Be Who You Are

Albert Switzer said happiness is wanting what you have. I was in Russia in the winter of 1967. We would see long lines outside shops despite the cold. They queued up not knowing what was available. Just eager to get whatever it was because soon it would be gone. In an infinitesimally small way we experienced that around toilet paper at the start of the pandemic. Certainly in Russia back then, wanting what you have was pretty much the only way to survive.

However, is happiness about what you have? Or about what you are? For me, happiness is being happy with me. That happens when I am being who I am not who I was expected to be no matter who expected it of me. Mostly, I was unhappy when I didn’t meet my own expectations.

The real challenge in being who you are is not knowing who you are. Growing up we took on all kinds of beliefs about who we are or are supposed to be often having to separate from who we really are in order to conform, fit in, and survive.

While you are on the journey to discover who you are, be good. If anything can make you happy that will. I believe it’s our mission in life to help good happen. Therefore, being good assists benevolence and a connection with the greater whole.