Joy Is Not In Things It Is In Us

Miles Patrick Yohnke photograph by Marcel Toews.

Living In Our Own Skin [Peeling Back The Layers]

"Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The poster boy. This is who I have been for most of my life with respect to the issues I'm about to address.

Most humans are really just sleepwalking through their lives. Society tells us that if we have this car, we are somehow better than another, that if we live in this type of home we are somehow better than another. If we have this type of clothes, again, we are somehow better.

But the real story is that the woman or man is doing all this to be liked.

I just bought this car. Do you like me now?
I just bought this house. Do you like me now?
I just bought this Hugo Boss suit, this outfit. Do you like me now?

If we really think about it, we just want to be liked. From the executive to the janitor, we just want to be liked. We are all struggling!

It makes one ask questions of who they like and why they like them? It should be the person inside, that something about them. It's not what their assets are; rather their asset is who they are.

Each of us, every person, has a wonderful story in them. Truly. We are all children of God. At times we just need to stop, reflect, and perhaps quit running from ourselves.

It's interesting; so many people are trying to find God. Many get involved in a religion only to jump to another. In a lot of cases, they are not looking for God at all. Many are joining nothing dis-similar than a gym or a club, per se. They just want to be around people that perhaps have a similar interest. Or mostly just to feel like they belong.

Most of our lives it is just that. We just want to belong! To be liked, needed, or be loved! We just need to be truly honest with ourselves and question our purpose in each thing we do. That God is in each of us, not something to go searching for but searching within ourselves. And in that lies the answer.

Each of us holds a beautiful story only to be told. We are all capable of the most beautiful things.

The mind is a very powerful organ. Albert Einstein stated that we only use 10% of the brain. I was a young child when I read that. I thought it was a typo or just me and my dealing with my learning disorder.

But I never forgot it and now years later, I understand.

Most people don't want to think. Thomas Edison wrote: "Five percent of the people think, 10 percent of the people think they think, and the other 85 percent would rather die than think."

We are conditioned in ways from media/society not to think. We are banged and banged over the head from ads and media to be this and that and not to think.

Mother Teresa once said: "One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody."

We need to stop and take ownership of our lives. To realize and accept that happiness isn't in possessions. In us, lies the happiness. When we realize this, one has another type of life; a calm, a peace, a joy. A life that we never thought was possible.

Miles Patrick Yohnke is a globally recognized motivational author, poet, and mentor with a wealth of life experience. His philosophies and materials are used in schools in Africa, India, and theUnited States. They are used by preachers in their pulpits. They have been read on National radio and featured in countless publications.

If you are looking to develop and improve your life, Yohnke offersconsultation in person, by phone, or via email. For more information please contact him at: 306.227.6379

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