The Greatest Gift Your Can Give…

When it comes right down to it, the truth is that the greatest gift we can give another is to take full responsibility for our own authentic happiness. Whether I am interacting with my family and friends, sharing the concepts of Drive Yourself Happy, or traveling the journey of defining my new focus on empowering women, this is the consistent Truth upon which I build my life. This knowing ‘drives’ and inspires me… the knowing that I am the one called to create my own happiness.

Life is a journey and an interesting one at that if you choose to participate in expanding your consciousness. It is often the case that we “teach best what we most need to learn” (Richard Bach, Illusions: The Journey of a Reluctant Messiah). This is why and how happiness became a guiding theme in my life.

At times I still can be tempted to detour from my own happiness and clarity about what I want by my attempts to create joy for others. For me, they are so closely woven together. I truly love making a difference and bringing joy. It is one of the greatest inheritances I received from my dad, the genuine enjoyment derived from creating experiences that prompt joy for others. My dad would absolutely take delight in knowing that he had facilitated a magical experience to make someone else’s life easier. For him as well as for me it is not about expecting anything in return. His gifts were often done anonymously. His fulfillment came from seeing others truly happy.

This has been a tricky edge for me to walk. And, I suspect I am not alone. What is our greatest strength also provides us with our greatest challenges and offers us unlimited opportunities to grow. There are always two sides to any coin. I am grateful to be inspired by my dad to focus on the importance of happiness and gifted by him to experience deep contentment by fostering happiness for others, connecting them with their innate value. But, as it happens for many of us, we forget the power of the wisdom we know. Somewhere along the way my well being got wrapped around and dependent upon making others happy in order to be happy myself. On occasion it still is my unconscious default to fall back into the belief that I have failed if I disappoint someone or if what I do does not result in their happiness. I more consistently catch myself, and I have given permission to dear ones in my life to awaken me when I slip into my old false beliefs. In my more conscious moments I know it is my own choice and responsibility to be happy, detached from the prerequisite of making another happy to prove my worth.

Life certainly gets full and rolls along at a fast clip. We so easily get caught up in the frenzied pace. We live as if we believe that if we just run fast enough we ‘should’ be able to ‘do’ it all. With the same amount of information that it took two years to process a hundred years ago now cross