Originally written by Thomas Jefferson as gifts that God has given all of us and which governments should always protect it. It was initially written in 1776, and the fact that we still recite it and know it today means that it matters. But what makes it so powerful?
What is the more profound meaning, and how can you use it to improve your life. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are something we should strive for, but these areas should be priorities.
Not every country believes that its people should have life, liberty, and the ability to pursue happiness. Even after writing this, slavery existed for many more years for blacks in the United States of America. You saw the rise of groups like the Nazis during this time as well.
All of these things are meant to oppress something that cannot even be contained. You can’t box in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, no matter how hard you try.
"It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?" Chris Gardner
What You Will Learn in This Article
Why Does This Matter
The best way to understand the importance of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is to try and imagine your life without these three things. Before we talk about how we can thrive in these three areas, we need to spend some time focusing on what life looks out without them if you don’t have the experience.
It's referring to much more than just being able to breathe. Many people are breathing, but they are not living. They have settled into a life that is much less than they would have ever dreamed for. You know this by their levels of discontentment. They have jobs they can’t stand, their personal growth has stunted, and they try to run away from their families. They are breathing alright, but inside their soul is dead, and they have no purpose.
Liberty is often thought in terms of slavery or freedom, but there is worse slavery than the physical kind. There is a slavery of the mind. You see, someone can hold your body, but your mind is so powerful that it can go anywhere. You can be in jail, but your mind can be on a beach in an instant. The worst thing that can happen when you don’t have liberty is to have your mind captured by another person's way of thinking. You don’t think for yourself, but instead, you depend on the school system, your parents or some other person to do all your thinking for you.
Happiness itself is not the right, but the pursuit of it is. That means the willingness to change and do what you need to do to move in happiness. The worst thing that can happen to you here is that you give up on this right. You lose hope in the idea that happiness is possible. You become so stuck in misery that you don’t seek anything else.
Make The Most of Your Life
Making the most of life is not about having the most things. Some people have a big house and fancy cars, and yet they spend all of their time working, and they never see their kids. They are making money, but they are not making the most of their life. The world has 100s of countries with thousands of cultures, languages, and ethnicities. Yet most people only experience once in their whole lives. Here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of life.
Travel as Much as Possible
There is so much out there in the world. To be locked into just one place and never see how much life there is out there would be sad. One of the coolest things about travel is that it puts life in perspective. You get to see how big the world is and how small you are. But you also get to see how people can live so differently and still experience happiness.
Keep Growing as a Person
One of the best ways to make sure that you are getting the most out of life is to make sure that you are getting better. One thing that can make life feel stagnant is a lack of progress. One of the easiest ways to see movement is to see yourself improving. The better you get, the more opportunities you will understand that will move your life forward.
Find Your Life Mission
When you know your mission in life, it provides you with purpose—no more wandering through life aimlessly. Your life mission gives you a reason to wake up for the rest of your life, and it also puts you in pursuit of something that matters.
Set Meaningful Goals
Sometimes the mission can seem too far fetched to keep you focused in your day to day pursuits. The solution is to set goals that keep you on the right path and timeline to achieve your mission. If you don't set meaningful goals, you will eventually get distracted or feel the need to give up. It's hard to stay focused on what you want to accomplish at the end of your life daily.
Stop making Excuses
You have to cut all the excuses out. Anyone can make the most of life no matter your circumstances or what you have been through. If you keep relying on excuses, you decide that you don't want to win in life, which sucks.
Make The Most of Your Liberty
Read and Open Your Mind
One of the best ways to keep your mind open and test many of your assumptions is to be an avid reader. You need to be hungry and curious enough to want to keep learning.
Hungry readers can learn the truth and pull back from some of the ideologies that people have tried to shove down their throat. You can't be a slave as long as your mind is free.
Control Your Own Mind
You have to take control of your mind. Be cautious of what information you consume. The TV you watch, the podcasts and music you listen to and the books you read all make a difference.
Controlling your mind means you don't just dive into any way of thinking without taking the time to think it through first. You assume everyone has good ideas, so it's your job to find the most compelling ideas.
Use Liberty for Good
If you don't use your liberty for good, you will eventually become a prisoner of the state, or your guilty mind will enslave you. Don't give up your freedom, chasing things that you don't need to have.
Freedom is a beautiful thing, and you should want to use it to make the world a better place. Anything other than this is such a waste of talent.
Make The Most of Your Pursuit of Happiness
Be Positive
Sometimes life can be hard. There will be setbacks struggles, and people who outright want to see you fail. Stay positive through this all. You need to be a real moment to moment but always be positive about what can be in your future.
Use Your Liberty to Smile
A smile is so powerful that it can change your entire mental state in a few seconds. Smile as hard as you can and notice the rush of positive feelings that come to you.
A smile light up your path, but it can make another human feel cared for in dark times. Use your smile as much as you can as you pursuit happiness.
Know Where You're Going
How can you know if you have arrived if you have no idea where the destination is? Too many people wake up every day, and they start running on, but they have no idea where they are going.
No matter how much success you have, you will never be happy or content this way. Since you don't know the destination, you will be forced to go a bit further and never able to take time just to enjoy it.
Don't Stop Until You Get There
When you know where you're going, put your head down and don't stop until you arrive. The destination is where all fo the fun and growth happens.
You learn very little when you win all of the time. Take the challenges and disappointments to heart and use them to make sure you get better.
The Deeper Meaning of Life Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness
Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness has laid out the simple keys to living a good life. It says nothing about attaining happiness because, in many cases, the key to a fulfilled life is knowing what you want and doing everything in your power to go after it.
The roadblock comes with life and liberty because if you don't taked care of these two, there is no pursuit. Life holds the key to your purpose, and freedom holds the key to a free mind.
