“Can You Sprint Your Way To Happiness?”
by Kelvin Chin
Life After Life Expert
Note: I am the happiness guy.
But I’m the reality guy first.
Otherwise the feeling of happiness is just another “fleeting feeling.”
Here today, gone tomorrow.
Most Americans are sprinters. They sprint with their health, their finances and their relationships.
We treat our bodies like we’re in an NFL game or on the battlefield.
People even say, “I’m on the battlefield of life…” Life is seen as a fight that must be “won.”
Really?
We triage our bodies from one illness to the next. And the pharmaceutical and insurance companies oblige enthusiastically. For them, the gift to their revenue bottom line doesn’t just come once a year — it’s every day, 365 a year. And we each are complicit in their power, dominance and continued growth. We are addicted to them.
Quick. “Give me a shot of steroids so I can get back in the game, Coach!” And then within 10 years of retirement from the sport, the body gives out. And collapses. Crippled. Living on pain pills. Thinking it’s “normal” aging.
We’ve allowed ourselves to be fooled. It’s not normal “healthy” aging to be on a dozen prescription medications.
It’s…
Justification.
Call a spade ♠️ a spade.
We knew better. But the immediate gratification was worth it! Wasn’t it?
Most Americans do not have $400 in savings to pay for an unexpected expense. Studies tell us. Who’s fault is that?
We can blame “the system.” But that only goes so far.
Did you really need that second (third, fourth) flatscreen TV? Best Buy and Amazon love that you think you did!
But no worries. You can just file (yet another) bankruptcy and start the credit card game all over again. After all, you’re patriotic 🇺🇸 . Right? Absolutely! Your consumerism is helping the American GDP, that’s primarily based on us consuming more and more every year. Whether we need the stuff or not.
And what about our love lives?
Sad story. Sprinters. Not marathon runners. Short-term commitments. Lacking discrimination or discernment. Little focus. Intermittent at best.
Ask yourself.
Are you a sprinter running as fast as you can from one crisis to another? From one relationship dating app to another? Or are you a marathon runner in the game of life, enjoying it for the long haul?
Why?
Why are we Americans so enamored with the short-term fix? The quick jolt of bliss. Versus long-term contentment.
I think we have largely forgotten who we are.
We are not consumers.
We are not even Americans.
We are minds with desires. And we would serve our own happiness more effectively if we looked more closely at why we have those desires. What drives them. And what therefore drives us.
Why do we feel the need to not take time for ourselves? And instead, get the “steroid shot” or pop the pain pill so we can get right back in the “rat race,” back on the “hamster wheel” where we end up wearing ourselves out even more?
Why not cancel the relatives coming over and cooking for them...especially when you don’t really like being with them and they don’t appreciate you and your hospitality anyway?
“Just because you do it every Christmas?” Is that a good enough reason?
Or… “But they’ll be upset…” Oh! So their happiness is more important than yours. Hmmm… Could that perhaps be why you’re so miserable? Self-devaluation?
Food for thought.
Take care of yourself.
If you don’t, who else will?
Find help from friends, real friends…and if necessary, compassionate insightful professionals.
And keep the “long game” in mind.
If you sprint your way through life, you may burn out sooner than you like.
Sure.
Maybe with more “stuff” (TVs, cars, clothes).
But with less happiness, more debt, and alone. Even if you’re married.
Kelvin H. Chin is a Meditation Teacher, Life After Life Expert, and Author of “Overcoming the Fear of Death,” “Marcus Aurelius Updated: 21st Century Meditations On Living Life” and “After the Afterlife: Memories of My Past Lives.” He learned to meditate at age 19, and has been teaching Turning Within and coaching others in their self-growth for 40 years. He helps people understand their life challenges through their individual belief systems, and helps them find their own solutions. His past life memories reach back many centuries, and he accesses those memories in his teaching and his coaching in the same way all coaches draw on their own available experiences for perspective and effective analogies. He can be reached at www.OvercomingTheFearOfDeath.org or www.TurningWithin.org.