Advice for Happiness
Alan Watts gave this advice on writing: “Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves.” I’ve struggled for many years now to think of what I might write that was actually worth saying. My wife recommended I write some advice or life lessons for my children, and recently I was inspired to do just that. If I were hanging off the edge of that cliff, drawing a breath to shout back advice or lessons learned to the rest of the world, I’d have to say this: be happy with yourself! There is no greater happiness in life. Life is a journey. And if there is any meaning or purpose to this journey, it comes in two parts. The first part is to find yourself and figure out who you are. And in case that wasn’t hard enough, the second part i...