More than just money

Dallas Willard is an academician and is highly respected in the academe. He was voted as one of America’s most influential people. I read his books and listen to his interviews and I was saddened when he passed away last year.

Dallas Willard spoke with a slow deliberate monotonous tone like most learned academicians do, but what he said packed powerful content that is obviously a result of careful thinking and evaluated personal experience.

When a famous person asked him what he should do to achieve success and true happiness, the learned philosopher said, “You have to ruthlessly eliminate hurry in your life.”

A very simple line yet packs a walloping punch.

To hurry is now the norm and has caused many people to get sick, stress out and acquire a disease.

Is it just me or are you also in the game of hurrying all the time, rushing through the day, living in partial attention and always stressed to find that time was not enough with a thousand and one hundred things you still have to do? There are goals to achieve, dreams to fulfill and in the process may make us very unhappy.

There is a great difference between attaining your goals and being happy. Some people have achieved their goals and they are far from being happy. Others just get want to be “happy” and plunge their lives into an unending cycle of miseries not only for themselves, but also for the people who love them.

When you look at a successful person, you may see that person living in a visible, pubic and obvious world of glamor, but his or her inside world may be tumultuous, chaotic, and dark and literally falling apart. Think Patch Adams -- actor Robin Williams. It may also that the outer world of a person seems to be tumultuous, chaotic and dark, but his inside world is glowing and the person is growing in terms of character. In the end, the outer world fades and we are left with the inner world. It is what we will take with us.

Dallas Willard said: “I am an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s glorious universe.” A few months before he passed, he told his good friend John Ortberg, “You know John, I think it will be a while before I know I am dead!”

What a wonderful way to live. The ability to eliminate hurry, realizing that there is an eternal life beyond the physical, and living life to the full. I think it will be an exaggeration for me to say that Dallas Willard knew the happy life.

A research group affiliated with the University of Chicago recently listed the 10 least happy jobs in the world and the 10 happiest jobs in the world. What they found was that the 10 least happy jobs were more financially lucrative and offer higher status than the happiest jobs. The difference? People in the happiest jobs have a higher sense of meaning. Less money less status but a higher sense of meaning. The main thing you bring home from your work is not a paycheck. The main thing you bring home from your work is your soul. We are made to create value and work should be a soul issue.

A person is essentially a collection of conscious experiences far more than just bodies and appetites. We are our experiences, that is why we treasure the good ones. We will always appreciate a beautiful sunset. We remember a favorite scene in a movie. We relive that first kiss. Our hearts are moved by an inspiring movie. We relish a dramatic victory. These conscious experiences of life are soul issues that science finds hard to explain.

Business is adding value to the marketplace. Work should be a soul issue and a platform for building character.

I am still working on ruthlessly eliminating hurry in my life and it is not easy, but I am a work in progress. Live. Love. Laugh and Pray. This is not a movie title, but a real effective way of attaining happiness. And we all must achieve this.

(Bestselling author and productivity expert Todd Henry, Vic Gregorio, Francis Kong, and successful leaders will talk about Passion, Productivity and Purpose in a whole day conference entitled: “Live Full. Die Empty – Unleashing Your Best Work Every Day” on Nov. 9 at Samsung Hall, SM Aura. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798)