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Enjoy What We Do OR Do What We Enjoy ?
I have heard the statement, “The secret of happiness is enjoying what we have to do” many times. I wonder if this is possible at all. But this question essentially contains in it a more important question - can we be happy at all?
Some people have it easy - they know what they want to do and have the resources and opportunities to do the same things. These people are truly happy. There are a few others who also have it easy but not in such a fun way. They do not know what they want to do, they do not think about it anyway and just do what they have to do. They may not be truly happy but at least dont have to fight with themselves (which in my opinion is the most devastating sort of fighting). Then there are people who know what they want to do but cannot pursue these activities due to various circumstances. They are never happy but they have at least an opportunity to plan exactly what to do once situations in life change favourably. They may not be happy in the present but at least they know that they can some day be happy.
The last and the worst group is of those who want to do things that they enjoy and cannot accept the fact that they need to do things that they do not enjoy but at the same time do not really know what would make them happy. They are the most unfortunate as they have condemned themselves to eternal misery by not knowing what to do and not doing what they have to do. These are the people who keep blaming others for their unhappiness.
So ultimately I guess happiness is achieved by doing what we enjoy. But until the day we are able to do things we enjoy, we must learn to enjoy the things that we have to do. So at any point enjoying what we have to do, either to survive (until we figure out what we enjoy and are able to do them) or to enjoy (once we figure out what we enjoy and are able to do them) is the key to happiness.
Now the quintessential question is how to do it; how to fool our mind to believe that we really enjoy whatever we are doing. Well, one easy way is to spread love to everything involving our work. Everytime we see something, touch something, hear something - saying that we love the object or action that forms a part of the things we have to do makes us able to do our duties more happily. At the end of the day, love is the answer to all problems.
Just a thought I had on my mind.