📷The 20th March saw the International Day of Happiness which was started in 2012 by the United Nations. The whole aim of the day is to recognise that happiness is a fundamental human goal and to improve the well being of human beings. I noticed social media was going crazy with experts on happiness all of a sudden popping up all over the place, offering tips on what we can add to our lives to have happiness.
My answer to the happiness question is, to create happiness we need to let go. Maybe when you let go of craving, desperation etc., happiness flows in. We are in control of our happiness a lot more than we admit to ourselves.
Let me introduce you to a lovely man called Mr Benn. Mr Benn owns a very successful scrap metal merchants. He has a couple of super cars that you could only dream of, a beautiful family all going in the direction they want to go in life, a home you would only ever see on Dallas, and a heart and head full of unhappiness. Over the years I have commented on Mr Benn's creative flair - the photographs he has taken and the furniture he has restored - all works of art. When I asked Mr Benn why he has never pushed this side of his life, he told me he had grown up with nothing, not even education. Mr Benn has dyslexia which was never spotted when he was at school. He fell further and further behind in his education and left school with no qualifications and could hardly read. He knew he wanted more for himself than to work in warehouses all his life so he started selling scrap metal. This was something he had picked up from a friend of his. He learnt the business well and became very good at it. Mr Benn admitted his highest value is security, selling scrap metal gave him this, the security blanket he needed. I explained to Mr Benn that when you start living your truth, your passion, the world becomes a brighter place. The downs in Mr Benn's life became more and more, no time to relax, no time with family, work work work, until one day Mr Benn came to breaking point. He made the decision to let go, to surrender himself to his truth, his passion. The answers we search for come in the silence and Mr Benn became still, he stopped running around and removed himself from the surroundings that were part of his unhappiness. I asked Mr Benn what had been his letting go point and he admitted that it was the realisation that his self worth was at zero. He was sabotaging himself by over-eating, not exercising, hardly sleeping and working 16 hour days.
Two months on Mr Benn looks fantastic. The business is still running, with Mr Benn not over working, he is eating well, exercising, meditating and taking more time to study his love of photography. So much so his work has been commented on to such an extent that Mr Benn has started taking bookings for photoshoots. You see, when you're on your journey for the search of happiness, first try to let go and let the happiness find its own way in.