Living intelligently

A reflection on the importance of living intelligently in order to be happy.

We want our passage through this world to be one of enjoyment and well-being.

Therefore, many people strive to find satisfaction and happiness without knowing how and where to find it, many people strive to find satisfaction and happiness without knowing how and where to find it.. They spend their lives wishing, trying and fighting against the current to have what they want and it seems that no matter how hard they try, they do not get it.

• Related article, "On happiness: what is it that we all seek?"

The process of living smart

Learning to live intelligently is not something that usually forms part of the formal education in the school, nor of the informal education in the family bosom..

However, it is fundamental to being able to lead a life of well-being and enjoyment. But... What is living an intelligent life, and what is it that leads us to live it?

An example: Carla's story

To exemplify smart living, I will tell you Carla's story.. She is single, she is 30 years old, she has been working in a company for 8 years, and even though at the beginning it was a great satisfaction to get that job, nowadays she does not have the courage to get up to go to work every morning. In addition, most of her day she lives for her work, as she often works more than 10 hours a day.

Regarding her personal life, she has plans to get married. She loves her boyfriend Erick; however, she is not totally convinced that she wants to get married, but for a long time her priority has been to start a family and she knows that Erick is the man she wants to start that family with. However, she is afraid of this new stage, and this generates insecurity in her.

One day, Carla felt an urge to leave work early, and went to the park near her house. There she sat down, and began to reflect on her three decades, and many images came to her of what had happened in her life, many of them with happiness. However, she realized that much of her life has been lived with insecurities and working towards a better future, but when it seemed that she had reached the goal, she did not feel totally satisfied, and now that she is about to get married, she reflects on whether this is really what she wants to do, she reflects on whether this is really what she wants to do..

Just at that moment, a lady in her 70s who was feeding the pigeons greets Carla, and they start talking. The woman, named Lucia, tells her how much she enjoys those moments when she goes to feed the pigeons. Carla is surprised to see this woman beaming with happiness and finds it inconceivable that her reason for happiness at that moment was to be in a park feeding birds.

Lucia asks Carla: What makes you happy? Carla doesn't understand how, but at that moment, she feels the confidence to speak even though she is very reserved and doesn't talk about her feelings and emotions with anyone, but at that moment she feels the need to express what she feels. And she tells Lucía that she doesn't really know what makes her happy, that she has been living in automatic for months, and that she doesn't really remember a stage in her adulthood in which she has felt satisfied with her life. With a look of compassion, Lucia tells her that she understands. At that moment Carla can't explain why she feels such relief, and experiences a comforting feeling.

Lucia explains to her that she knows what she is talking about, because she experienced something very similar. Lucia tells Carla:

"My life was not always like it is now, that I live it intensely, enjoying and valuing each day. I lived most of my years without finding meaning in my life; I had my family, my husband, my children, but economic worries made my husband and I struggle day and night to make ends meet. I spent little time with my children, and when I was with them my tiredness and sometimes my desperation were so great that I easily lost my patience and ended up yelling at them, and they rarely saw me calm. And I thought: if we had enough money and time, our life would be different.

One day my husband arrived with the news that the project he was working on with so much effort finally came to fruition, a very important company hired him. We felt a great joy and celebrated this important moment, because finally the financial shortage was a thing of the past, and that was not all, I could stop working and dedicate myself completely to my children. The pleasure lasted a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. Once again I began to be intolerant of my children, I had no desire to do anything.... The financial problems were gone; I had the time, but I didn't know what to do with it, and I was just waiting for it to get dark so that I could the only thing I was waiting for was for it to get dark so I could go to bed, I couldn't make sense of life.I couldn't make sense of life.

I hardly saw my husband, and when we were together the arguments were repeated over and over again. Until one day I ran into a friend I hadn't seen for many years. We began to talk about all those years we hadn't seen each other and for the first time I expressed to someone everything I had inside me that even I didn't know until I talked to her. I realized that life is not about what you have, it's about what you do with what you have.. I seemingly had everything I wanted, a husband I loved, my children, and I also got to have the financial freedom that many dream of.

She gave me some advice that has since changed my life and I would like to share it with you, I know it will help you as it did me. I have learned that living smart not only makes life easier, but makes it easier for us to enjoy it to the fullest; this doesn't mean that I don't have situations in my life that I can't enjoy.This doesn't mean that I don't have challenging situations, but now I look more towards solutions and don't dwell on the problem.

These are the tips I took from my friend:

• Don't be sorry for what you don't have, be thankful for what you do have.
• The most important person in your life is you, if you want to be well with the people you love, value your life and take care of it.
• Know your true passions, they will lead you to know your talents.
• Learn something new every day, something that will make you a better person.
• Forgive those who have offended you consciously or unconsciously, resentment is a very heavy burden and there is no reason to carry it.
• Get the sleep you need, eat healthy, do a physical activity that you enjoy.
• Take the time to relax, meditate, listen to music that encourages you; and if you like to dance or sing, do it.
• Give yourself the opportunity to get to know new places; you don't need to travel long distances to discover beautiful places and fabulous people.
• When difficulties come, there are two ways, give up and feel like a victim of circumstances or trust that you are capable of facing them and come out stronger.
• If you don't want to lose control of your life, let go of the things that are not useful to you to control".

Carla was amazed at what she was hearing, and not only that, she felt as if something that was dormant in her mind had been asleep. as if something that was asleep in her was awakening.. Her gaze lit up, her posture changed; she felt different, it was as if many of the things she had been questioning recently were finding answers.

Without thinking, she hugged Lucia, and walked home, with a feeling she had never experienced before. She felt confident and secure, and immediately wrote down Lucia's advice in a notebook; she did not want to forget it and she decided to make it part of her every day.

Conclusion

It is possible that you are going through difficult times and feel affinity for situations similar to what Carla or Lucia went through at some point.

You too can turn your life around. Don't keep wasting your energy on things that don't contribute to you, use it intelligently to live a quality life use it wisely to live a quality life that brings wellbeing.

I invite you to live intelligently, to make your life an experience full of enjoyment, learning and appreciation.

If you want to know more about how to live intelligently, I invite you to contact me.