New Year: My dear family and friends, it’s 2020! We’ve all heard a dozen times “Happy New Year.” I’d like to share my thinking regarding making 2020 a truly wonderful and happy year.
One of my favorite, powerful statements comes from Ayn Rand’s, We The Living:
It’s a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a Heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it.
I’ve taken that to heart by describing my Heaven, and each year I “demand it”—I create my Heaven. My Heaven on Earth includes: my beautiful home; my romantic relationship; my wonderful staff; my amazing Chief of Staff/Executive Assistant; my friends and their happiness; my health and fitness; self-development and personal growth; having and pursuing a central purpose; and the enjoyment of arts, which gives me direct pleasure from music, novels, movies, paintings, sculptures, plays, and more. I’m very happy in my Heaven.
Happiness is the successful state of life. When your life is working, the result and reward is happiness. Make your life successful; happiness follows.
So, I focus on making my life as successful as possible.
What is a successful state of life? What is success? For me, success is rather simple. It means you’re achieving what you want to achieve. What you want is important. (I write down things I want every day to keep them in sight and mind.) To be successful, you must do what you rationally want to do and get what you rationally want.
Values are wants—material and spiritual wants—that you act to gain or keep. And they are integral to your happiness. Indeed, happiness results from the achievement of values. My life is a value, so I act to maintain it. Those I care about, friends and loved ones, are values, and I like to help and support them. Spiritual values are non-material values, such as education and learning. I pursue these too. My character/self-esteem is a cardinal value; I achieve this by practicing virtues such as honesty, integrity, justice, etc. I believe, as Ayn Rand points out, that happiness is the moral purpose of my life and of every other individual’s life. So, unabashed, I vigorously pursue my happiness, and each year I plan for more happiness, because there’s never any limitation on happiness.
Now, in conclusion, my dear friends and family, I wish you a Happy New Year.
Carl B. Barney
December 30, 2019
