Interestingly, once you are successful at something, you tend to breed success again.  For example, my clients in Newport Beach have felt the effects of our current bad economy too, but because they're very gifted professionally, they have adapted to the changes, moved forward, and continue to be successful.  In general, as long as what we are pursuing is realistic, we can do it.  Any of us can achieve general accomplishments, such as financial success, as long as we can adapt, learn, and grow.  We can be very successful in many things in life as long as we apply this method.

If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

When we pursue things like money, fame, success, or prestige, we are actually pursuing the deepest level of happiness.  Unfortunately, when we get on this path toward success, we think that if we reach our goals we'll be happy.  But reaching these end goals doesn't automatically make us happy.  And, we must remember that anything that we can achieve can be taken away, even if we're fantastically successful or wealthy.  Our achievements are inherently impermanent and this threat of impermanence always lurks.  Life brings successes as well as change.  When change hits, we often suffer.  If we want to be happy, we have to be very earnest about happiness and we have to work very hard.  We must also be honest and be flexible.  For example, if we run a business and it burns down, or it doesn't bring us joy, we must close it down, and move on to something else.  Only then will we be truly happy.

Let me give you an example.  Many years ago, my wife was part of a "Mom's Group."  In Orange County, where we lived, three children were killed in a car accident.  The mother of these children was someone in my wife's "Mom's Group."  After the accident, all of the other moms were fearful of what had happened.  Because of this they suffered.  Even though their own children were very happy and doing well, just the fear of such a tragic incident caused them unhappiness.  We must be honest when these bumps in life come, and we must deal with them, address them, feel them, and heal.  Are we ultimately in a constant state of happiness?  If we answer "no," then this is where earnestness comes in.  We must keep learning tools and skills that help us maintain and improve our constant state of happiness.  If there is a threat to what we have right now, then ultimately we're really not completely happy.  True contentment must be available 100% of the time and unconditionally for us to be truly happy.  If our happiness is conditional, it's not really a true, lasting happiness.  It is possible for life to go very well, but it takes work.  As long as we're not turning towards addictions, then we can find this constant state of happiness with earnestness.  We have to be honest, and addictions don't allow us to be honest.  When we're truly feeling what we feel and we're honest, then we're going to keep working on finding ways to be in a pretty regular state of happiness. 

Happiness Is Worth the Effort

Happiness takes work and it takes earnestness.  You have to really want to be happy.  If we are rich or famous, but unhappy, then we'll probably not enjoy life even though outwardly we may seem successful.  We must realize that we should strive to be happy now, even though we are still on our journey toward whatever we may be pursuing; the end result of our journey must not be an overly large factor in our happiness.  Any of us can have a very happy life right now.  It takes work, but it's worth the effort.  Let's explore, let's continue to learn ways to be happy.  It is possible to have a life of continuous happiness, with earnestness.