Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Do we really need India to find ourselves?

Stardate October 6, 2010

I found myself this morning watching the start of Kerry-Anne's morning show, and the whole episode was going to be about the release of a film called Eat, Pray, Love, which is based on a book, coincidentally, by the same name.The brief goes as follows:
  • 32 year old educated, married, successful writer. Wasn't happy, cried in the bathroom, divorced eventually, travelled to Italy, India and Bali for a book- nice work if you can get it- and came back with a cleansed soul (I haven't read it so apologies if I've missed a bit out).
Do we really have to go on a 'journey'- that word drives me insane, as does 'it's an organic process' -to be all that we can? Or are we all on a journey all ready, and some journeys involve the accumulation of more frequent flyer points than others? Will I ever be complete, as I can't see myself travelling to India,or anywhere remotely exotic, any time soon?

So it got me thinking. I'm basically happy. I could have my act together a bit better but really what's the point of stressing about it? The twins would just climb on the furniture and do some more writing on the walls whilst I was dwelling on it anyway. So for those of you who care, here's what I came up with for a happy life (in no particular order and by no means the whole strategy):
  • Pretty high up on my list is to surround yourself with good people, people who are looking out for more than themselves, and people who make you laugh-because if you're not laughing often, it can't be a good thing. Choose your friends wisely, and do be picky- you don't need to be everyone's friend all the time. Whilst it is important to be there for your friends and support them through their hard times, some people just have too many dramas and this can wear you down.
  • Pick your battles, especially when it comes to your kids, or you could spend your entire life talking to deaf ears, and that's going to drive anyone crazy.
  • Realising that the world does not revolve around you and your wants and needs is another starting point.
  • Acceptance of other peoples' differences. As they say in the song 'If everybody looked the same, we'd get tired of looking at each other.' If their behaviour's not hurting anyone, then why worry.
  • Recognise that there are always people out there doing it harder than you.
  • Do what makes you happy. Again, whilst it is important to consider the feelings and wellbeing of others when making decisions, you can't live your life striving to keep other people happy if you're not.
And let's hope that if there is a 'higher being' that Buddhists or the Hindus have got it right, and he/she/it is not as judgemental as some other religions would have us believe.

So as long as we pull our heads out of our bums and notice those around us, we should be able to save ourselves an airfare? Is it that simple?

As for how to get your dream job, or any job for that matter? No idea! You'll need to read someone else's blog for that one.