I am Phillip Price. I write, I take photos, I eat food and I enjoy the outdoors. That is not all I do of course, but in general, I have been blessed with many talents, and I have a love for enjoying life. Let me take you through a quick thought so you can get to know me better.
Be where you are when you are there.
The other day, I heard a quote from a man at a devotional who was a doctor. I believe he was a psychiatrist. He said one of the tricks to being happy was to “be where you are when you are there.” This advice hit me hard that day. I know I have heard this advice in some form or another before, but this time, I really began to think deeply about what I could do to improve.
I realized that being where I am when I am there means to actually focus on what I am doing. It means shortening the amount of time that I daydream. This is critical to improving relationships. This is what it might look like. When I strike up a conversation with someone, I have should have already decided in my mind that I will take a few minutes of time out of my busy schedule just for them. To really get to know them, I need to focus my attention on learning about them, ask follow-up questions to understand deeper, and memorize facts about them and their relationships so I can make them feel good later when I remember. I then feel happier because for those precious few minutes of time, I focused my energies on an individual. I actually cared about them. I sacrificed time, energy and thought into getting to know them. What happened because of it? I gained one new true friend who knew I was sincere with them. Because I was genuine, they in turn will want to be more genuine with me. It is very similar to the phenomenon of smiling at someone you pass on the street—it’s contagious.
I think this is a life lesson critical for the happiness of all. Whether we know it or not, believe it or not, or choose to live by it or not, it will always be a principle of happiness.
I try to live my life by principles of happiness. Another principle of happiness I know of is doing things you love often. Therefore, I write, I take photos, I eat food and I enjoy the outdoors.
