This week, my favorite reading was Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
For me, the most important happiness comes from my relationship with loved ones. The best quote I read from this book was from Scott Peck's definition of love, “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” It is so easy to focus on the benefit of myself over my family. I choose my comfort over my children's benefit sometimes. But the noblest deed is that as a parent, I choose the spiritual growth of my children. If I choose the spiritual growth of my kids, I will not spoil them by giving them material goods to make things easy.
I also liked the section, Prepare to Embrace Adversity. "Along the journey, learn to embrace mistakes and adversity. Take more chances and suffer more defeats. Extend yourself. Long-term research on aging shows that you are far more likely to regret what you have not done than to regret your errors and mistakes." I have a list of things that I have not tried due to my fear. I know fear is larger than its real size. "Those who have experienced serious adversity earlier in life may be the luckiest. They seem to have more focus, more clarity, and more humility. Research shows the
best time to face adversity is in your late teens and twenties. Don’t overprotect your
children from the lessons adversity brings." though it is my duty to protect my kids from any harmful environment, I should be careful not to over-protect my kids from the adversary.
Calling and the source of happiness
Building my self as an entrepreneur is a big challenge. But it should not be too dificult when I am able to realize my "flow" moment.
"So find your calling. Write your own Hero story. Explore your signature strengths to discover flo
experiences that will lead to mastery. Let your mastery attract opportunities in a way that serves others and changes you. “How can I be happy?” is the wrong question. “How can I create something meaningful for others?” is the right question because it helps others and will change you in a profound way."