Years ago, when I was delving into personal growth and self improvement, I came across a wonderful tape series, “Field of Diamonds†by Earl Nightingale. One of the questions, he posed and which I had struggled with was happiness.
Until then, happiness had been on my list of life goals. What I didn’t realize was that happiness can never be a standalone goal. How do you measure happiness? Where does it come from? Why doesn’t it last? What does it mean exactly?
Earl Nightingale figured it out. Happiness, he said, is “the pursuit of a worthy goal.†I love that definition. And I discovered its truth, when I began writing in earnest. I became a much happier person. The act of writing makes me happy. The pursuit of finishing a novel makes me happy. Once finished, a new goal emerges, a new book needs to be written and low and behold, I am happy once again.
I guess it just means that I love to write. And that makes me happy.
Annette,
There are times when I feel the same way about my own writing experience. Love your site.
, JRD