There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. LOGAN PEARSALL SMITH
While reading through our definition of wealthhealth, happiness, abundance, prosperity, riches, loving, caring, sharing, learning, knowing what you want, opportunity, enjoying, and balance you probably had the thought, "I already have some of those."
Indeed you have.
It isn't that we aren't already wealthy in many respectswe areit's that we often forget, take things for granted and overlook enjoying what we already have.
This sectionby far the longest in this bookis designed to enhance our appreciation of and gratitude for the wealth we already have.
It is abundant.
But make no mistake about it: making the changes necessary to enjoy more is hard work. Change may not be hard physical work, but, when the habit of nonenjoyment is strong, it is hard emotional and mental work.
In other words, when we're miserable, we're being lazy. Most people won't do the work.
This section of the book outlines the work that is cut out for us. It's full of ideas, concepts, suggestions and exercises, all designed to enhance appreciation of the moment and gratitude for what already is.
Joy is the feeling of grinning inside. DR. Melba Colgrove
As we mentioned earlier, we consider enjoyment to have two primary componentsappreciation and gratitude. To fully enjoy something, we must first appreciate it, like it, savor it. This is fun, of course, but when we add the second elementgratitudewe add thankfulness to the appreciation and have full, rounded, heartfelt enjoyment.
"All of the animals except man," wrote Samuel Butler, "know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it." "There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness," observed Joyce Grenfell, "but there is the discovery of joy." And, as it states in the Chinese proverb (which is a nice way of saying we probably got it from a fortune cookie), "One joy scatters a hundred griefs."
No amount of material possession produces wealth. Enjoying what we haveno matter how much or how little it may beis what makes us wealthy. "Wealth is not his that has it," wrote Benjamin Franklin, "but his that enjoys it."
The endless pursuit of things at the expense of enjoying what we already have is often referred to as being caught "on the treadmill." Fred Allen called it "the treadmill to oblivion." "If your capacity to acquire has outstripped your capacity to enjoy," observed Glen Buck, "you are on the way to the scrap-heap."
The things to enjoy are the things that are in front ofand withinus. The time to enjoy them is now. "We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine," wrote Charles Colton in 1825; "but if we defer tasting them too long, we shall find that both are soured with age."
Too many people postpone the enjoyment of life until some vaguely specified "later," when some goal or person or ability has been obtained. "May we never let the things we can't have, or don't have, or shouldn't have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have," cautioned Richard Evans. "As we value our happiness let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot or should not have."
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. CICERO
Enjoyment not only erases past hurts; it is easily stored, ready to dissolve future disappointments before they are even felt. "No enjoyment, however inconsiderable, is confined to the present moment," said Sydney Smith. "A man is the happier for life from having made once an agreeable tour, or lived for any length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed any considerable interval of innocent pleasure."
The element of enjoyment that seems to make it linger the longest is gratitude. As the French say, "Gratitude is the heart's memory."
Enjoyment is not just found in stopping and observing, but also in action, in doing. "There is the true joy of life:" wrote George Bernard Shaw, "to be used by a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; to be thoroughly worn out before being thrown on the scrap heap; to be a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that life will not devote itself to making you happy."
Life will not devote itself to making you happyor making you joyful. You must devote yourself to that. "Enjoyment is not a goal," wrote Paul Goodman; "it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity." Who decides what is "important"? You, of course.
Being involved in the worthwhile cause of spreading joy to others seems to rub off on the giver. "The very society of joy redoubles it," wrote Robert South; "so that, while it lights upon my friend, it rebounds upon myself, and the brighter his candle burns, the more easily will it light mine."
Of course, our best advice is: light your own fire, discover the appreciation and gratitude for whatever is around and within yourself right now.
