THAT ENDLESS SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS

IS THE HAPPINESS YOU SEEK UNREALISTIC OR ARE YOU SEEKING IN THE WRONG PLACE?

Have you ever said or thought to yourself...

.... “When this happens, I will be happy” or “When I get that, I will be so happy”?

If so, look a little deeper and ask your yourself these questions….

• What are these thoughts really about?

• Does it really have anything to do with anything ‘out there’?

• How long will that new house keep me happy?

• How long does happiness last when I go on holiday?

Now, consider these questions…

• Where is the only place that you will ever be happy?

• Are you really controlled that much by outside things to give you happiness?

• What is happiness?

• Have you ever considered that YOU might already be that happiness which you search for?

• Could it be that the ‘searching’ for happiness is that which is actually taking you further away from it?

If you look deeper and logically, it becomes clear that the only place you can ever find happiness is within. After all, the sensation of happiness is only ever experienced inside of you.

If you keep chasing happiness ‘out there’, you will chase forever, only to get fleeting moments of pleasure.

The word happiness is derived from the Gaelic word ‘hap’. Hap means, chance or luck of the draw. So, to think that happiness is something permanent that can be attained, does not make any sense at all. It is a chance happening that is fleeting. In the search for fleeting moments which can be no other than a search for moments of temporary pleasure, we convince ourselves that our quest to attain something or someone will bring us lasting happiness. In the process of searching, we totally overlook and fail to notice that happiness is something much deeper inside of us, it’s something that can spontaneously arise from within us into our experience regardless of outside circumstances.

You already are what you search for, accepting yourself just as you are, is a doorway to realise your true self. Aligned in harmony with life, the happiness within is noticed. When you acknowledge that you are already perfect just as you are, peace enters. The confusion only comes when you identify happiness with something outside of you.

I invite you to practise just sitting quietly and putting your attention on the sense of you, being gentle and loving towards you, accepting you at this moment right now, happy in the body just as you are. There will always be outside situations and distractions, some enjoyable and some not so and possibly even quite challenging. Outside will always change, it is the very nature of life playing out, it is forever changing as nothing outside is permanent. When the daily challenges of life arise, remain rooted in who you truly are, happy being you. You may feel a little blown off course from time to time and be knocked back by what life presents you, but that deep sense and quality of your being, the inherent happiness that you already are is something that is always there, unchanged or affected by outside circumstances. With practice you will start to notice an underlining peace that permeates through every situation. The more you practise just learning to not escape or grasp at outside things and situations, but to just love you, then you will notice a transformation happens to the meaning of the idea of happiness that can never be lost, and that meaning is YOU.

Is it so difficult to be kind to you?

It starts by being gentle and feeling compassion, being compassionate to you. This is what is truly meant by turning lead into gold.