Soak Up The Sun
"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." — Anonymous.
I have heard this quote in various forms and when it was on the today in history page on Yahoo, I could not pass up writing about it. To me this statement (along with the Beatles, “All you need is love”) is the true meaning of life. Everyone strives to be successful and gain those material things that we are sure will make us happy. The bigger house, newer car, the boat, the big vacation, clothes, jewelry…. I could go on and on about what bling makes people feel successful. If you ask most of the people how much their happiness has grown once they get those items and after the halo effect has worn off, they will tell you that not much. So much for success is getting what you want.
There is a classic psychology presentation from an early pioneer in the field named Maslow. He developed a hierarchy of needs that has been universally accepted as a foundation for the human condition. It is usually represented as a pyramid. At the base are the physical needs such as food, drink and air. The second are security needs like shelter, heat, and clothing. The third is knowing that you are loved and belong. The fourth level is to know that people look up to you and you are held in esteem by others. The definition of the last level always eluded me because self actualization seemed to be a vague way of saying you are pleased with your life and things are going well.
So, maybe, self actualization is the second half of the quote. As Sheryl Crow puts it best in her summer hit from 2002, “Its not having what you want, its wanting what you got.”
If you have achieved the important things in life (that means worthwhile goals that mean something to you) and someone loves you, you pretty much have it all. That is why being rich is not all it is cracked up to be and not being rich, although it is an every day struggle, provides the means to achieve goals and be happy. If you have no where to go and nothing to work toward, how can you ever be happy with what you get. You already have what you want.
Icool
Cobb
I have heard this quote in various forms and when it was on the today in history page on Yahoo, I could not pass up writing about it. To me this statement (along with the Beatles, “All you need is love”) is the true meaning of life. Everyone strives to be successful and gain those material things that we are sure will make us happy. The bigger house, newer car, the boat, the big vacation, clothes, jewelry…. I could go on and on about what bling makes people feel successful. If you ask most of the people how much their happiness has grown once they get those items and after the halo effect has worn off, they will tell you that not much. So much for success is getting what you want.
There is a classic psychology presentation from an early pioneer in the field named Maslow. He developed a hierarchy of needs that has been universally accepted as a foundation for the human condition. It is usually represented as a pyramid. At the base are the physical needs such as food, drink and air. The second are security needs like shelter, heat, and clothing. The third is knowing that you are loved and belong. The fourth level is to know that people look up to you and you are held in esteem by others. The definition of the last level always eluded me because self actualization seemed to be a vague way of saying you are pleased with your life and things are going well.
So, maybe, self actualization is the second half of the quote. As Sheryl Crow puts it best in her summer hit from 2002, “Its not having what you want, its wanting what you got.”
If you have achieved the important things in life (that means worthwhile goals that mean something to you) and someone loves you, you pretty much have it all. That is why being rich is not all it is cracked up to be and not being rich, although it is an every day struggle, provides the means to achieve goals and be happy. If you have no where to go and nothing to work toward, how can you ever be happy with what you get. You already have what you want.Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
6:03 AM
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