Acre of Diamonds

Hi, 

Storytime! I first heard this story from my grandmother and it pops into my head every so often and it sends my brain for a spin every time. 

Acre of Diamonds: 

Ali Hafed was a farmer, he heard news of diamonds in a far away land, left his family and everything behind in search for diamonds, the person who purchased his land found acres of diamonds. 

That is the gist, it’s not an original. 

It will probably remind you of The Alchemist or any rom com where the protagonist realizes the love of their life is their bestie. 

We have heard this story told through the lens of many different things, but for whatever reason we all miss the point. 

There is an idea called the happiness paradox: pursuing happiness as a goal can make the pursuer less happy. 

Why is that? The thing you want is not what you want, what you want is not to feel the way you feel right now (or when you are unhappy). 

Happiness is not a destination, unhappiness lives in the gap between where you are and where you think you ought to be. 

I have noticed in my own life that my moments of my greatest dissatisfaction is when the result differs most from my expectations. Which makes the problem not the result, but rather my expectations. 

Have you ever heard the quote, “Comparison is the thief of joy?” 

Expectations are by definition a comparative function. 

What do I think will happen? What actually happened? Comparison abounds. 

There are a lot of ways to interpret the story of the acre of diamonds, or The Alchemist, or those rom coms. 

The interpretation I am choosing to run with this week is that the expectation of riches stole the reality of true wealth. 

Bye, 

Kyle