The Result of All Ambition

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To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition. --Samuel Johnson

The wisdom contained in this one sentence is worth meditating on for the rest of our lives; it's probably the reason Dr. Johnson earned his final resting place with the "Immortals" in Westminster Abbey.

Why are you working so hard? To be happy at home. But you're never AT home--in mind, body, or spirit--because you're always working. So why are you working so hard? To be happy at home.

This is not a Zen koan. Life IS a paradox, but we don't have to make it any harder than it is already.... If you're on the cusp of grasping this insight, you're miles ahead of most of us.

Hold this thought: the ultimate result of all ambition is to be happy at home. Engrave this truth on your consciousness. Lay the track deeply, so that even when you're on your own version of automatic pilot, you'll be homeward bound. Write it on the palm of your hand; sneak a peek at it three times a day. Mutter it under your breath before attending a budget review that starts a half-hour before the children need to be picked up; before agreeing to entertain out-of-town clients on your anniversary; before answering faxes on Sunday or leaving voice mail messages at midnight.

What is the ultimate result of all ambition?

You know.

Inscribe it on your heart. Needlepoint it on a pillow. Say it out loud when you get up and just before retiring. Make it your mantra--that personal phrase that brings all things into focus. Doing so will help remind you that the greatest adventure of our lives is finding our way back home.

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Source: October 14 entry, Simple Abundance, a Daybook of Comfort and Joy, Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020. C. 1995 by Sara Ban Breathnach.