Monday, November 30, 2009

Happiness

In a Houston Chronicle article in the Business section on 11/21/09, Jennifer Latson quoted billionaire Warren Buffett, speaking to Rice's Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, as offering this advice, "unconditional love is more valuable than any amount of wealth….success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get."

 

I always envy those who are not successful but wildly happy. I also note how many who are very successful for whom happiness is always a day away. Could love make the difference that all the possessions, degrees, money and achievements can not? Seems so. I mean BOTH God and Warren (the Oracle of Omaha) agree!

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

 

Unconditional love is loving others for who they are – God-made wonders – and not for what they can do for us, or how they can make us feel or what they have. Most love comes with conditions, even within families. "I love you, but I do expect this in return." And to be loved unconditionally is one of the most wonderful states to be in. Unconditional love is loving and being loved in the "as is" state. "As is" in the retail world means a "demo" or "scratch and dent."  In the real world that pretty much describes us well.

 

Unconditional love is the path to happiness.

 

Who do you love unconditionally? Who might you love that way? See any "conditions" that you can drop?

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