“More than a decade of groundbreaking research in the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience has proven in no uncertain terms that the relationship between success and happiness works the other way around…happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement.” ~Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage
You know what one of my greatest fears is? Wasting my life on things that don’t matter. There is a poem that I don’t remember the name of. (If you know it, please let me know. I’ve even had my kids on a hunt for it.) It changed my life in college. And I’m not even a poetry reader! It was the story of a botanist who spent his life dissecting roses, seeing every aspect of their molecules, genetic composition, etc. As he was dying, someone put a rose right next to his bed. He looked over at it and realized for the first time how beautiful it was. He felt a deep sadness, knowing that he had spent his whole life taking it apart and not enjoying its beauty. I was 18 years old when I read that. I remember the thought that I had never had before. I can waste my life focusing on the wrong thing!
So it is no surprise that one of my life long prayers is found in Psalm 90:12.
“Teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
When you feel exhausted, overwhelmed, or stressed over all the things you need to do, it may be that you have lost your way in your priorities. Once in a while we need to step back, evaluate our to do list, compare it with our goals, and see if they align.Although life brings its ups and downs and we can’t control everything, there is a lot that we can control. Saying no to some things so that we can say yes to the most important things to us. Choosing not to please people over choosing to do what is best. Remembering that we need rest and we can’t do it all by ourselves.It seems that research now agrees with something we’ve been feeling all along. Happiness fuels our performance and achievement, not the other way around.