As I’ve stated many times, I’m a sucker for a great quote. If you look through my older blog entries, I often ended them with a quote. I just ran across another quote – from another of my favorite actresses of all-time, Ingrid Bergman. She is someone who knew incredible success and extreme controversy. I believe she is one of the actors from Hollywood’s classic period who’s work is still modern today. If you don’t know her you should definitely check her out. The film, “Gaslight” is one of my personal favorites (and her first of three Academy Award winning roles). Here’s the quote by her:
“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.”
– Ingrid Bergman.
I love how simply she put the distinction between success and happiness, and I find her words to be so true. The goals I wanted to accomplish when I was younger were the basis of many decisions I made – life altering decisions. They were fueled by the mistaken thought that having them come true would bring happiness. Through the years some goals have come true and some have not, and what I’ve realized in the process is that they really have very little (if anything) to do with truly being happy. Accomplishing a goal can make you temporally happy, and even make you think you are something that you’re not. Not accomplishing a goal can have the same effect – without the happy part. However, I’ve learned that accepting what is in front of you – regardless if it is what you want or not – is the key to happiness. It is the key to finding peace. It is a concept I investigated on my fourth CD, “Peace At Last”. The title song is exactly about finding peace through accepting “what is”. The second verse of the song is as follows:
Spent my time as a means to an end
Now I’ve shed all I used to defend
I am one with the moment at hand
It’s the soil of my life’s sacred land
It is one of my most successful songs, and the orchestration was the inspiration for my latest CD, “The Ride”. If you haven’t heard the song “Peace At Last”, you can hear it below:
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