You’re probably wondering what the edwardotoole.com blog is all about. The answer is actually quite simple. Well, firstly it’s about my daily life. However, it’s also about a quest. I don’t know if it’s the modern world or people in general, but there currently seems to be a massive surge of people asking ‘How can I be happy?’. Years back, people didn’t ask this as much, they just got on with their lives, but now it seems as though we’re all feeling a little lost. Perhaps it’s because of how much technology and social media has had an impact on our lives; perhaps we feel more individually isolated in this world of mobile communications and the Internet; perhaps it’s because we’re constantly shown on TV and the Net how we should all be living perfect, happy and rich lives like MTV millionaire pop or reality stars.
Whatever the reason, it’s clear that many people are just not content with their lives.
So what’s missing? How can we change that and get back that old feeling of just basically feeling happy? That child-like excitement…
My wife summed it up perfectly when she said “Everything feels grey. There are no colours anymore.”and she was right. We buy a car and we feel good for a couple of days and then it’s just a hassle with parking, paying insurance, repairs, fuel costs, etc. We go on holiday to the sea and for a few days we’re amazed at the view but quickly we’re complaining that there isn’t X or we can’t do Y, or about some other problem. A dependency on materialist things is definitely at the core of the issue, but is that all it is?
I want to feel happy again and have that zest for life, where every day feels like a new adventure. I want to wake up and look forward to the day ahead, not hide under the duvet and wish I had another 8 hours of sleep. We only live for a finite time on this Earth and I want to enjoy it, not realise that the years have just slipped by and that I’m barely muddling through.
So, I decided to try and find out if there is a key to happiness. I wanted to know if there’s some way of removing all the negativity which is blocking me and make me fall in love with life again. Because it’s not just me who is affected when I’m miserable or stressed or angry: my wife, my kids, my friends and everyone I else I meet are also affected. And then they pass this negative feeling on to the people they associate with.
My goal is to look everywhere and post my findings on edwardotoole.com. Why don’t you join me in this quest and perhaps you too will be able to bring a little happiness back in your life? (There’s a subscribe button at the bottom of the page).
There is a perfect Greek phrase (reputedly originally said by Christ in Aramaic) which sums up this entire process: metanoite, which means ‘change your mind’.
