The ethereal nature of Joy

Why do so many of us dream of striking it big(whether in terms of wealth or achievements), devote so much of our life, our efforts and even our sanity chasing it, only to find that the happiness bestowed by reaching that goal is so evasnescent,so fleeting, that we have to aim and reach for yet another goal, usually even more lofty, to sustain that joy?

What I notice about Olympic athletes who attain the ultimate prize(or prizes): they often try to reattain their former glory, even though realistically, that reality has bypassed them, not to mention that their mental aim has long become out-of-sync with their deteriorating physical prowess?

However, I do admire those amongst them who try anyway : Svetlana Khorkina, Steven Redgrave, Oksana Chusovitina(who incidentally won an Olympic silver medal in 2008 a full SIXTEEN YEARS after her Olympic gold with the Unified team in 1992!) and Al Oerter, amongst others.

But their attempts are just a function of the human mind's inability to properly weigh the pros and cons of such a venture, as it obsesses with achieving(or reachieving, I should say) the previous peak of happiness that has since long faded.

Some succeed, but they sacrifice much more in terms of pain and effort, with the risk of failure stacked ever higher against them the more they try.

That is not to say that one shouldn't keep trying : I did so,in the area of stock investing: achieving failure in 1994 and 1995, success in 1996, failure in 1997, hitting the pinnacle of my success in 1998-1999, failure in 2000, success in 2001, failure in 2002, success in 2003-2004,a mixed result in 2005, failure in 2006 and 2007,mixed results in 2008 and milder success in 2009.

But I would have come out much farther ahead had I:

1. Known when to stop and just sit without participating(something I'm practicing hard at in 2010)

2. Just bought and kept good companies' stocks without continuously chasing high risk-high return stocks for the sheer excitement.


The desire for the 'sheer excitement' in point 2. above is exactly what I believe humans in general seek endlessly in their lives, as it gives them joy ( or at least a semblance of it)

I can, of course, console myself that my own 'father' has been doing this,more like gambling than anything else, for over 45 of his 72 years of life currently, and has only a large negative result to show for it.


But I'm determined to thwart 'Like father like son' in my life by forcing myself to be patient and not invest impulsively. I was 21 when I started and am 15 years into it currently, with what I am sure is a better result, but still nothing to shout about!

My greatest era in the area of 'specuvesting' is still 1998-2000, when I teamed up with a partner to ride the wave of the Asian phoenix rising out of the ashes, supporting myself for 2 whole years without lifting a finger for anyone as an employee.


Now THAT was freedom and joy!