Let’s say I post a blog about a 5 Step Process to Happiness.

I throw in some ancient Greek knowledge.

I add some cutting-edge scientific insights.

And there I go, sharing this little self-help gem.

Now what happens with you?

What happens if you like what I offer?

Well, probably nothing.

Maybe you’ll get excited while reading it, and forget about it half a minute later.

Maybe you’ll get excited and bookmark it, and it becomes part of your vast collection of self-improvement blueprints.

Maybe you’ll get excited, bookmark it, and look at it every day for a week, before you forget about it.

Maybe you’ll get SO excited that you even stick to the 5 Steps for a while, only to discover that they’re not much different from all the previous 5 steps, or 3 steps, or 7 steps.

And also not a lot changes in your life, if anything.

So much for the blog.

Now I’m not trying to be a cynic here.

This is how we operate.

Jumping from one tile of hope to the next.

Feeling excited while reading and studying, mentally basking in the shining presence of our future self, maybe even for a while.

Sometimes a specific method or worldview or spiritual niche can even become part of our personality and how we show up in the world.

But most of the time nothing happens, you simply forget about it, and the whole excitement thing repeats itself when you stumble across the next blog or video or book.

You could call it Spiritual Groundhog Day.

It’s not EXACTLY the same, but the principle is.

‘This is the one, this time is different!’

I’ve done this (and I still do, at least somewhat).

I’ve lived this lifestyle of short bursts of excitement and peaks of possibility, only to see all of it vanish again, swallowed up by life.

Over and over again.

I even wrote blogs and a book with a method.

And then I started to slow down.

Sort of at least.

Doing the same thing again and again stopped making sense.

Slowly.

Change is absolutely awesome, growth is really cool, but just thinking about it all day long is extremely frustrating and fairly stupid.

We fall for the Big Promise because we feel stuck so very often, and this thing might finally do the trick.

At least that’s the idea.

Then the next thing.

And the next.

And we become more and more disillusioned, tired, grumpy, and fed up with how we handle life.

Until the next blog with a 4-Step Approach To Divine Liberation.

Generously spiced up with some tribal knowledge and a bit of cutting-edge scientific study.

You can keep doing that forever.

Fall for the promising premises.

Or you could stop.

Maybe.

But I can guarantee you one thing:

You won’t be getting it from me.

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(Photo by @guernseyphotographerl, for Unsplash)