'Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.'
Chuang-tzu (B.C. 350)
Can you be free of unhappiness? What does it take? Most people are striving to find happiness in their work, in their relationships and in acquiring more and more material possessions, but does that really work. Does acquisition of any kind bring the fulfillment of simply being happy, or was Chuang-tzu correct when he said that it is the absence of striving for happiness that brings happiness?
Maybe one can not truly be happy, perhaps one can only be free of 'unhappiness', what do you think, is that a possibility? What actually happens when we remove unhappiness from our psychological system? Have you ever stopped long enough to ask such a question?
In my experience, when I removed the conditioned unhappiness from my psyche/mind, what happened was that I reached a point of equilibrium, harmony and peace of mind, which is the same thing as 'stillness' of mind. In this balanced state of mind I transcended, which simply means that I 'moved beyond' the opposite polarities of happiness and unhappiness, and I started to experience the true 'Joy' of being alive. I no longer experienced mood swings. I was no longer happy one moment and unhappy the next, I was balanced and in harmony with the movement of life, and yet I felt this joyful and loving vibration running through my body and mind. And this is how I live my life, free of conditioned unhappiness. Life is good, difficult sometimes, but essentially very good indeed.
The question you would need to be asking now is 'How do I go about removing this conditioned unhappiness from my psyche/mind?' If you aren't asking that question then you aren't ready to make the next move. If you are asking that question, or you have been for some time, then I'll say this. Begin with 'self-observation. Observe your thinking and emotions. See how often you are unhappy in a single day, and become aware of exactly what it is that is making you feel unhappiness at any one time. Stop blaming other people or external conditions/circumstances in your life for YOUR unhappiness. Take responsibility for it by facing it, YOUR UNHAPPINESS, head on. Keep watching it with your 'Attention', and don't stop observing 'it' regardless of how difficult the process seems to be. Only the valiant will come through the other side of their conditioned unhappiness and discover the enlightening state of freedom from unhappiness. This freedom is the liberation and salvation everyone is looking for . . . it is your reality unfolding as the perfection of being in 'The Eternal Now Moment.'
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2 comments:
Hi Doug, great post,
I agree with you, we don´t even need to try to remove unhapiness because the more you try the worst it gets, hahaha, funny that, just by being aware of it by looking at it fully and allowing it to be unhapiness transforms itself into hapiness, so simple and so difficult at the same time...
Thanks for your kind words Nuria, yes you're right, looking at unhappiness in a state of 'attention' does in fact dissolve it! The power of awareness/attention is the key . . and yes, what is 'simple' to describe is not always 'easy' to undertake, for sure, but there is no other way, right?
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