This One Question Is The Key To Your Happiness

Everyone wants to be happy, right?

Wanting to be happy, to feel loved, or to have a great job isn’t something most people think to want until they don’t have it. These are often seen as standards for a good life. Yet many of us take these “standard” parts of life for granted.

You wouldn’t expect a car to be built without a transmission, but it’s only when it goes out that it becomes apparent how important that particular part is.

When we lose access to what seems like a right—such as parental love, gainful employment, respect from others, or romantic love—we start to wonder about our needs.

What do we need versus what do we want?

When we lose access to what seems like a right—such as parental love, gainful employment, respect from others, or romantic love—we start to wonder about our needs.

What do we need to be happy versus what do we want?

Everything mentioned might seem optional. Not everyone experiences safe love from parents who care for them; some may lose their parents. Not everyone (especially in this economy) has a job. Most adults don’t have a loving partner.

I’ve found that most advice for happiness for those who don’t have these things seems a bit cruel.

It’s all a sacrifice—a tradeoff of pleasure for pain—depending on how much pain one can tolerate. Love of career, self, family, and romance seems to be the clear recipe for happiness, but it isn’t the secret to happiness at all.

Anyone who tells you the formula for happiness is lying because, ultimately, there’s just one secret. Unfortunately, I came across this information at the lowest point in my life.

Some might say I was given the gift of desperation.

Two Sides of the Coin

We live in a world of dualities. Often, what feels like the worst thing to happen to you turns out to be the best.

Once we are aware that we can be happy, being unhappy is pure torture. In my desperation, I discovered the one question that would ultimately free me from despair—if I could definitively come up with the answer.

If you want to be happy, ask yourself this VERY important question: “How do I want to make a living?”

What I have discovered is that some people acquire the answer without ever having to ask the question. It is only those who are lost who need to stop themselves and take inventory.

The truth is, you have to make a living in order to make a life.

A living is not just how you make money or what you get paid to do. Making a living is a personal contract with the Universe. It is a promise to commit to using your skills and talents—your spiritual currency—in exchange for cash, physical currency.

There isn’t anyone on Earth who is happy that hasn’t embarked on this contract with the Universe and their spiritual self.

I used to wonder if life was all about work. The thought alone scared me to death.

Was I only meant to “work” for the rest of my life?

If we define work as an exchange of our time, ideas, skills, gifts, and talents for (cash) money, then it turns out the answer is yes.

But if we redefine work as a living, then it only makes sense that by making a living, you can make a life. And a happy one at that.

I resisted this for a long time because I didn’t understand the principles of the Universe or the cosmic exchange between gifts and money.

What To Do?

If you’re facing a dilemma in your life that feels like there isn’t enough money, opportunity, or flow, then stop and ask yourself this very important question.

It might sound simple, but the answer can be hard to come to.

For me, I decided that I want to make a living getting paid for what I know and not what I know how to do.

Ask yourself, “How do I want to make a living?” What are you willing to give the Universe for success? This answer is what will set you free—and ultimately make you happy.