Scheming
“What you want gets in the way of your happiness.” What an odd statement, thought I. It came from The Grasshopper and it took a bit of quiet time to get an idea where it points.
Our want machine can be like a spoiled child. “I want what I want and I want it now!” Never mind that it may be toxic to your well-being or short-sighted, we want it and we know best.
Look at a long-term wish. How come it hasn’t happened? There are a number of answers available. Here’s one:
“You under wished and are hanging on.”
That which we manifest in our world comes from a creative source more creative than we are. We stifle that creativity when we get too involved in the process. We take a Picasso and turn it in to a paint-by-numbers.
Reminds me of a story I’m currently involved in . . .
Our company has hired a direct response TV marketing firm to create a commercial for one of our products. My business partner and I both have radio and TV backgrounds. Like anyone within a profession, we look at it with different eyes than someone who did something else for a living. We know the jargon, have the experience, and were successful in our broadcast careers. We have no experience in direct response TV marketing. The temptation is to tell these people what to do. We have resisted that temptation. Our experience, although vast, is tangential to what it is they do. By being the “pain in the ass” client, we may come out with a prettier product, but one that doesn’t sell. What we want may get in the way of our happiness, so we got out of the way.
Directing your creative source is like your high school drama coach giving acting pointers to Meryl Streep.
What if your Fairy Godmother said, “I’ll give you way more than what you want and bring you greater happiness if you just give up your specific wish.” Do you know how low the odds are of us saying yes to that request? We want what we want, and we know best.
Does this mean to stop setting goals? No, goals are healthy and great carrots to keep us moving in a positive direction. The trick is to not be so closed minded as to what a successful outcome has to specifically be. You may be staring at happiness on your front porch and not invite it in because it doesn’t look like the stickman drawing in your mind.
Here’s a suggestion: Set an intention and stop scheming.
That’s a polite way to say, “Get out of the way.”
There may be something waiting for you that’s “way better” than what you doggedly want. You just have to clear a space for it. That simply means, letting go of what you know.
“More Creative Gifts Come To The Ignorant” probably wouldn’t be a best-selling book title, but it would contain a universal truth.
Here’s to not knowing what happiness will look like.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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