Riding Rockets & Shooting Stars

Riding this rocket toward my 67th birthday, memories of my life flicker in the twilight of my mind like shooting stars in the night.

My gaze lingers on a long-ago day when I began writing ads for a jeweler.

I saw the cover of a book that said, “Follow Your Passion. The Money Will Follow,” and remember thinking, “I would hate to become famous for writing ads for a product I couldn’t care less about.”

“Follow your passion” is an idea that makes sense until you think about it.

I had no appreciation, no affection, no commitment to jewelry. But I did make a commitment to the jeweler. My job was to communicate his appreciation of jewelry, his affection for it, his commitment to it.

For a quarter of a century I wrote ads for my friend that made both of us famous. He died unexpectedly in a frozen moment a dozen years ago.

I continue to have his number programmed into my iPhone and there is part of me that believes if I touch his name with my finger he will answer and bellow “Good mornin’, Sunshine!” before the second ring.

There is another part of me that knows I will be shattered if he does not answer. His name will continue on my phone, and I will continue not to touch it.

Our friendship of 25 years taught me an important life-lesson I will now share with you:

Commitment does not flow from passion. Passion flows from commitment.

I do not have to love the products I write about. I have to love the people who are going to sign their names to what I write. My words are spoken from their hearts, not my own.

Lest you think I am wandering aimlessly down Melancholy Lane, I will push my point home like a syringe:

Are you one of those sad-eyed souls who sigh and say,  “I’m searching for my passion. I just don’t seem to be able to find my passion. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I find my passion?”

Yes, the needle hurts, but there is medicine flowing through it.

Every form of work is for the benefit of other people. You do not need to love the work to be happy. You need to love the difference you are making.

Are you ready for me to push the needle a little deeper?

You will never discover happiness when you work only for yourself. You will discover the joy of life when you work for the benefit of others. I believe the need to serve other people is hard-wired into the body, soul, and spirit of every person who walks upon this planet.

Self-centered people can have pleasure, of course. But they can never have happiness.

I’m sorry, but the needle still has to go deeper.

These two quotes by Tom Robbins fit together perfectly although they were written 20 years apart.

“Among our egocentric sad-sacks, despair is as addictive as heroin and more popular than sex, for the single reason that when one is unhappy one gets to pay a lot of attention to oneself. Misery becomes a kind of emotional masturbation (2005). The unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwelling on himself and start paying attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When you’re unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. You get to take yourself oh so very seriously. (1985)”
– Tom Robbins

The needle is now all the way in.

This is the pure, uncut medicine: The next time you see a need, step up and fill it. Experience the joy of making a difference. Do this ten times and you will be addicted to happiness for the rest of your life.

Pay it forward.

Roy H. Williams