Journey to Happiness

From Aristotle in 340 B.C. through to the thinkers, speakers, and writers of today, the key to happiness has hardly changed at all. It is both simple and complex. And it is the same for virtually all men and women, in all countries and situations, and in all walks of life.

The key to happiness is this: Dedicate yourself to the development of your natural talents and abilities by doing what you love to do and continuing to do it better and better.

Since you can't be truly happy until you are clear about your inherent possibilities, it's very important that you take some time on a regular basis to analyze yourself and identify your strengths and weaknesses. One of the best ways to do this is to start by asking yourself two powerful questions.

The first question is my favorite: "What one great thing would I dare to dream if I knew I could not fail?"

Imagine that you are absolutely guaranteed of success in the pursuit of a particular goal, big or small, short-term or long-term. Imagine that you had all the money, all the time, all the education, all the contacts, all the resources, and everything else that you could possibly need to achieve any one big goal in life. In other words, imagine that you had no restrictions.

What would your goal in life be?

The second question to ask yourself is this: "How would I spend my life if I learned today that I only had six months to live?" In other words, if you could only do one or two things before your time on earth was over, what would they be? Where would you go? Who would you spend your time with?

These questions help you assess your values. They go right to the very heart of the person you really are ... and of what is really important to you.

Getting these insights into yourself is the first step toward understanding what you should be doing with your life. The next step is to find a career that will make you happy. And this is where identifying your natural talents and abilities come in.

Everyone has an area of excellence. Everyone has something that he or she can do in an outstanding fashion. It may take weeks, months, and even years for you to develop yourself in your area of excellence - but you will be strongly attracted to that sort of activity from the beginning. You will enjoy reading about it and talking about it and thinking about it. You will find yourself admiring people who are already outstanding at doing it. You will look longingly at that field and wonder what it would be like to be in it and to be successful at it. And that's how you'll know that you have found your heart's desire.

You were put on this earth with a special purpose, programmed with unique talents and abilities that have not yet been fully tapped and utilized. When you focus all of your energies on unlocking your true potential, you can claim your ultimate birthright: happiness.

And remember ... excellence is not a destination; it's a lifelong journey. It is when you continue to grow, becoming better and better at something that is important to you, that you really feel alive and in touch with your world.