A beautiful brochure caught my fancy; there was a picture of a blue river, with villas on either side, and each villa having its own swimming pool. As I looked at it, I thought of my own villa in Lonavala, I’d sold, when I’d got into full time writing a few years ago, and I sighed. A friend who was with me gave me a look of askance. “Look at this,” I said to him, “Sometimes I wish I’d never sold my villa! I could have spent the rest of my life there, no problems, no worries, just me, the hills of Lonavala and fun!”
The friend pondered for a moment before turning to me and said, “Bob when I travel on business, I like to talk to the taxi drivers who take me from the airport to my hotel, or to a convention center, or to a restaurant.”
“Sure, “I said, “I like to do the same, “
“Taxi drivers,” said my friend, “are often immigrants from outside Mumbai, with interesting personal histories and unusual cultural backgrounds. I ask them how long they’ve been in that city and what they like best about where they live. On one trip about ten years ago, I was making conversation with the taxi driver, asking him my usual questions about how he came to live where he lived. Then I asked him a hypothetical question: ‘If you could live anywhere in the world, and if money was no problem, where would you live?’
“Without hesitating even for a second, the man replied, “Sir, I live in my heart. So, it really doesn’t matter where my body lives. If I am happy inside, then I live in paradise, no matter where my residence is!”
I looked at my friend and nodded as he continued. “Bob It doesn’t matter where you live!”
I felt humbled and a little foolish for the longing and missing I’d felt a few moments ago. Of course, he was right, happiness is an inside job. He had reminded me of something I already knew, but had forgotten. If you can’t find happiness inside yourself, you’ll never find it in the outside world, no matter where you move. Wherever you go, there you are. You take yourself with you.
I am grateful for the wisdom my friend shared with me through his taxi driver experience.
I took the brochure and tore it into tiny bits and threw it away, it didn’t matter whether there was a river, a swimming pool or hills around my villa to make me happy, I could be happy wherever I was, as long as I was happy inside my heart..!

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Read…
DARE by Robert Clements.
It will change your life.