Would you rather be huge or happy?

[iron addict]

I see a lot of people on a daily basis that spend a large percentage of their days TOTALLY involved and obsessed with Bodybuilding and Powerlifting. And while there is nothing wrong with this if it is your livelihood or you plan to make it your livelihood, many, if not most of these guys and girls would be well advised to start spending more of their time working on what will really make them happy.

What is it that will make them really happy? While I sure can’t state what that will be for all these people, I can surely state that if they are of the belief that as soon as they get the body they want they will be happy, they will likely be disappointed. Instead they will probably:

1. Want to take it to the next level, thereby starting the process anew.
2. Still will probably not be truly happy.

Being happy comes from within, not from without, and if you truly believe that you will be happy once you get the “body you really want” I can assure you are going to be disappointed. We go through life believing that we will be happy “when”. The “when” is when we get the body we want, when we have our children, when we buy the house of our dreams, when we get the job of our dreams, when we get the car we really want, when we retire, and on and on. And while all of these things are great, and will give us temporary happiness, none of them will truly make us happy in the long-term. As soon as they are achieved the ego WILL ask for more, and will make you damn uncomfortable until the next rung of the latter is achieved.

This is what keeps us going, this is what makes us achieve, and this is what has made America great you say. This is what inspires us to always push the envelope and want more. That is true…….but it’s also true that this is what binds us, and stops us from being truly happy. Look at all the lavishly rich people that have EVERYTHING. They have fame and fortune. All the money and material wealth anyone could ever ask for. And look how many of them are drug addicts, alcoholics, or live abusively in untold ways. Why? They don’t train their minds. A mind left untrained and untamed without a philosophical or religious base, or belief system that is supportive to happiness will always end up disappointed with life and unhappy. For every hour I spend on lifting, I spend at least five hours devoted to training the mind. This has done so much more for me than ANYTHING I have ever achieved, bought or owned.

How to train your mind? There are a HUGE multitude of ways. The first thing needs to be cultivating a belief system that works for YOU. I once listened to a self-help tape years ago where the author of the tape asked a friend of his how it was he was always upbeat, smiling and energetic. The guys response was: I’m above ground, any day I’m alive and above ground is a great day because I know any of us could be dead tomorrow and I am 100% thankful that I’m still here and able to enjoy this life. Pretty simple huh? That technique is not likely to work for too many people, simply because it gets awful easy to lose sight of what we really have, but it sure was effective for the person in question. It starts with key beliefs that are supportive to a state of overall happiness, and then is built on one branch at a time.

Religion is a great ay to find deep and lasting happiness if you REALLY believe and apply the teachings. I am Buddhist and Buddhism is called many things. Some call it a Philosophy, others religion. But the bottom line is Buddhism in most forms is simply mind training through various forms of physical, contemplative, and various states of mediation, Other religions are much the same, but many simply ask for true faith in their deity. And……these religions are WONDERFUL for those with the psychology that this type of religion appeals to. Every single study has shown that deeply religious people are much more happy than those that are not.

If you do not have a religious bent, philosophy is a great way to put together an integrated belief system that can ultimately define and determine your happiness. There are a myriad of self-help systems out there that have happiness as the primary goal and many of these systems are likely to be of real benefit for at least some of you.

The basic goal of humans is to be happy, and avoid suffering. But if you are under the illusion that happiness comes from external sources you will forever be frustrated. Time spent working on disciplining your mind and developing a belief system that will ultimately lead to being happy irregardless if your external environment is what you would like it to be is the key to long-term happiness.

Live long and be happy

Iron Addict

[Troy_Powers]

...and what was it that brought on this rant?

[oldman]

WTF you lost me at the drug store.

[iron addict]

If you do not understand the reason, nor the content of this thread, how about a bit of self inquiry. May I ask why you BB, or PL? And the answer damn sure should not be to "get bigger" or to "get stronger". Yes, that is accomplished if you are doing it right, but why do you want to? What do you think it will bring you?

Iron Addict

[emn1964]

Why did I think you were a Buddhist when I started reading your post??? Hmmmm. Did you ever think that it's not the end product that makes someone happy but rather the process?? You know, the journey, not the destination. It's the little goals that we acheive along the way, its the friendships that we make with people in the gyms, its the commaraderie you find on this very board. . . So what most of us do here, either bodybuilding, powerlifting or just weight training for sports, does bring us happiness. You look at what I and others do one dimensionally--open your mindd and you'll understand.

[iron addict]

My mind is quite open. And you, like many are missing the point. Bodybuilding/powerlifting is a wonderful pastime. I make my entire living doing it as a matter of a fact. Never was it implyed that you should not persue your lifting goals. What is implyed is that ALONG with persueing these goals you need to be working on the other things in life (mainly your mental focus on what happiness means and how to achieve it) that will bring true happiness. If you really beleive your life is going to be perfect when you acheive your lifting goals you haven't thought things out very much. And if you are that much of a one dimensional person, my condolances.

Iron Addict

[litebluidlifter]

I like your posts Iron Addict...keep 'em up. Opinions are just that..others may share, scoff, totally miss or disagree but you take the time to provide said material for introspection.

[oldman]

To be of a larger size. I lift for a couple of reason and one of them is to get bigger. I want to hit the 315 to 320 mark just to see what I look like. I also lift to see whay my limits of enduranve and pain but most of all I just like to lift.

[juiced_one]

"If it don't make dollars, it don't make sense." - Manny Fresh

What about the monetary aspect? I'm not going to waste time, effort, and capital on something that's not going to make me a little $$ or at least not drain me. What will make you money in this game? Owning your own gym, personal training, becoming a fitness model, selling gear at 4x the price you bought it for to unsuspecting college kids with daddy's money, you know stuff like that. Monetary reasons shouldn't be your only goal, but it would help keep your wallet happy. Look at Bill Philips, maybe he's a sellout or whatever, but he's got more money than all of us put together. He realized he wasn't going to be a pro bodybuilder, so he figured out how to make it another way, but in the sport he loved. All I'm saying is that we should be having fun with it, but if you are spending all of your time/money on it, you should figure out how you are going to profit from it. Money won't buy you happiness unless you have enough.

[iron addict]

Money is wonderful, and sure does make life a lot easier when it is flowing in much faster than it is flowing out. But again, if younbeleive money is all it takes to be happy, expect to be dissapointed. Look at all the absolutely filthy rich that live miserable existences. Look at all the stars that are drug addicts, commit suicide and lead a sit life. If it were a simple matter of money = happiness all the rich would be walking on clouds--they are not.

I make a pretty comfy living from BB'ing PL'ing and it has been my passion for the last 20 years. But is it what truly makes me happy? Not at all, is it a contributing factor? Of course. When I was at my biggest (270) I looked around me and said damn, I really should be "here". Instead at the time I was quite miserable. I had a relationship I didn't like, my job was a drag, I had no real sense of purpose in life other than to eat like a horse and train hard, I didn't have a defined philosphy about what it would take to make me truly happy and thus other than my lifting goals had not taken any steps to meet this criteria, and was a slave to my material and other desires. Happyness comes from a state of mind that must be cultivated by yourself.

Iron Addict