The Discipline of Happiness

I have been thinking lately how happiness is really a discipline. If you are not happy or feel unbalanced in life right now, these things are not going to magically appear in front of you someday. We often think "If I can just get that new job" or "If I can just move to a bigger house" or "Once I retire", "Once the kids are out of the house", "Once School is done", "Once I am promoted", "Once I am (Fill in the blank)", THEN oh yes, THEN...I will finally be happy and content and balanced. But this magical moment never comes. Happiness and balance are things that need to be started right now and cultivated as well as sustained by hard work and discipline. I have realized the real need for myself to set aside time during my week for things that I enjoy to do and that give me life. I have found that if I do not set aside time for these things and fight for them, they will always allude me and even if I were to switch jobs, I would find myself in the same position, gasping for breath and wishing I had the time for the things I love. For instance, I would love to write a novel. But this novel is not going to write itself and I doubt that a situation will come along where I will have a few months of free time (unless I get laid off: Knock on wood) to spend on it. If I want to write it, I am going to have to start today, and set aside 10 minutes or 30 minutes and grow space for this hobby. And I will probably put it off until tomorrow (which really means a few months) which is fine, but at least I will know that it is my own choice and I won't be able to complain about how I don't have the time or don't have any hobbies.