How’s Your Beard?

As we build our business at home, I continue to work part time as a glass blower at Simon Pearce, which helps us to have a steady income. Last week when I walked into work I was surprised to see one of my coworkers toting a fine looking, black beard. He hadn't had one a week ago, so it must have grown quickly. He wasn't a whole lot younger than me but his beard was totally black. Man! I've been growing a beard for a while now but mine always had hints of gray and red in it. I've tried putting shoe polish on it. I've made beard oil out of walnut hulls and applied it daily. I've even had a longer bill added to my hat so that my beard wouldn't get bleached (or maybe the right word would be grayed) in the sun. Even at that, my beard would best be described as looking like the beard of an ole gray goat that just stumbled out of the Himalayan mountains. Ok, well maybe this story isn't a hundred percent accurate. But when I did see the beard, I did think to myself, "why can't I have a beard like that?"

And when it comes to wanting things that others have, I'm probably not a whole lot different than you. It's ok to want things, but some things are out of our control. And the things that we want, just because someone else has one, probably won't make us happy. 

And what is it anyway, that allows us to be content with what we have and then suddenly become discontent just because we see someone else with something that we perceive to be better than what we have. It even shows up more drastically in our little kids.  They can be happily playing when all of a sudden their total focus shifts to what the other kid has. They aren't embarrassed about trying to get what the other kid has and will even resort to tantrums and other things that as adults, we hopefully have learned not to do.

As I've gotten older, I've tried to observe people, what makes them tick, what makes them happy, what makes their life miserable.

I see rich people that are frazzled. I see rich people that are happy. I see poor people that are frazzled. I see poor people that are happy.  I see healthy people that are frazzled. I see healthy people that are happy. People with more aches and pains than you can count, but still happy as a lark to just be alive. And so it's not the money or the things or the health that makes them happy.

There's a secret out there. I don't have it all figured out. The happy people seem to have learned to be content no matter what. They also seem to have a greater purpose. Usually nothing big, just a daily little, find some joy and spread it around, type of thing. And they recognize that they can only do that because they are being exactly who they were meant to be.

Just something to think about.