 | "Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you'll be bombarded with suggestions of how to have a successful life. Some of these suggestions are deeply unhelpful to our own projects and priorities - and we should take care." Alain de Botton |
Many people equate success with the ability to have what they want, when they want it. It is "the pursuit of happiness", or by another term, "The American Dream". However, the "the pursuit of happiness" and the struggle to discern the difference between wants and needs creates anxiety.
The antidote for that anxiety is helping others succeed when success can be defined by helping others meet their needs. Because we struggle with knowing the difference between what we want and what we need, love, then, is to be available to the struggle of another's 'pursuit of happiness" - to enter into the ambiguity if not-knowing.
The difference, then, between needs and wants is no longer as relevant, anxiety is released, and our capacity to 'love without measure' increases.