Happiness

Shortcuts to Enlightenment

It's never too late to jump off the "ladder of success" and find true happiness.

Posted June 25, 2014

I had been climbing the ladder to success (good schools, good grades, good jobs), but when I looked down from a rung near the top, I realized “Whoops, wrong ladder.”

What I really wanted was a sense of peace, far different from the trappings of external success I'd been taught to covet, but an elusive goal for a stressed-out “doer.”

I was already 42, had changed careers, houses and cars, and I didn’t have forever to get happy. No time for the endless slow path of spiritual growth. To my way of thinking, I could figure this out and make it happen. Fast.

My determination to find a shortcut to enlightenment led me to India to discover my dosha, to Arizona to meet with a shaman, and to New York for a relationship with a psychologist who gave me the Myers-Briggs test to see if our neuroses were compatible.

While my escapades were funny in retrospect, I kept slamming up against an unwelcome message: There are no shortcuts. Be here now.

They forgot to teach me this in school. I was so caught up in next rung of the ladder that I didn't learn what "success" really meant.

Eventually, I gave up my prestigious law career and now do work that makes me feel I am doing what I'm supporsed to do: writing and teaching. And for moments at a time, I touch down to a sense of peace and happiness.

Prompt

Tell us what makes you feel joyful.