Sooooo, how many times have you heard “you reap what you sow” or “karma’s a bitch”? I’ve typically heard or thought it when I get a bad result shortly after having done some foul shit. Fact is, we’re ALWAYS sowing and karma isn’t a bitch, karma just is and everything is a result of something.
I, like most, have been conditioned to seek comfort and pleasure, this is what happiness is right? We’re told to get a good job (comfort) so you can get a good partner (pleasure) or those get-rich-quick schemes (comfort) and TV ads like “Life’s short, Play hard” (pleasure). This conditioning permeates decision making to a point that the root purpose of all I’ve done was to create comfortable to manifest pleasure. I’m thinking, what’s wrong with wanting to be comfortable and happy?
“Happiness eludes all those who seek it for its own sake. True happiness is the byproduct of the journey” ~ Matthew Kelly  
Ironically, having happiness as the goal, the “I’ll be happy when...” mentality, leaves me waaay more vulnerable to unhappiness. Because it is a destination, what it looks and feels like has now been defined. Because it’s been defined, anything not as I’ve shaped it isn’t happiness to me. So not only have I closed myself off to the infinite other forms happiness available; I have simultaneously opened myself up to suffering in infinite forms of discontentment.
My regular paying job is as a server (waiter). I make jack shit hourly and rely on the generosity of others to make a living. So why do I serve? I adore people. I love meeting, connecting, and sharing awesome experiences with new people. As a server, this opportunity is offered in abundance. Altruistically, I get countless opportunities to make someone's day. Selfishly, it makes me genuinely gut/soul/heart happy when I do. I’ve also been fortunate to receive uncharacteristically large sums of money for my time spent with them. Not to undersell my appreciation for the ‘ol moolah (cause boy do I appreciate the money), but because the value is in the interaction, I get true happiness from (almost) every table I wait on, regardless of the money.
That little nugget about my work is a super small scale example of a purpose, thought, action, and result process that is applicable on an overall existence level. Why we do what we do will determine who and how we are as people and dictate what our lives become.   
I mentioned in the beginning about reaping what we sow and that being said, I’ve been playing with this concept to maximize true happiness. Three things I know to be fact: 1) We are interdependent beings. Interdependent, meaning we need each other (angels and assholes alike) to have the fullest and happiest life. 2) Everything is a seed. Every thought, word, and action is going to garnish a return. 3) What we put out is what we get, at its very root (intent). If I do good for the sake of doing good, good comes to me. If I do good for what doing good brings me, I still receive good but it is conditional, shallow, and temporal. The same stands true for the bad.


In everything I’ve ever glazed over or really studied on behavioral expectations on a spiritual or moral level, one thing that is across all teachings is don’t deliberately cause damage. You know, Golden Rule/”Thou shalt not”, really basic stuff. It’s like the universal demand to not intentionally and inevitably invite bad into your life.
On the flip side, we have the option to invite good in with one (also really basic) prerequisite, do/think/speak good into the world around us. The only time this proves difficult is when offering that good seems to inconvenience, take away, or deter from personal happiness. Earlier we talked about missing out on happiness on account of an unwillingness to open up to the other forms of it. Well, imagine standing at the foot of a giant double-pan balance scale (you know, like the one ‘Lady Justice’ holds). In one pan is my definition of happiness and in the other is everything else in existence. The scale would greatly favor everything else in existence leaving my definition of happiness high overhead and far out of reach and everything else right there and easily accessible. We’re not, nor ever will be, required to compromise goals. But what we are surrounded by is a world to give to and find joy in. If we condition ourselves to try to find and give joy in all that we encounter, no matter where we’re headed or end up happiness will be who we are rather than what we receive.
So to sum this bad boy up, my belief, to have the fullest and happiest time on this earth comes with One Requirement and One Request:  
The Requirement: Do no harm. The Request: Love more shit.

Thanks For Reading
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