Life is not an exam. There are no course syllabus to study, no past examination questions to prepare you for. There are no model answers too. Life just happens. Life brings it’s sets of challenges and demands a response on your part. Life doesn’t judge you but through your course of actions, throu gh your responses, you judge yourself in that light. Life allows you the choices that you have available but not the consequences. Life does not allow you to choose the consequences. And you can’t play with the consequences.
Measuring Life
There are no passing marks in life. Life does not have grade letters. It does not mote give you a rating at the end of your life. How then is life measured? I believe one yardstick we can use is happiness. For happiness is the one thing that although is intangible is the most common human experience any human being can fathom and happiness alone can stand by itself – A rich man who has all the riches in the world can experience happiness just as well as a poor man who doesn’t have much in the world. Similarly a person who is sick in a hospital bed can also experience happiness. Happiness is a universal feeling or virtue that transcends beyond possessions or physical health. And that’s why it makes a logical choice to be a yardstick for one’s life. The other key component I would say would be hope. Hope is a dangerous things to lose, and without hope, its difficult to see the light at the tunnel. If happiness lightens our hearts, it is hope that strengthens our heart of the journey that lies ahead.
Responding to Life with Optimism, Courage and Perseverance through the HapHop method
So how then do we respond to life? I mentioned above that happiness is one common (and I think fair) yardstick we can use to measure and rate a successful life. So therefore if happiness is the main ingredient that we need to respond to life, how do we go about getting it? I mentioned before that happiness is to be pursued and pursue we must for happiness. Shit doesn’t really happen. Life happens. A successful life is not one life that is not marked by constant success or filled with happiness to the brim. But I believe its a combination of Happiness (Hap) and Hope (Hop) that that helps fuel the necessary elements and components to live a successful life – optimism, courage and perseverance – I believe its these 3 things that are essential to a happy and successful life.
ut too often we live in a world that is often deprived of that, or worse, is distorted and disorientated. We are bombarded with scary messages everyday that deprives us of courage and optimism and we are disillusioned to believe that our happiness is derived from material accumulation and consumption. We are psyched to believe that we must own stuff to be happy. Our hope, we are told should be held by how many zeros we have in our bank account rather than on our enduring human spirits. Don’t get me wrong, owning stuff and having a good healthy balance account is not a bad thing to have, but it becomes sad and to some degree enslaving when our HapHop is derived out of external materialistic things. We lose sight on our own capabilities, talents and gifts and as a result, we lose ourselves in that process.
In Closing
Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. Cultivating a sense of Happiness in the present and nurturing belief and Hope in the future and during difficult tumultuous times are essential to living the happy life. There are no answers to life, but there are tools (HapHop) that you can use to start living a more purposeful and meaningful life.
