Reason is a tool. Like any other tool, learning to use it is one thing. Deciding what to do with it is something else altogether. If you happen to own a table saw, you could use it toward making a birdhouse, or a dresser, or a bookcase (thanks, Dad!), or anything else that strikes your fancy. When did we decide that financial success is the only appropriate goal for reason?

As a talented left-brain thinker myself, I have to take issue with this all-too-common definition of reason. If you decide that what you want more than anything in the world is to swim across the English Channel, no one else can decide whether or not this goal is reasonable. If you apply all of your intellect to the task - planning your needs, stocking your safety boat, executing your training program, etc. - then you are being entirely reasonable. You are applying your reason toward your chosen goal.

I'll even take it one step farther. Any goal that you believe will bring you deep and abiding joy is a reasonable goal. It may be unusual, improbable, incredible, or even previously unimagined, but it is not unreasonable. Reason is a tool. I can't stress that enough. And what better purpose is there for any tool than to be used in the service of joy?

So the next time anyone tries to tell you that your happiness isn't "smart" or "reasonable," just remember that they're a little mixed up about the meaning of "reason." Your happiness may not be their happiness. But it is perfectly reasonable.

Use your reason (as well as your intuition, your experience, your curiosity... we have more than one tool in life!) to determine what will truly bring you joy. As you create your dreams, use every tool at your disposal, including reason, to pursue those dreams with everything you have.