Life should be a VIBRANT AND FULFILLING

Life is supposed to be a vibrant and a fulfilling experience.  The natural human response is being alive, full of curiosity, and wonder.  If you doubt this, spend a few hours with a one-year old child. The only thing that ever stands in the way of living like a baby is that person’s thinking.  Human nature is living in the present, not in the past or the future.  Fully assume the awareness in your body … that sparkling life you still sense deep within you.

Video:  http:www.symbiosis4u.us/MP4/MusicAndLife-AlanWatts.html

 
Believe it or not there’s not actually that much that stands between you and living a sparkling life. In our modern life, what hinders our great plans is …

The Hidden Hamster Wheel.

Most people spend their lives running on a “Hidden Hamster Wheel.”   It stops us from having peace of mind.  It takes our feeling of well-being, and the kind of deeply fulfilling sparkling life we all desire. The “Hidden Hamster Wheel” is a false belief.  It is a belief that gets taught to us as children, and then it is reinforced throughout our lives.

A few hundred years ago, they believed that the earth was flat.  Their “Hidden Hamster Wheel” stopped them from exploring new lands- for fear of falling off the edge.

Now in 2013, the earth is still flat because of the influenced by the evening news, we put locks on our doors and install burglar alarms.  Our “Hidden Hamster Wheel” compels us to struggle.  We are unable to find the peace of mind, and persistent well-being that is our birthright. This “Hidden Hamster Wheel” stops us from creating the kind of joy and success we desire.

“I’ll be happy when this happens,” or “something occurs.” We say these things as if they make “common sense.”   Yet the miserable lives of countless celebrities and lottery winners demonstrate that it’s just not true (my grandfather committed suicide because of the Great Depression). In other words, our circumstances do not dictate our happiness. Never have-never will.

So stop chasing after that carrot you can never quite reach. You see, the more you put off being happy, the more familiar you get with the experience of striving, neediness, and “not-having.” What psychologists call “a game without end.”

 

• I’ll feel secure when I save up enough to pay off my mortgage.
• I’ll feel good about myself when I quit smoking.
• I’ll feel good when I get a new job with a fair boss.

When I first introduce people to the idea of the “Hidden Hamster Wheel,” they say something like, “But if I didn’t have that belief, I wouldn’t be motivated to do anything”!

 

 That statement is mere horse-pucky. You were born …NOT believing in the “Hidden Hamster Wheel.” 

You were motivated to learn to talk, without predication, without the “Hidden Hamster Wheel.” You learned to walk, fall off a bicycle, and looked silly learning to dance.  You began to Braille your world … taking in all things so you could get the most out of life. You wanted to laugh and cry, go on daring adventures, fall in love, change the world ... without the “Hidden Hamster Wheel.” 

When you say: “But if I didn’t have the Hidden Hamster Wheel, I wouldn’t be motivated to do anything” …you are creating a smokescreen, like a Tule fog that traps the car head lights. Most humans have a natural sense of wonder, curiosity.  We have the desire to explore the world around us, if we feel passionate about “something.”

Try some experiments.  Make a list of some of the more obvious ways you’ve been deferring happiness until now (really do it – write them down).

Here are some of the approaches I heard from people, and some of my answers:

• I’ll feel good about myself when I lose 100 pounds. (If you do NOT feel good with 100 pounds, how can you lose 100 pounds?)
• I’ll be fulfilled when I can stop doing this job and do work I really love.  (Describe the “love” for your ideal job.)
• I’ll feel secure when I have a passive income stream of $50,000 a year.  (Have you started your new best seller book?)
• I’ll be happy when I change my limiting beliefs.  (Is your hidden hamster wheel, one of your limiting beliefs?)

Now stop for a moment.  Think of all the things you’ve done, just because you liked the idea (without a Hidden Hamster Wheel).

Video:
http://www.symbiosis4u.us/MP4/LifeIsAGameAndTheRules.html

For example, last month I did lots of things just because I wanted to.

• Listened to “76 Trombones” from the Music Man (since the stroke, music jumbled in my ears).
• Started hiking the “easy hills” in Quicksilver Park.
• My wife and I have decided once a month to take a two day trip with the RV, and two weeks twice a year.
• I have written a “not to do” list, which is as important as the “do” list.

Most Hidden Hamster Wheel rules are someone else’s need, not your own.   All you need to be happy … is to just follow your heart.   If not, you will fall off the edge of your world.


Be happy, healthy, wise, and abundance
Tom Van Drielen