I like to read a little before bed to unwind. Last night, after posting about wondering about the "long and winding road" my life has taken, I picked up the book I'm reading called "The Geography of Bliss," by Eric Weiner. It's a book about a man who searches the world for the happiest places on earth to figure out why they are happy. It's a great book, really funny and astute too.
I was reading the chapter on the country of Bhutan, who has a gross happiness index. A few things stood out to me about this chapter. First, the Bhutanese don't obsess about money and material things! How often in American culture do we think that the big house, big car, big credit cards will make us happy and they don't! Maybe for a bit, but true, lasting happiness? That comes from relationships!
At least for me, I have a lot of nice material things, and yes, I enjoy my Canon Rebel,iMac, my Samsung LCD TV, and my beautiful Mazada 6, but sometimes, like the song by Linkin Park says" /and i give it all away/just to have somewhere to go to/give it all away/ to have someone to come home to.
Lastly, it's funny how answers to prayers come in odd place. In the last part of the chapter on Bhutan, Weiner writes:
"I am overwhelmed with a feeling that is alien to me: calm... I take out my pen and write the following words in my notebook: I WOULD HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY. All the moments in my life, everyone I have met, every trip I have taken, ever success I have enjoyed, every blunder I have made, every loss I have endured has been just right."
In closing, I think this quote from LDS Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin sums up the lesson I can learn from this:
"Every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don't sing and bells don't ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result."
Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Come What May, and Love It," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 26
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