Happiness Is The Art of Sacrifice

Being happy is your choice. You just have to say NO.

Walking away from what we want is not easy — pic by averie woodard

“There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.” — Gautama Buddha

Many years ago, I wrote a short post: Strategy is the art of sacrifice.

It’s a timely reminder as I’m sitting in front of my computer, past midnight. I struggled a lot this week. It’s been one full of exciting opportunities -my energy and creativity levels have been at their peaks- yet I feel overwhelmed.

Am I trying to do too many things? Have I lost clarity to make the right choices?

Or am I simply not feeling happy?

Why Happiness Is an Art

Happiness is not what we do, but how we feel about what we do. Happiness is an internal emotion. The same applies to what we don’t do.

Being happy is a personal choice.

Sacrificing — saying no to something — is critical to feeling (and being) happy.

When we think about life and the pursue of happiness, we think in terms of “additions”. We tend to associate happiness with getting more things, like a car, a better-paying…