I f you have to choose between being right and being happy, what would it be? I know people who choose to be right because they don't really know what it means to be happy. Often when asked if we are happy, we hesitate then say “we're satisfied.” We believe that when we say we're not happy, it means we're ungrateful. With time we forget the real meaning of happiness. So what is happiness? Antony Robbins, the motivational guru, said that happiness for him is the freedom to choose to do whatever he wants to do whenever he wants. A group of researchers at the University of McGill conducted a survey about the meaning of happiness. They spoke to hundreds of people with different economic and social backgrounds. The result was quite simple but astounding. Those who considered themselves happy regardless of their status claimed that happiness for them is doing the same thing every day. On the other hand, those who claimed they were not happy thought of happiness as having lots of money, finding the right partner or moving to a bigger house. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that passion plays a big role in our happiness. When we lack passion in our life, we become unhappy. So, it's all about this emotion of joy and excitement when we do something we truly love. There are lots of lost opportunities that we still regret today. That doesn't mean that we're doomed to misery. The feeling of happiness comes from within. All we should do is to look inside our hearts. There are two advantages to following our hearts. First, we will be in tune with our real self, which means life will start having meaning. Second, we will be so in tune with the flow of positive emotions that we'll start feeling this emotion of happiness. I know a man who had graduated from the American University in Cairo with a degree in economics. At the age of 45, he was married and a father of two boys. This man decided to pursue an old dream. So he went back to high school, and after completing his IGCSE exams applied to the school of dentistry and today he is a dentist. He is a happy dentist. My friend is not the only example. My best friend's wife was an engineer, but when she turned 37, she decided to make a career change and become a pharmacist. If you want to be happy, do what you love and don't worry about money. Once you find what you love, try to do it really well then think of how to make a living out of it. When you do what you love, you'll become creative. You'll be working without looking at your watch every half an hour and thinking “still six hours to go”. You will be happily consumed with what you are doing. I cannot deny the importance of money in our life. Of course, we need to earn a living and preferably a good one. The point is after doing what you love, money will follow. The problem in our society is it's hard to come across people who are passionate about what they do. Most pursue careers for financial security and social status. Indeed social pressure has a lot to do with this problem. Parents and peers have expectations and they pressure their children to make the right career choice, thinking that the right choice will make them happy. You can only imagine the results. Today our world is full of unhappy engineers who want to become politicians, or unhappy doctors who wanted to be businessmen. It's time to choose to be happy instead of being right. Maybe this will take us where we deserve to be. Karim El-Shakankiry is an internationally renowned life coach, motivator and public speaker. He is the founder of “yesUcan” organization for personal and corporate coaching based in Montreal, Canada. He is the first to introduce life coaching in the Middle East and is the president of the Arab Coaching Federation.
