by Bryan Cohen
Bryan Cohen here, guest poster and author, promoting my new book The Post-College Guide to Happiness for The Happiness Blog Tour. I'm giving away free digital review copies of the book and doing a giveaway for paperback copies, audio copies and even a Kindle Fire! Read on and check out the info below the post.
by Bryan Cohen
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"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost."
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Personal Path
When I left part-time barista work and concentrated on my writing, the first couple of years were pretty rough. I never seemed to have enough money and if I faltered in my productivity during a given week, I might not have enough money to pay all of the rent or be able to split the groceries with my girlfriend. At that time, one of my girlfriend's friends critiqued me and said that I should get a job, earn a wage and start providing for the two of us. You know, because that's what people do, she implied.
Years later, my writing career has really taken off and if I had given up and gotten a full-time job, I might not have reached the level of financial stability and fulfillment that I've achieved today. I'm certainly not all the way there and I still have debts, but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We love to give advice to the people we care about. After all, it's much easier to give "wisdom" to someone outside of yourself, especially someone you love. The tough part is that our wisdom isn't necessarily wisdom for another person. If I had followed the advice of putting my dreams on hold for a few years while I earned a wage, I might have never reached the point I got to today. But, if our places were reversed and I saw a friend struggling to break even, I might have suggested the exact same thing.
It's important to have security, but it can be more important sometimes to have goals to work toward. When we discourage someone from trying to achieve their goals, we may be limiting that person's happiness. It's much more difficult to reach a purposeful end result, when you're facing opposition from the people you love and care about. Don't they know the best for me, you might think to yourself.
Everyone has a personal path to happiness and fulfillment. Actually, most people probably have multiple ways to achieve transcendent happiness in their lifetimes. It's tough to know when you should support the goals of a friend and when you should recommend they take the safer choices. All I know is this. If you look into the eyes of someone you care about and you think that they can actually do what they're setting out to do, throw all of your strength and encouragement behind this person's goal. Help as much as you can with your time and energy.
Who knows, you might be lending someone just enough of an impetus to ensure health, happiness and a richness of spirit in their lives. Look beyond the path you've chosen for yourself, try to see the bigger picture and you may be able to help much more than by giving advice alone.
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Bryan Cohen is a writer, actor and comedian from Dresher, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art and a minor in Creative Writing.
He has written nine books including...
1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More
500 Writing Prompts for Kids: First Grade through Fifth Grade
Writer on the Side: How to Write Your Book Around Your 9 to 5 Job
and his new book...
1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More
His website Build Creative Writing Ideas helps over 25,000 visitors a month to push past writer's block and stay motivated.
Visit Bryan:
Website
Goodreads
Shelfari
Feel free to follow along with the tour at The Happiness Blog Tour Hub Page or on the book's Facebook Page.
Guest post created Bryan Cohen, author of The Post-College Guide for Happiness
© 2012. All rights reserved.
by Bryan Cohen
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WIN this ebook…
Bryan Cohen is giving away 61 paperback and audio copies of The Post-College Guide to Happiness and a Kindle Fire between now and May 7th, 2012 on The Happiness Blog Tour.
All entrants receive a free digital review copy of The Post-College Guide to Happiness.
Bryan hopes to give away at least 1,000 copies during the blog tour.
To enter, post a comment with your e-mail address or send an e-mail to postcollegehappiness (at) gmail.com.
Bryan will draw the names at the end of the tour. Entries will be counted through Sunday, May 6th.
* part of The Post-College Guide for Happiness tour - check it out for details and goodies about the book and author
