“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ” -Guillaume Apollinaire

Recently, my flight from Boston to Pittsburgh was delayed by several hours. As I waited for the plane to arrive, I bumped into an old college friend at the airport. We had not seen each other for a long time and we began to share what we had been up to since we last met.

When I mentioned to him about my book and its main theme, his eyes perked up and he shared this neat quote, “In your pursuit for happiness, please stop for a moment and just be happy.” He said that he had seen in an Ad and cut it out and saved it to serve him as a reminder.

I liked it so much that I looked it up on the web and found this quote attributed to Guillaume Apollinaire, a french poet, playwright, and art critic from the early 20th century. I like this original quote even better for its simplicity and matter of fact tone.

The Ego has such a cunning way to get involved in everything. If you watch it from one angle, it will get in through another side. The elegant and eloquent justifications that accompany the Ego’s motivations can “outsmart” even the sharpest minds. It takes a tremendous amount of awareness and watching to keep the Ego at bay and live life as your true self.

I was at a meditation workshop a couple of years ago and the instructor mentioned jokingly that at the begining of the workshop we would be comparing our possesions with each other and at the end of the two-day workshop we would still be comparing with each other – not about our possessions, but how well each can meditate. It is so ironic that even the pursuit of happiness can become an Ego project and you can get so completely lost in the chase and forget to partake in the joy along the way.

Too many people are so focused on the destination that they totally miss the journey.

The key to a better life is to be aware in the life we live.

Krishna

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