See, I’ve got it all sorted out. Why read deep philosophers – the basic recipe for happiness is right here, in my blog ;). Seriously, though, I think it gives you a basic understanding on how to proceed, and then you spend your whole life trying to get there. It comes from Greg Popcak “Life shouldn’t be like this”, and it boils down to three things – meaning, intimacy and virtue. Pursue these three goals, and you have a lot more light coming down into your life.
As a mom, virtue is something you need every minute of every day. Let’s start with the cardinal ones – you need courage just to get out of bed in the morning an face what these little are going to throw at you today. You need temperance to be able to find that elusive golden mean – between scolding and flattery, between a clean house an a happy house. You need it so that you can pull yourself away from the cyberspace la-la land and get to reality, and you need it to avoid going off the deep end on secondary projects. Do I need to explain why you need justice? I think, “This is not fair” is a wail that constantly weaves itself in and out of our lives. You also have to be just to yourself – but more on that later. And wisdom or prudence is the ultimate philosopher’s stone that we are all after – a lot more on that to come.
Than there are the three theological virtues – love, hope, and charity – we’ll be dealing with those at a later date.
And besides those, there is a supporting cast of more minor ones – joy, peace, patience, creativity, hospitality, respect, and a few dozen more. Hey, main virtues taught in American schools were industry, punctuality and frugality, what do you know! Again, we’ll get to the ones that are the most important for you, but for now it gives you an idea that you have a lifetime of improvement in all these categories. However, it is only one side of the story.
Stay tuned for part 2