Are we happier today than we were in previous times? Interesting question, isn’t it? Many studies have suggested no. Other studies have suggested it’s somewhat mixed. What is the right response?
I’m curious, as I’m sure you are as well. Well, it would appear if we speak to our fellow man that a lot of people are really somewhat distraught, aren’t they? The kids in school, not so happy. Everyone’s stressed right out. At one school I teach at, it’s quite interesting.
We do a field trip maybe two or three times a year. And during these field trips, we have to observe the bugs, the bees, the ants, this sort of thing, the natural flora and fauna that exists around us. And then I get a report. And the reports always suggest tremendous shock. I cannot believe the natural world is this beautiful because these poor people, these poor students have never taken the time or been allowed to take the time to experience the natural world.
So their whole reality is study. Twelve years of school, then we have university, four to six years, Then we have a job. Terrible experience getting a job because a job usually is associated with a boss, of course. And most bosses are not that nice, in my experience. Then we have a relationship, a boy or a girl.
We’re convinced to get married. Children come along. Suddenly, I’m 50 years old, and I am deeply unhappy, miserable. And many studies have suggested that we live in unhappy times because of this, because I didn’t know my social position. I wasn’t at the beginning born into a peasant family, just a farmer.
I’m going to be a farmer like my grandfather, my great grandfather, and I’m gonna live out my life in this little community, this little village, and I’m going to enjoy the festivals. Then I’m gonna grow old and be respected for my age, and then I’m going to leave. Very clear path. No expectation of anything different. Now if I was a middle class person, perhaps I could be somewhat educated.
If my father were to be a doctor, I would be a doctor. Professor, I would be a professor. And then if I was a part of royalty, well, that was also, I guess, a task or a profession. I knew what would happen to me, and sometimes not always good, of course. If the king decided to remove me, like in the British monarchy, I would suffer, wouldn’t I?
But I knew my place, and now we’re free. I can truly choose what I want to be within reason. And this seemingly is producing a lot of trauma, because I really don’t know what I want to do with my piece of life. I’m told that all is possible, but of course that’s not true. None of it’s possible really unless I get an education or I’m able to meet the right person along the way or whatever it is.
Your life is very very fickle, isn’t it? So what do I do at the beginning? Well, the very first thing I think I have to do is realize that there is no one like me, for sure. If I really want to be happy in this existence, there’s no one like me. No one.
There never has been and there never will be. So I must learn to honor myself. Whatever my body shape whatever my ethnicity whatever my gender I must learn to honor me firstly take good stock and that’s called a given I can’t change that. Now, of course, some people have tried to change their sex, etcetera, etcetera, but usually it ends very poorly. Right?
So for the most part, I’m stuck with me, the given. Then I can then begin to educate myself and see where this all goes in this great adventure of life. So if I take some time on an ongoing basis, daily basis, to have some gratitude, to reflect I’m so lucky to be me. There’s no one like me, like I said just a moment ago, and get on with it. Right?
And then I must learn to treat myself with as much care as I treat others. And I’m very respectful, of course, to my parents, my friends, etcetera, but gotta also respect myself, you know. And then sometimes people will say to me, jeez, Leon. You look great today, and I should learn to say thank you. Truly to say thank you.
Now a part of all of this, I think, is that we also must learn to dream in the sense of documenting our physical dreams. And this is something that Carl Jung talks about. He suggests that we should get a dream book. A dream book? Yes.
And then record my dreams every single morning. Now sometimes, of course, or many times perhaps, I’m going to forget what my dream was. Well, that’s okay. Write it down. Right?
Because he says, relative to happiness that we’re talking about, that dreams are messages from our unconscious. Their dreams are there. So if we can learn to actually document a dream, then slowly but surely, something will happen to us in that sense. I’d like to share a little story actually happened to me. Many years ago, my father passed away, and he was a very powerful man in our family.
And I was greatly distraught, and I could not sleep. It was impossible to sleep at all. And then one night, I was dreaming that I was walking along a beautiful path just like in a Monet painting, if you will. There was birds and flowers, and it was kind of a dirt path that you would find on a country lane, something like that. And in the distance, another path joined this path, and suddenly I catch sight of my father walking along, and he’s wearing his business suit, and he’s kind of proceeding.
So we meet each other in the center where the paths crossed. And I looked at him, and I said, dad. And he looked at me and said, Leon, how are you? And I said, dad, I’m fine. Gosh.
How are you? And he said to me, well, Leon, well, I’m fine. But you know what people say? People say I’m dead. Do I look dead to you?
Gosh. And I said, no, dad. You don’t look dead at all. He said, thank you, Leon. Thank you very much.
And my father had this very large handshake, and he shook my hand and he just walked off. And I woke up, and I was just covered in perspiration, and I tears were in my eyes, and, oh my gosh. And then I realized to myself that as long as I lived and my children lived and perhaps their children, you know, through memories and through thoughts, relaying the past in a way, historical past of any family that my father would live forever. He would have immortality, so he would never die. So that put the end to my frustration and I began to sleep.
Right? So in this context, my dream was a tremendous gift. It actually gave me this panacea, this phenomenon that I needed, this cure, if you will. The dream is actually a small hidden door. This is from Carl Jung.
The dream is a small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens into that primordial cosmic night that was so long before there was a conscious ego. Wow. In other words, it’s a conduit to our past as beings. So, really, if you wanna find that happiness that apparently is so elusive in the modern era, spend some time, really research yourself, meditate, document your dreams, document your day, and say to yourself, life is not all good and not all bad, but an enormous interesting journey. So be happy as much as you can.
And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is everything, especially if you wanna be happy, you wanna dream, and critical thinking is great, truly great. You take care. God bless. Bye bye.