. The top of the hourglass, holding the sand represents life opportunities. The bottom of the hourglass represents you. The sand only funnels through when we willingly open ourselves to growth and take positive action – thereby realizing our potential and personal development. When the sand fills the bottom, it represents our satisfaction and growth.
The different facets of our life, for example: career, money, health, relationships/family and spirituality, are each represented by an hourglass. They begin full on top and as we embark on new stages of life –symbolizing our full potential and opportunity for growth. As the sand fills up the bottom of the hourglass this symbolizes the fulfillment of our growth within that particular facet of our life. We know it’s time to turn our hourglasses over when we get that nagging feeling that we are ready to move to the next level, sometime described as ‘what’s next’, and the cycle begins again.
All the hourglasses in our life turn over at different times and will pour at different rates –the idea is to keep our hourglasses constantly running, keeping the energy and growth flowing in our life, this is where happiness lies, when we can achieve harmony.
Many of us spend time focusing on only one or two aspects of our life, filling and re-filling only those hourglasses. By ignoring the other aspects of our life we leave those hourglasses empty and unkempt, creating an unbalanced life.
The idea is to continually be aware of every aspect of our life; be mindful of all our hourglasses so that we continually move forward in harmony.
Why this matters?
I’ve heard countless stories of very ‘successful’ people who have acquired the home, salary, and car they’ve always wanted –they feel empty and incomplete –they feel a sense of regret that their financial and material success came at the price of failed relationships, lost connections and isolation.
These people focused on the hourglasses they thought were most important, not realizing that they are all important in achieve true happiness and fulfillment.
We all want to feel whole and achieve harmony. When we work too hard and lack contact with our family and friends, we feel ‘out of sink’. No big surprise as relationships are a fundamental part of our life. Realizing that our life is a journey and, along the way, taking the time to be cognizant of our hourglasses to ensure they are always flowing is essential to achieving harmony, and ultimately, happiness.
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Comments
10.30.09
This is a really interesting post, and I like the idea of having goal achievement not be an end into itself, but part of a larger idea of where we want to go and what we want to do.
Did you create this diagram or did you find it somewhere?
Thanks, great post!
10.30.09
Thanks Beth! Yes, I did create this diagram -to illustrate my thoughts.
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