Do Good, Be Good.
What do you spend most of your time doing? What in your life takes up the biggest part of your energy? Are you striving for success? Out there grinding every day to reach your next goal? How far would you go to get where you want to be? What do you plan to do when you get there?
I was once asked in a leadership class, “what is everyone’s main goal in life?” The obvious answer for the majority of the room was “to be happy.” In a sense, every single person is just searching for happiness. Doing the next thing they think they need to do to fulfill themselves and keep holding onto that happiness for another day.
But the truth is, happy is a fleeting emotion that will leave you exhausted by the chase. What if we concentrated on something more meaningful? Something with lasting effects. What if our goal wasn’t to be happy? What if our goal was to do good. To do good every day for those around us and for the world we live in, to make the right decisions and be kind and loving to everyone we meet. I believe that if this is both our short- and long-term goals, happiness is inevitable.
Happiness can’t be our end goal. You can be happy in any circumstance. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe you can feel happy all the time. Life is hard and sometimes grief gets the upper hand. In those times, we hold onto hope and trust that happiness is for a later day. But I believe that if we live our lives with a daily intention of loving others and putting good out into the world around us, the result is a lasting happiness that can’t be replaced with the superficial kind we tend to chase. The kind that can sustain us throughout even the tough times. The dream is to do good. Everything else is just extra joy!
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
P.S. If you are looking for a way to do some good, one of my favorite organizations is The Paul Walker Foundation. Head over to their site to read about some of the ways they are changing the world. And this shirt may or may not have been intended for a child, but either way it’s my new favorite tee shirt!