Each of us knows people who spend most of their lives, and sometimes their entire lives, living in the future. You hear them say things such as: “I’ll be happy when I graduate college, I’ll be happy when I get a job, when I earn enough money and buy everything that I want, I’ll be happy when I marry my prince, and then I’ll be happy when I have children, I’ll be happy when I find a better job, when the children grow up, when they get married and when I retire, etc… the list never ends”.

“I will be happy” combined with such an endless list means “never”, because happiness is always in the future, at least one step away from us, unattainable and far away… I wonder if what we think is waiting for us somewhere is happiness at all? If we caught up with it somewhere in the future, would we recognize it as happiness and as something that is truly worth suffering, sacrificing, longing for and striving for all our lives, or would we become deeply disappointed because we wasted that much time thinking that we were unhappy, yet happiness was actually right there in us all the time, on our shoulders, giving us wings during challenging times, when we were studying at university, when we got a good job, when we changed it for an even better one, when we fell madly in love, had children, spent time with the family, hung out with friends and enjoyed our hobbies…

People who live according to the principle of “when this or that happens I will be happy” never actually live to be happy, because they postpone happiness, equate it with their results, however, the process of life is, in fact, the opposite. When you are happy on the inside, everything around you blossoms, grows and develops, because you spread joy, playfulness and gratitude for everything that you have each day around you and thus increase your happiness.

When you consciously look around you now, what do you see, what do you notice? Can you notice what it is that you may be taking for granted: a beautiful sunny day, the smiling faces of children playing carefree, the warmth of the sun on your face, the hugs of your loved ones, your beautiful eyes and smile in the mirror, the virtues and the kindness of people, which you can see at every turn… (you will notice it only if you are present, in yourself, and in the present moment). It took me a long time to start applying conscious gratitude and noticing all the beautiful things in each day. The best example for becoming aware of how unconsciously happy we are is when I was a child. “Occasional” power outages often occurred then, and the heating stopped too then, sometimes it lasted for several hours, usually due to work on the electricity network. Oh, how strangely sobering it was when I realized how perfect modern life was just because we had access to electricity, and everything it allowed us to do in everyday life, which had been completely unavailable to our ancestors. Not to mention the wonders of technology☺ such as android phones, laptops, tablets and all the achievements of this era starting from the automobile to the airplane, whose benefits we enjoy constantly.

And then, when you think about it, the story of “when I get this or achieve that I will be happy” is reminiscent of the sad story of the bottomless bottle, which you keep filling and filling, yet you can never fill it up since everything you fill it with it immediately comes out on the other side. All the effort is in vain. Until you fix the bottle and create a solid bottom for it, a stable base, a foundation, everything you put in it is going to come out and there can be no good prospects there. Perhaps you can remember people who, living in the future, are never happy or satisfied, no matter what happens to them and no matter what you do for them at the moment. They always lack something, and something more to make them happy. And the problem, in fact, is not in you, but in them, in their foundation. And you can’t do anything for them until they build their own foundation and take care of themselves. The only thing you can do is to become aware of it, to stop wasting your energy filling other people’s “bottomless holes” and to direct that energy of yours towards yourself. It might be a good idea to check in with yourself and if necessary make a decision to solidify your own foundation, your life’s foundation and work on your happiness, right now and here. To admit that the time has finally come to collect all the blessings you receive from life, one by one and keep them in yourself, as a gift that does not pass through you, but remains permanently in you and contributes to increasing your daily happiness, one step at a time.