Influence and Happiness
Does Popularity And Influence Bring Happiness?
It has been a long time since I published my thoughts, and during that gap in writing to publish to the public, my perceived world has changed quite significantly. Today I was reflecting on whether my happiness has anything to do with my influence.
Like you, I have struggled with day-to-day pains and challenges – and I have felt weighed down with most of them. My sleep patterns have changed and have become quite erratic. My daily Habits of Happiness have become less of a habit, and I’ve found myself struggling to do all of them every day. I fell asleep around 9pm last night, and was wide awake at midnight. At 1 AM this morning, unable to fall back to sleep, I was musing about my influence in this lifetime – And whether it matters or not that I have any influence in the lives of others at all.
I recall a time, not so many years ago, that I had 5,000 connections on my personal Facebook, almost as many on Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms. While most of my posts were liked by 50-200 of those connections, there are some that reached thousands. In fact, one of my posts on how to use the Zoom app on iPad was seen over 350,000 times and was liked and commented on by over 1,400.
Since my official retirement from the workforce in April of 2021, I have had a significant reduction of influence, and now have less than 850 connections on Facebook, and fewer on all other platforms. I find that most of what I post regarding my thoughts get an average of 25 likes and a handful of comments.
Has that reduction in my influence made me any less happy than I was when I had more influence? My answer is an unequivocal NO.
Some of you reading this post will recall a post I made back in February of 2022 on Communication in Relationships. I intended to complete and publish a book on that topic by the end of that year. I found that every time I worked on it, I felt it was just a repeat of many other books I had read on the topic, and that with my limited resources and lack of influence would be just one of those that may go unread. So, here I am at 2AM in the morning in February of 2024 thinking, “Would it matter to my happiness and the happiness of others for me to publish something other people have already published who have more influence?” The epiphany I had at 1AM this morning is another unequivocal NO.
I want everyone in my influence, who may happen to read all of this post, to know that I am happy in the knowledge that influence, and the acknowledgement of others, has absolutely nothing do with being happy. Happiness comes from the understanding that we are all ONE and have the ability to find peace in every moment – No matter how much influence we think we have in this world.
Each of us has our own journey in this lifetime, and I am grateful for every moment in it – No matter how long or short it may be. I wish for everyone to become aware of the power each of us has to simply remember that we are NEVER alone. I also want to acknowledge all of my friends and family for their influence in my life. I can’t name everyone in this post, but the most recent are these: Jim Estep, Rupert Spira, Bambi Bowden, Suzanne Hadlock, Antuan Robinson and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
We are not the body that holds our conscious mind. Influence has nothing to do with our connections. We are all connected, and we are all pure unconditional love always. Our struggles to remember our connection to everyone and everything can be a fun journey despite our current pains and lack of influence. I wish you joy and peace as you come to this awareness.
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