Chasing After Happiness & Beauty 

After a relaxing facial treatment at the spa I frequent, the spa manager once again made her sales pitch to me. She said I should sign up for the new anti-aging package to prevent wrinkle due to work stress.

I asked if she has heard of a story about a businessman and a fisherman. This is how the story goes…

A businessman on holiday was taking photographs when he noticed a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The businessman was disappointed with the fisherman’s apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approached the fisherman and asked him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days.

The businessman told the fisherman that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The business man further explained that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman.

The nonchalant fisherman asked, “Then what?”

The businessman enthusiastically continued, “Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea.”

“But I’m already doing that”, says the fisherman. “I sit here in the harbour without a care in the world and doze. It was your clicking that disturbed me.”

And so the enlightened businessman walked away pensively, with no trace of pity for the fisherman, only a little envy.

Story: Heinrich Boll

After telling her the story, I concluded our conversation without giving her a chance to do her next sales pitch. This is what I said, “If I do not need to pay for facial treatment than I do not need to work so hard. If I do not need to work so hard, I will not have work stress which means I will not age so quickly and probably I will look radiant even without facial treatment.”

Live a life of simplicity, pursue the things we value most and not the values of the billboards, magazines, Korean dramas and fashion runways. What we see on the billboards, magazines, Korean dramas and fashion runways are our forms of entertainment, giving us pleasure, not pressure. Let’s not chase the world’s definition of happiness and beauty. Happiness is not something to be chased. It is a decision for us to make and live it.

Live a healthy lifestyle, exercise and eat moderately, sleep well, think simple and not over analyse things. Focus on what really matter. Live a balanced life.

When we are less stress and healthier, we feel happy. The happiness that radiates from within will make our skin look radiant and beautiful. Beauty from within last, helping us age gracefully.

 

Thank you for stopping by, happy Living for Experiences!

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