One thing I have learned over the years as an adult is that your responsibilities increase, your time becomes scarcer, your communication with friends and family lessens, and you become more and more isolated with just your immediate family for a large portion of the time. And as I've begun to observe, as some older friends and family members get older, the isolation becomes more evident. As some families separate, partners pass away, or simply life creates loneliness, communication drops. Then, as people grow older, it decreases even more, especially if younger generations don't make the time to maintain connections and fail to take care of their older friends and family. Life might be over before its time.

I was speaking to an older friend at work today, and we were discussing her partner and how he only speaks with his children once every three weeks. Consequently, he was concerned that if something happened to him, how would anyone know. I've never really thought about it too much, but as I get older and so do my parents, I think about it more and more. It's important to maintain constant contact, not just to communicate but also to ensure they are alright and to let them know you're always thinking about them.

I have spoken about this several times throughout my blog, but one key aspect in the search for happiness is maintaining communication and ensuring that as we all grow older and our parents grow older, we never lose sight of what's truly important. Although our responsibilities may take over all of our time and although communication seems like a luxury at times because our lives become so busy, maintaining contact, checking in, and ensuring our older friends and family are okay is a crucial part in the search for happiness.

We should never lose sight of how we got to where we are, what and who brought us here, because when the clock strikes 12 and a new day has dawned, we might not have another opportunity to do so. Happiness is significantly influenced by output and how much time we dedicate to maintaining, and connecting with those closest to us, especially those who have walked before us.

Thanks,

Dean