Looking for Meaning

I can hear something a dozen times over, but it doesn't make a difference if the timing isn't right. I saw this quote the other day and it really hit home.

“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.”
-- Neil deGrasse Tyson (reddit, 2012)

The quote came in a message from one of the winners of The Listserve - a email lottery that allows one person each day to write an email to all of the members...currently there are close to 25,000. Members come from destinations across the globe and the topics vary widely - some people write about their hobbies, some ask for advice, many dole out learned life-lesson. The one thing that remains constant is the fact that no one really has it figured out. Life, I mean.

We're all struggling with something. We're all 'looking' for something. I've been wasting spending a lot of time lately looking for that thing in life that will flip the switch. The thing that will make me jump out of bed each morning and what I'll dream about each night. Not being able to pinpoint this thing has resulted in a lot of inner turmoil. But it's also been the catalyst for soul searching and has forced me to get realistic - maybe there is no thing (gasp!) and happiness doesn't work like a lightswitch...more like candles. You find something that makes you happy, so you light one small candle, and then another and another until, eventually, your room is bright and flickering with the light of a thousand candles.

I'm lucky to have three steady candles to start from: faith, family and friends. The rest will come. So go, find your candles (maybe one of mine is cheesy analogies?) and light your world up!