If the answer is yes, you are not alone!
The good news is, there is a simple (but not easy) way to solve life’s biggest problems. Here’s the catch: it may require boatloads of courage.
What most people are looking for is happiness and not just any kind of happiness. I mean Eudaemonia, as Aristotle called it. That is the kind of joy that comes from the satisfaction of a job well done, from reaping the rewards of tough choices and seeing the long-term fruit of your labor. It is human flourishing when people fully develop their abilities and use them to do good. It is a glorious feeling of accomplishment.
It, however, takes courage to be happy.
You find yourself here and now because your life is the result of all the decisions you have ever made. Life brought you circumstances, and you made choices about how to respond to them. Sometimes you made courageous choices, and sometimes you played it safe. Your life is made up of choices, so if you want to change your life, you must look at your choices. Most people make choices unconsciously without thinking. The first step to head in the direction of Eudaemonia is to be conscious of the decisions you make every day.
Each of us has an internal compass to help us know which decisions will bring us in the right direction, but we do not all know how to use it. This compass hinges on two axes; one is knowing your values and honoring them, and the other is taking responsibility for your actions. These two axes create four quadrants, which I call Spoiled Brat, Victim, Picket Fence, and Eudaemonia.
Eudaemonia Internal Compass
I, just like every one of you, spend time in each of the four quadrants. It is normal. The question is, are you aware of which quadrant you are in, and do you know how to move toward the quadrant of Eudaemonia?
The Victim Mode
The lower left quadrant is the Victim mode. As a Victim, you are not honoring your values,
and are not taking responsibility for the consequences of your actions. It is a place of helplessness, of feeling lost and unable to resolve problems. You would think that there is absolutely no way to get out of your current situation and/or you don’t have the energy to make a change. It is a place of a draining fear of the unknown. We’ve all been there at one point or another, and some of us stay there for a longer time. Some of us make this a lifestyle.
The Picket Fence Quadrant
The lower right quadrant is where the Picket Fence syndrome is. I call it Picket Fence because, in America, where I grew up, the Picket Fence is a symbol of achievement. This quadrant is the one where you “have it all”; the family, the job, the house. Your life looks perfect from the outside, but inside, you feel empty. You work hard and are not sure why. You have been aiming for goals that are not yours but goals that society has told you are worthy. You are probably over-worked, stressed out, and wondering how your youth disappeared. All while telling yourself, “I SHOULD be happy.” When we are in this quadrant, we have lost sight of what is essential to us…or perhaps we never knew, and the action needed is to understand what your values are and begin to pursue them. Not everyone in your life will be happy you are suddenly looking after yourself, but it is worth it.
The Spoiled Brat Quadrant
The upper left position is the Spoiled Brat quadrant. Picture the guy zooming around the city in the sports car that his Daddy bought him. Here you do not want to look outside of your blinders and see what the impact is you have on others with your behavior. You are in denial about what you may be doing to those around us. This is where we the overeating, drinking too much, gaming too much happens – the land of self-indulgence. It may seem like some kind of happiness and fun, but it’s hollow, and it thwarts your ability to build a connection with others. This is also the home of the Rebel Child. – it is where we catapult when we are over-compensating for spending too much time in Victim or Picket Fence.
Eudaemonia
The upper right hand is where Eudaemonia lives. You can only experience this reality by making decisions that honor your values while at the same time taking full responsibility for the consequences of those decisions on the people around you. To experience Eudaemonia, you have to take time to understand what your values are – and how they may differ from the values you inherited from family and society while growing up. You have to start living those values and take care of yourself and be aware of how that impacts the people around us. That is, you have to be willing to face the consequences of the choices you make. If we live our lives for other people we won’t be happy and if we live our lives only for ourselves, we won’t be satisfied either. You will be in an endless loop that is disconnected from yourself and others. Real connection is only possible if we are feeling whole, energized, with passion and purpose.
Do you dare to be happy?
This is an opportunity to ask yourself what you truly want.So many people stay in the same job for decades not because they love it, but because it is stable. But of course, the reality is that stability is just an illusion. It is a concept more than a possibility. If your job were gone tomorrow, what direction would you even take? Would you know where to go? If your relationship disappeared, would you still feel happy about the rest of your life? Or have you been making choices to please your partner?You do not have to make drastic changes in your life to be happy. Even the smallest decisions you make every day are adding up to the reality you live in. So start small and easy, take steps to find out what you love, and make more room for those things in your life. Work your way up to the courageous decisions when you are ready. You know precisely what you need to change first.
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