Do Something That Makes You Happy and You Will Be

It's human nature to go toward what's easy.

I believe we're all the same. We must lose something for a while to understand its true value.

We need to disrupt our little habits to realize how easy it is to take our comfort for granted. We need to be deprived of the presence of those we love to understand the importance of intimacy in our balance.

When a "catastrophe" occurs, we can spend hours listening to the media or doing research on the internet to try to understand what's happening, find someone to blame and condemn them without appeal. Finding a rational explanation for all these changes can surely help calm you...for a time.

But in the end, it's how you approach change that makes all the difference.

Questioning

Everyone has their way of approaching change. Some people lose their bearings when they don't have their morning coffee, others manage to live with almost nothing without it affecting their morale.

Habits have the advantage of reducing stress. We repeat the same gestures hoping to maintain that feeling of security.

But comfort can be paralyzing when it destroys your vigilance and makes you lazy.

The real tragedy of confinement isn't losing the freedom to go where we want when we want, but realizing that when we have too much free time, without responsibilities or obligations, we don't really know what to do with it. We feel useless and our life doesn't seem to have meaning when we can't "contribute."

Humans restrict themselves by nature. Not to save lives, but because they're afraid.

They're afraid of what they don't know, because they've moved so far away from nature that they've lost their survival instincts...they've even lost sight of their true needs! It's so much easier to do what we're told than to take advantage of a pause to think about all this.

Because if you take a clear look at your life, are you certain that humans have evolved that much?

5 days of work, 40 hours a week; that's already a lot, but you're capable of taking on even more because you want MORE from life;

Children? You'll need a bigger house, a pool, a dog, a bigger car, private lessons, an education fund (because your children will change the world), designer clothes, a cell phone for everyone, unlimited super-fast internet, 5 video game consoles (because the neighbors have just as many);

Vacation? A cruise, a trip to Europe, a trip to the States at Easter, another bigger car (that one to transport luggage, once a year);

A promotion? It comes with 20 more hours per week, but also $20,000 more per year to spend...

To think that 40,000 years ago, Cro-Magnon man devoted less time than you do to his subsistence...

Adapting together

It's time to stop all this.

Stop seeing threats everywhere and maintaining an anxiety-inducing climate by sharing half-truths.

Stop consuming excessively, because we've been taught that it was the key to happiness.

Stop comparing ourselves and competing with our fellow humans under every pretext.

It's time to look within ourselves to understand what affects us so much in others' behavior. It's time to stop looking for culprits for our anxieties and take our destiny into our own hands.

It's time to be more positive. To learn to see opportunity in change, beauty in the ephemeral, strength in fragility.

An event that pushes us to question ourselves happens to all of us at least once in our lives, but in a privileged society like ours, we don't often have the opportunity to do this soul-searching all at the same time.

Reconnecting with your essence

Living space is the environment in which living beings find the resources necessary for their survival. It's during a pause that you can truly become aware of what's necessary for your life.

Take time to observe the life that proliferates while humans stay quiet.

Stop thinking. Relearn to feel.

Life shapes.

Every second, in nature, everything transforms. The river that fills with rainwater flows a little faster every second. It gradually widens and transports grains of sand to carry them elsewhere, sculpting superb beaches where you can lie down.

Life proliferates.

Right next to where you're lounging, a heron searches for its meal. As it advances in the mud, carp eggs stick to its feet and it will transport them to a pond where there hadn't been a single fish until then.

Death feeds life.

At the same moment, a fox eviscerates a mouse. After several days of unsuccessful hunting, this meal will allow it to survive one more day and feed its 10 young, allowing them to reach maturity.

Life is a cycle.

You'll return to the banks of this river with your children one day and you'll just be happy to pass on to them this joy of being more aware of the things that live around you.

Move forward, the world is so vast

There's so much to discover.

Your living space is something you build, one experience at a time. What's necessary for your survival doesn't have to be so complicated. What contributes to your happiness doesn't have to be so exotic.

Reconnect with nature, it shows the way. Like the trees in a forest that maintain a vital distance between them, you'll naturally find your rightful place among your fellow humans.

Walking is a totally instinctive act.

Walking allows you to keep moving forward in the storm. It's a reminder that nothing is ever truly lost as long as you're alive. It's inscribed in your cells, it's a vital program that's just waiting for your intention to be reactivated.

Walking is creating your living space to measure. It's discovering that it starts from you and that you can carry it everywhere you go.

Put on your boots and get up, life is waiting for you outside.