By Engr. Carlos Cornejo
Are you one of those wishful thinkers that have desired if you were in another place or another state in life you would be happier? The day dreamers would tend to believe that if they were somewhere else—on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance—somehow, they could be happier and more content. If you have this destructive mental habits according to Richard Carlson if you get annoyed and bothered easily, if you feel angry and frustrated a great deal of time, or if you’re constantly wishing things were different, these identical tendencies will follow you, wherever you go. And the reverse is also true. If you are a peaceful and joyful person who rarely gets annoyed and bothered, then you can move from place to place, from one situation to another, with very little negative impact.
This tells us that real happiness is not dependent on a place, person or situation. “Happiness is an inside job” as the title of the book of Fr. John Joseph Powell says. Happiness is a state of the soul. It’s something internal and not external. It is a soul that has aligned itself to God’s will. “In His will our peace”, according to T.S. Elliot this is the greatest line ever written. This phrase comes from the book of Dante Alighieri about heaven, “Divine Comedy: Paradise”. The book explains that the saints in heaven don’t envy each other although they have different degrees of happiness because each saint has achieved fullness of joy according to the role God has assigned to them in His creation.
We ought to remember that we are in a story and that God is the author. We are free to fulfill that assigned role or character in His story or not. That role is our vocation or calling or the plan of God for each one of us. If we say yes to that plan, we will attain that peace and joy God has reserved for those who follow His will. If not, we will always be restless and in a state of perpetual discontent. Much like the organs of our body that have an assigned place where they function as they are intended to, if that organ is displaced say a nose is located at our feet instead of on our face, that organ “will complain and will not be happy”. The nose would object being placed there because that’s not where it is supposed to be. We too would not be happy if we have not yet found our designated place assigned by God here on earth.
According to philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal, there are three kinds of people in this world: those who seek God and have found Him are wise and happy, those who seek God but have not found Him are wise but not yet happy, and those who don’t seek God at all are not wise and not happy. It is the seeking that matters. It is seeking God’s will for us that matters. Thus, whether you are at home, or in this career, or with this partner, or in the airport waiting for a delayed flight, or at home or work or whatever situation in life, if you try to carry out God’s will in your heart as best as you can, then you can breathe peacefully and say, “This is where God wants me to be”. For in His will is our peace.
