JumpStart Corned Beef and Cabbage Day (3/17/25)

QUOTE:  We can never become happy; we can only BE happy." (André Duqum)

MESSAGE:  How often have you thought to yourself, “I’d be so much happier…

• …when Spring Break comes.
  
• …if I won the lottery.
  
• …if all my students made good choices for a day.
  

The thing is, when we think that the present moment is less than, we create a sense of lacking that creates DISAPPOINTMENT that the present doesn’t match our expectations of what it could be.  It creates FEAR that we will be happy in the future only if the one variable that we wish for comes into play.

Maybe what we have is a very difficult task:  stop striving for happiness.

This idea illustrates one of life’s great paradoxes:  So often we strive for something that can only be recognized when we stop striving for it.

It’s kind of mind-bending when you think about it.  When we decide that we are going to start a self-care practice in order to feel better, to feel more free or more happy, we are ACTUALLY reinforcing the prison of us not being in that state already.  We are one choice away from being happy right now.  I think that for some people, their self-care practice is a façade that covers up and reinforces an innate sense of lacking in the same way that a workaholic or a perfectionist reinforce their self imprisonment through their actions.

So what’s the answer?  Compassion.  Compassion for where we are right now - both for ourselves and for others.  True self-care requires tough inner work to free ourselves from our ego and our maladaptive relationship with time - our past and future.  Keep learning about yourself.  The fear of doing so is one of the biggest barriers to progress.

**Huge shout-out to André Duqum and his guest Peter Crone on the Know Thyself podcast.
THIS WEEK, TRY THIS:  Have a deep think about what actions you may be doing in your life that are really covering up a deep feeling of inadequacy, scarcity, or insecurity.  What habits do you have that are really camouflage?
DAD JOKE:  What's Irish and stays out all night?  Paddy O'Furniture