My Sincere Apologies

Hi, everyone!

I'm sorry I've been away so long. I've been re-evaluating this, as well as many other projects in my life. Needless to say, I've decided to come back to the 17 Million Blog for the time being. However, I'll be bringing about various changes along with me.

Firstly, I'd like to come clean about my focus with this blog. Despite the title of my blog, my end goal is not money. While having a million dollars will certainly make my Life more luxurious and my goals easier to accomplish (indeed, a nice 1 mil is a goal of mine), I refuse to let money measure my happiness. This blog is mainly going to be about whatever I find along my (never-ending) journey to grow and develop as an individual and a citizen of the Global Village.

I'm also going to abolish my previous promise of posting regularly - sorry, guys! I don't want to turn this into a space where I just regurgitate whatever's closest to me in hopes of creating more content. So if I seem to have dropped off the face of the Internet for a while, I most likely haven't, I'm just trying desperately to find something worthwhile for you guys to read. I know you're all busy, so I want to thank you all for keeping an eye on this thing, and I'll do my best to make sure it's worth the time you take to read.

I've had a pretty major realization, and it's one that has helped to bring about some changes in my life.

Now, before I go on with that statement, just to clarify - there have been no major screw ups! No drugs, no nothing - just a realization which I hope will help me to live my life more... maturely, I guess.

So, the major realization is that I don't need money to be happy. If I can do something great (or something normal, either way) with what I'm given, then awesome! If I can make a lot of money while I'm at it, also awesome!

I'm not saying that I don't want to make a lot of money - I just don't want that to be my only goal.

There's an old Chinese proverb-like story about a young man who goes to a guru in search of happiness. The young man waits in line to see the guru, who gives him a spoon filled with tea. The guru tells the young man to "walk the mountain without spilling a drop of tea". So off he goes, taking precarious step after precarious step, eyes fixed on the tea. He walks the entire path and comes back to the guru, not a single drop spilled. The young man sits by the guru and exclaims "I walked the path and spilled not a drop of tea!" The guru smiles and nods. "Yes, you have," he says, "but did you see the mountain pass?"

The young man, who had been focused solely on the tea in the spoon, confesses "no I did not." The guru gives him back the spoon filled with tea and says "This time, look to the mountains - there you will find happiness."

So the young man walks the path again, but his eyes are fixed on the wonderful surroundings about him as he walks. When he returns to the guru, he is calm and has a quiet smile on his face. He sits by the guru, who smiles back at him. "I walked the path and saw amazing things I had never seen before." The young man says. "Yes, you have," the guru replies, and gestures to the spoon. "But look at your spoon, it is empty."

The young man looks, and finds it empty, but he is not sad. He looks to the guru and says "It was simply tea."

So that might not be exactly how the proverb goes, but the general idea is still there for me. (I say "for me" because it's meaning will vary from person to person.)

To me, it tells us to look around us and be in awe of our surroundings rather than to be focused on using a small thing (like a teaspoon of tea) to judge our happiness. True happiness comes from our surroundings, which are bigger than ourselves, rather than a small measure.

I plan to be able to measure my life and success through means other than a numerical value placed on a dollar. If I can put a smile on someone's face every day, that would make me happier than chasing after validation through money.

Those are my newest realizations. I hope that I have not disappointed anyone, but I have faith that my new outlook is one that will guide me to my goal of being a "Millionaire" in it's own way.

On that note, I have a new business!

I have been spending hours illustrating pop-art like portraits of animals, which I shall soon post on my art site for you to enjoy.

Anywho, gotta run and catch a bus.

Namaste,

Clarise