Earlier this week, I received this email from a Body Firm client. It’s intense, but digs at the core of our happiness and unhappiness. I’d like to share, and thank our client for taking the time and thoughtfulness to write and send this forward.
“There is one thing I believe is more important than a goal. The state of consciousness with which you travel to reach your goal. The state of presence, peace, and awareness as you place one foot in front of the other towards your imagined desire. *How* the race is run is more important I feel than crossing the finish line first or sometimes even at all. Finishing or winning a race at all costs is the opposite of this. Crushing and destroying your opponents, as in war, in order to have peace is an extreme example of this – we must “ruin” in order to have “peace”?? Another example is working in an overly stressful environment, and sacrificing your health in order to earn a “bonus” of numbers in a bank account, does not give you the happiness we imagine. You cannot “buy” your health back, although some people try to buy back their health and happiness after they sacrifice both for a “goal” which too often is more costly in many additional areas; and sometimes not achievable. All this is not to say goals are bad, in fact if taken gently, they are great, it’s just that there is something even more important than the goal… how you obtain it, and maybe THAT is the goal.”
