The Bucket List

Dear Friends,

Today I learned a little something about happiness. It was very unexpected but much welcomed. One thing I do for myself as often as I can is go to the movies. I love to enmesh myself in the world of make-believe and lose myself in the story of the movie. I often go with my friend Donna, and we both love to see movies that are thoughtful and about life lessons. After we have seen the movie, we often go for a coffee and discuss the content and lessons learned in detail. I just love to watch movies where I get to learn something new about myself and the world.

Tonight, I went with another group of people, and we saw the movie the Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I didn't know what to expect when I went in there, but I haven't been this pleasantly surprised about a movie in a very long time. This movie is basically about writing a bucket list, or a to do list of things you would like to do before you "kick the bucket." Many of us dream about bigger things, wanting to do more and be more before it is too late. For many, dreams stay just dreams. For others, dreams become reality. Many people, who receive a negative health message, end up changing their criteria for happiness and starting to live life differently. This movie was about just that. Getting a wake-up call and decide that some things need to change. But, what if we write our Bucket List before we receive that negative call? What if we write our To Do List now and decide to change things we are unhappy about now, this very moment? What would happen then? Well, of course, getting a wake-up call will often remind us about the things we have going for us and help us forget about the things that are not as important. I left this movie feeling touched, moved to tears, happy, excited, and peaceful at the same time. I had been reminded about how to be happy in spite of external things or lack thereof. At the end of the day, what I have is not important, it is who I have touched and who I have next to me that will let me know if I have lived a happy life. It is definitely a movie where you will get to learn to look at things in a new way. I left it feeling more alive than I have felt in a long time...

I actually started to think about this Life List even before I saw the movie tonight, and it was one of my clients who taught me this very valuable lesson (I always love to see my clients because I know I will learn so much from them :-)). It's been a while since I wrote on this blog, and I guess I have been looking for something to add to the topic of happiness. Like most people I have my ups and down, and lately I have felt like I haven't had much to share in that area. Although I feel like I experience happiness in different ways everyday by just looking at things in my life differently, I also have been looking for that "aha-moment." Or that feeling of...yes, I am truly happy now. The truth is that I haven't been able to find it. I have been feeling tired and gloomy. At times, I have been asking myself where my happiness went...

Then a couple of days ago, one of my clients told me how much I have helped her change her life into a positive direction, and how happy she was that she found me. This shifted my perspective totally, and it instantly reminded me of why I do what I do and why I am here on earth in the first place. It is not about my happiness at all or where I can find it, it is about the happiness I help bring to other people! The look on her face as she told me how much she enjoys her life now and all the things she now enjoys doing that she wouldn't do before. I remember the first time she stepped into my office. She was heartbroken and she had lost much of her hope of ever being happy. Now, after transforming her life, she is glowing and feeling empowered and very positive about future. This is what brings me the most authentic happiness of all. I felt as if something very dear to me (that I thought I had lost) suddenly came back and helped me open my eyes...

This experience, much like the movie did, kindly reminded me that happiness is not something I find in other things or something that I have to look for in other people or places. It is right here underneath my very nose every day waiting to be re-discovered, experienced, and moved through me, not by me.

Jenny