Two weeks ago I was listening to You: The Owner’s Manual by Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen. The book provides many insightful & practical ways to keep your mind and body young (If you do this then your mind will be 4.3 years younger. If you do that your body will be 3.4 years younger). During this reading the authors highlighted how our minds start to lose their sharpness around age 35 (I am 37) and learning and speaking another language (I used to speak Spanish) combats this mental deterioration. This fact hit me hard as I noticed little signs in my own life like forgetting, multiple times a day, where I put that dang water bottle!
For years, I have wanted to get back the Spanish I once had while serving a mission in the Canary islands from 1999 – 2001. I spent 25 months studying and learning the language. I come back and 16 years later I struggle to speak and understand (so frustrating…if you don’t use it you lose it!). This loss limits my interaction with groups of people that surround me each day. The desire to connect with a wider group of people combined with keeping my mind healthy and active has motivated me to read, pray, listen, and speak the Spanish language for two weeks now.
Semi-immersing myself in spanish over the past two weeks has yielded much more than I expected. In addition to connecting with more people I am finding that I am more fulfilled as I have more purpose in my life. I have also added an incremental dimension to family education. My children have a sincere desire to learn spanish as well (Mariah just texted me today asking for more verbs to conjugate!). As I reflected on and tried to understand why I had become a happier person a thought came to me; I am climbing a mountain.
Two years ago I read a book called Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. One of the principles that impacted me most was the importance of having a mountain to climb. The mountain represents a meaningful goal that an individual establishes. The happiness is derived from not only reaching the top but more from the journey on the way up. His research was very clear that those who worked towards meaningful goals were much happier than those who lacked such goals.
I had recognized this truth in my life back then. I was once again reminded as I restarted my climb up Mt. Espanol! It is a big mountain and will require much diligence, patience, and fortitude to scale. I am confident as I continue onward and upward the richness of the climb will become sweeter and more beautiful.
My question to the reader is: What mountain are you climbing? Is it challenging enough? Does it fulfill you? Does it align with your core values and purpose? If you are lacking in happiness and need a boost then identify your mountain and start climbing. You will resurrect feelings of purpose and progress that have been laying dormant just waiting for you to take the initiative and do something.
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