Happiness

For most of us we spend a lifetime in search of true happiness. I often tell family and friends the best method to find happiness is to look within yourself. I am often asked, “Chef what is it that makes you happy?”

Over and over again in the past 10 years or so, my reply has been ever so consistent: “Find out what you are truly passionate about and then your passion will lead you to your ‘gift’ and in turn will lead you to true ‘happiness.’”

I am forever grateful that I conquered discovering and am pursuing, my passion. One of my favorite uplifting songs is “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. The chorus repeats:

Because I’m happy,

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof,

Because I’m happy,

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.

I like these two lines of the chorus because they speak directly to my understanding of life. Meaning, the sky is the limit to your happiness because there is no roof suffocating you. The next line in a very elegant and simple way to defining happiness as the truth.

Happiness is one of the essential parts of everyday living, that begins in the morning when by God’s grace you must choose life over death. We all have the power within us to discover true happiness and live out the balance of our lives in total capacity of happiness.

In hopes of inspiring you to find your happiness, I’d like to share my journey of discovery with you. First, I went in search of what makes me happy. After much consideration, I concluded that when I am in the kitchen cooking, I am at my best. I seem to never get mentally tired in this space and I’m able to cook all day and night even though I may be physically exhausted. Just the fact that I am doing what I love gives me a sense of balance and peace. Second, I am given the opportunity to share my gift and passion with the masses. I never know whose life I may be making better in the time I spend preparing and cooking for them. Third, I have learned over the past 15 years that food can alter the way an individual feels in whatever moment and setting. Therefore, for myself I take my happiness in the most serious way.

I believe most people in today’s society look at too many superficial elements in life that they believe will make them happy i.e., money, power and position. Well, allow me to tell you that none of those really matter. I personally have all of that and the only thing those items do for you me is make it a bit easier to go do what you want to do and in the end you will come back to the same space of emptiness and unhappiness. Ecclesiastes 3:13, states; “Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man.” Basically, God equips us with happiness at birth. It is a simple fundamental aspect of life that is very much achievable just by loving your heart which is God.

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