by Robert Wilkinson
There are many ways to find happiness, and many ways not to find it.
Today I’ll just introduce a few ideas about the pursuit of happiness. This won’t be exhaustive, but hopefully it will open your imagination to how to find happiness, and BE that happiness as you live your lives.
We are told that all humans seek happiness. I believe that’s true. The trick is in figuring out two things. One is recognizing what will truly make us happy here and now. The other is in learning to cultivate an attitude that welcomes the experience of being happy, and recognizing when it’s time to BE happy.
Since all humans seek happiness, one of the main issues is where will we find happiness, and why do we believe that we will find happiness in that way? Of course, regardless of where we find a form of happiness for any length of time, ultimately because life moves on and we move on, the forms of happiness also move on.
What makes us truly happy changes with time and maturity. That’s why we must have a certain level of detachment from the forms that have made us happy in the past, so that from time to time we can see if they still bring us happiness. While some things will make us happy for our whole lives, other things must be released so new things can come in that expands our sense of what will make us happy.
Cultivating an attitude that welcomes happiness means releasing tendencies to be pessimistic. The mind can be very rigid in its beliefs and attitudes, and is usually more focused on “knowing” what is “right and wrong,” or “good and bad.”
This is where we must ask ourselves the classic question from time to time: “Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?” While occasionally we can be both at the same time, more often our need to be “right” gets in the way of our being “happy.”
Even when we’ve cultivated an attitude that welcomes being happy, we have to learn to recognize when we have the opportunity to BE happy. I have known many, myself included, who yearned for happiness but didn’t take the opportunity to experience that because our minds were busy elsewhere. This is where we have to learn to be in the moment, and if there’s an opportunity to feel something fulfilling, meaningful, joyous, or just simply be happy, embrace that experience in the here and now.
Of course, happiness is a state of mind that must be cultivated. Any happiness attached to an object of perception will be transitory, since all forms pass away. That’s why we can find great happiness in things, but ultimately those things leave, to be replaced with other things.
The trick is to know when and how to let go, and at the right time choose those things that will bring us renewed happiness. And great happiness is often found in giving away something of value to another who will value that thing, since it creates space at just the right time. Of course, we can’t take “it” with us past a certain point anyway.
A lot of life’s happiness comes as we let go of inhibitions, including any that make us feel separate from ourselves or others, or the process of life as it unfolds each minute. A feeling of inner freedom is the nature of our Eternal Soul-Spirit. The more we remember that we are the joy of being Loving, Wise, Intelligent Consciousness, the more we’ll experience happiness, since our minds will be attuning to a greater Love. The mind perceiving a greater Love can lead it to happy thoughts.
In our quest to be happy, from time to time we have to examine our bondage to any “craving for happiness” that we feel, since that prohibits any true happiness from taking root. We’ve all known people that try too hard to find happiness, and so usually miss it when it’s happening. Again, this is where the ability to detach from listening to the scratchy mental grooves we’ve recorded in our minds is paramount.
Because we’re all One Life together, anyone who cultivates an expanded feeling-awareness is bound to feel more of All-That-Is. We do feel what others are feeling, we feel what others have felt in the physical space we occupy, and we also feel what others have felt that are not in our physical space. That shared feeling experience is often difficult due to the general level of suffering that the entire world feels these days.
We are also told that the antidote to one of the sources of suffering, “the mind suffering over its own suffering,” is our ability to generate positivity or Bodhichitta in the here and now. Cultivating an attitude of happiness, positivity, good will and the “will to good” is an invincible tool we all have that helps us create a happy life.
As the old proverb goes, “We cannot prevent the birds of worry from flying overhead, but we can prevent them from making a nest in our hair.” Being happy is always right here, right now. There is no other time to be happy. So the next time your mind wants to take you into an unhappy space, you have the power to decide to focus it elsewhere to that which is more fulfilling, more joyous, more empowering to the happiness that is your Divine Birthright.
© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson
Robert, thank you for always being a positive force in your readers lives. There is so much in the collective now as you say that makes this so very challenging. It is so meaningful for you to tend to us so faithfully. We get lost and you try to scoop us off the floor, raise us up and remind us of our worthiness of our birthright. Bless you for the positive energy you seem to provide at the exact moment it is needed. The wotld is bright where you shine your light. Thanks for the encouragement to let our light shine.
Posted by: ellen | November 26, 2014 at 03:29 PM
Hello Robert and a Very Happy Thanksgiving!
I am writing tonight as it's Thanksgiving Eve to tell you that I am grateful for you online. No really. It may sound a little crazy, but when your life is very bad, you search for hope. That Robert, is what you have given me, HOPE.
Is it in you reading the stars, or you adding a bit of yourself in doing so. I think it's both coming from a wise man, and I thank you.
As the times go by through the year, gratitude is something we all should practice. But as you know, it seems the holiday's is more often the times we do this. Yes, I have been guilty as everyone else, lol.
But in recent years, with job loss, divorce, living in my car, and the break up of a family unit, I have found I am grateful for the very simplest things in life. Not that I ever took things for granted, but some simple things such as hot water, food, a bathroom, etc, you don't think of under "normal circumstannces".
So for the "hope" you given me, and I am sure for many more, whether astrology really influences our lives or not, I believe you adding your "two cents" has made a difference in your readings, and I thank you for that, for without your "two cents" I believe many of us would have not kept a hold of "hope".
So as the holiday season is here, and as grateful as I can be, thank you Robert. Just saying.
Posted by: Norm | November 26, 2014 at 03:55 PM
Thanks to both of you for the praise of the work. We're all in this together. If something that I've lived through can help others, then it's all good, right? And since Life is eternal, then we can always count on something better around the bend, even in our bleakest moments. I know that from direct experience more times than I can count. Just glad I made it this far this long! (Wasn't sure back in the early 70s....) Happiness is truly a state of mind. And a sense of humor at life's absurdities helps!
Posted by: Robert | November 26, 2014 at 06:08 PM
Robert,
Your articles are always so timely.
"we can always count on something better around the bend, even in our bleakest moments". Yeppers...a good one to remember...its getting me thru right now.
Posted by: Diane | November 26, 2014 at 08:20 PM
Super uplifting, thank you!
Posted by: Tasha | November 27, 2014 at 12:04 AM
Hello Robert",
Thanks for your article again included the expression:
“We cannot prevent the birds of worry from flying overhead, but we can prevent them from making a nest in our hair.” And in follow the expression: "Have you ever heard a bird sing semi-soft, why are you doing it?
Have a good day, Guido
Posted by: Guido FAP ten Berge | November 27, 2014 at 02:18 AM