You may find this strange coming from me, but I’ve come to the realization lately that happiness alone does not necessarily make that much of a difference in your life – I’d even venture to say that happiness is overrated!
I’ve been thinking over this question for a long time. How important is happiness really? It’s a big topic in the public sphere. So many people nowadays are really coming into this question of how to find happiness. At the same time, everyone knows that happiness comes and goes. It’s a never-ending cycle. So how to break the cycle?
What’s really important – what really has the potential to have the most transformative impact in your life – is knowing what’s important to you, committing to that and living that truth. Once you know what you want, you must be willing to take decisive action and follow through with it. The more you live according to your heart, the greater your potential for experiencing true happiness.
What is true happiness? Happiness that doesn’t come and go. It’s a state of being beyond happiness and sadness, a state of positive blissful contentment with life, no matter what happens. While I must admit I haven’t achieved full mastery of this state, I have learned to navigate through the greatest challenges by cultivating a practice of awareness and faith in a greater purpose, and staying connected to my higher self. This is my anchor.
“There is no path in the jungle – you have to make your own path!” -Yudhishtara
In order to navigate through life’s challenges successfully, you must be willing to connect to your source, to tap into that part of yourself that is indefatigably connected to the source of life. How? Do what you love, feel content in yourself, sit quietly alone and follow your breathing, or engage in some form of self-expression that allows you to give voice to your spirit.
Beyond that there are a million different paths you can follow to find yourself – to find your own true happiness. As one of the masters I sit with often says, “there is no path in the jungle – you have to make your own path!” Don’t follow anyone that doesn’t feel right and don’t follow any practice or belief system that doesn’t make sense for you in your life. If you have to do things that don’t sit right with you, they won’t have the desired effect. Life is beautiful, it should be enjoyed!
May all your dreams come true and may you live long and live well!
5 comments ↓
Nonesense! If you want true happiness – just get drunk and find yourself a man or woman – whatever your preference!
Let us know how that’s working out for you James…
Satya, this introspection is a wonderful gift!
Here’s my thoughts on this very important subject:
It is important to remember that words are not truth, at best they can help point to truth. The word happiness has a role and can be helpful, however the map is not the territory.
We each have our own individual emotional/psychological meaning for “happiness” based on our own unique conditionings. When each of us vibrate the word happiness inside, individual emotions and connotations appear.
What I feel that matters most is Acceptance. (Again, we have the word/meaning gap here) What I mean by Acceptance is simply “the absence of resistance”.
When we are feeling what we could call “a negative charge” we are resisting the truth of whatever is happening in the present moment or we are filtering sensory information in a way that creates inner resistance to what is.
When we are experiencing what most would call “happiness” or “joy” we could say that we are in a state of “non-resistance”. This that I am calling “non-resistance” I feel is primary to being happy, healthy, etc.
This “non-resistance” can range from feeling “neutral” (not resisting life circumstances and feeling ok) all the way to “joy” (complete acceptance, satisfaction and bliss with the present moment as it is).
Therefore we don’t have to have the insane pressure of trying to be “bliss-bunnies” all the time, we can simply work on letting go of resistance in each moment that it apppears.
It is my experience that we do indeed attract life experiences to us based on our mental/emotional states (people, places, situations, etc) – therefore if you are in a state of resistance much of the time, you will be attracting more experiences and creating more resistance.
If you are in a state that has what we could call a “positive charge”, (happiness, joy, O.K.ness, etc) then you will be attracting experiences that are a vibrational match and getting more of what you want.
Some of the keys that I have found to living “in a positive charge” are:
*drop blaming others (take responsibility for everything in your experience, in some way you have attracted it)
*don’t beat yourself up (you are where you are and at every moment you can improve)
*focus only on what you want (each time you focus on what you don’t want, you are attracting that to you)
*accept yourself 100% (you are “a work in progress” and that is ok)
*love yourself (if you don’t love yourself, how can anyone else?)
*find helpful ways to move from resistance into acceptance (music, sports, friends, dancing, listening to others who inspire you, etc)
*allow yourself to be on the journey from resistance to acceptance (it may take time to “upgrade” your vibrational operating system and that is ok, just part of the journey)
*find reasons to be grateful for all the big things and little things (gratitude attracts more of what you want)
In Joy,
Jason
P.S. A few of my favorite sources of inspiration: Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, Abraham Hicks
Jason,
your clarity and insight are a true gift to the world!
I agree entirely with you on this – i only wish i would have responded sooner and sent some more people to read this, but i was traveling at the time – i will make up for it, by posting it to the soon to be renamed secrets to happiness facebook group…
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13773677182
as you connote here – it’s less about secrets and more about deciding what ou want for your life and being in touch with a certain space within you – what should we rename the group???
With love and respect
[...] Here’s to living the dream, fully awakened to our highest potential and walking the awakened path of the luminous warrior on earth! And always remember, “there is no path in the jungle, you have to make your own!” [...]
What is life without happiness? Surely nobody wants to live in a misery. We can and should create happiness by thinking positive, distinguish happiness in little things that are often overlooked in our day by day life. By sending out positive energy you will be able to attract more positive things and create happy, wealthy living.
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