Painful Peace makes us Happy

We have all asked the question what do we want. Especially at the beginning of a New Year we are attuned to what may or may not happen in the coming Year.  We struggle to understand this concept because we are surrounded by conflict, pain and a whole lot of misunderstanding.  The reality is that most of the world is in a Topsy Turvy state and finding peace is challenging to say the least.  The markets are so unpredictable and soaring food prices and continued disruption at tertiary institutions are making for fears of unrest and instability.  Negative sentiment of strife and we are only in January. So can things come right?   Well yes if we truly determine what we want and slowly and in a dedicated manner, put our shoulder to the wheel and  continue to make things happen.  Perhaps we spend too much time at the moment seeking happiness instead of using our time to find quiet.  Happiness still takes a lot of work, and we continue to chase around to attain it, whether it is in planning trips or just finishing a project, as soon as possible to be able to get enough money to do the next thing and the next thing and so on. Realities also mix in with our happiness and while we are seeking happiness these realities are influencing us and actually drawing us further from peace, which is what we think happiness will provide and yet we end up so involved in the pursuit, that we will miss the end goal.  The pain we endure is perhaps the very secret place where we can experience a real chance at happiness. Because in the pain lies the things that we really are willing to endure and persist in. And where we show determination to actually take a step to eventual victory over the surrounding negativity. The things that we want for a happy life take enormous sacrifice, they require consistent pain, because they are not easy, but they can lead to change and growth.  Our country is desperately in need of men and woman, the colour is so irrelevant and frankly such a waste of time, who are willing to find a way to make small differences each day in the place where they are relevant and to work diligently in their given vocations, not for the chance to move jobs for an extra R500, not so that they can get immediate promotion and certainly not to achieve a position because of entitlement, but to work damn hard to just ensure that the job they currently are blessed with, is done wit excellence.  We need to be and should be extremely dissatisfied with the way things are working in the country, but perhaps we need to see it in the context that where there is enough pain and suffering the closeness of happiness and success may be a lot closer than we think. I am not advocating negative sentiment for negative purpose but rather dissatisfaction for growth.  We can all learn to embrace this painful time and reach the other side of this year, having actually achieved some previously unattained goals.