Thursday, January 24

Happiness is the Consequence of Personal Effort

I've been able to do a lot of reading lately... of course in the bathtub. I've included an excerpt from the brilliant book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

I keep remembering one of my Guru's teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away in your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.

3 comments:

Rin said...

Hmmm...I like that quote. I have to remember that...it's amazing how I read all these great things and then a month later they are forgotten...I need to keep them in remembrance...but how.

M said...

I loved this book! I wrote down so many lines. I her descriptions.

Jayson & Sara said...

Hey Kelly, good to hear from you on the blog. Sara and I have been in Grenada for about 18 months going to school. We'll be back in a year hopefully. Congratulations on your marriage and house and everything. I guess life gets more exciting than driving around Roseville in a little Beamer! So, is your husband a chef as well? Sounds pretty talented!