Awaken Beyond

The Pursuit of Happiness

 

As a kid I remember a lot of confusion regarding my emotions.  At times when I felt happy I simultaneously noticed a sort of underlying guilt, like it wasn’t quite completely true.  Likewise, when I felt extremely sad, I noticed this same underlying feeling of it not being completely real or authentic (though I’m certain I didn’t use that word!) 

 

Looking for answers I went to my father. “Dad?” I asked. “Sometimes when I’m really happy I feel guilty about it.  It’s like it’s not completely true.  So then I make myself sad.  But then when I’m sad I feel the same way, like I’m not really only sad.  I’m confused. How am I ’supposed’ to feel?”

 

“Happy,” he said.  “Son, you’re supposed to be happy.  We are all supposed to be happy.”  Years later, during a bout of bi-polar condition, he committed suicide. 

 

We live in a world that is infatuated with happiness.       

 

In fact, stop about anyone on the street and ask them to quickly list as many drawbacks as they can to “happiness,” and I predict that their response will be nothing more than a hollow stare.   It is the fantasy that runs our lives.

 

Most will do almost anything in an attempt to obtain it.  We run around buying yet more cloths we’ll never wear, change jobs, change relationships, change medications, change addictive substances.  All in an attempt to isolate and solidify an elusive happiness, disconnected from its balancing opposite emotion of sadness.    

 

We look and look to everything outside of us until we come across some self -help article that says, “Hey, look within!”  So we do.  If we are awake, aware and honest, we would see that happiness and sadness are magnificently balanced within us as well.  Could there be a bigger picture and perfection that we are overlooking and therefore not embracing?  Could this broader embrace contain within it a higher truth and deeper experience that’s waiting to be discovered?  Ever heard its call?  Might this deeper experience be calling you now?

 

I state this strongly and with absolute certainty:  Our infatuation with attaining perceived “happiness” is the very source of our perceived “sadness.”  Our striving for elation is the source of our depression.  Our addiction to pleasure is the very source of our pain. 

 

We’ll explore this in much more detail in further posts.  We’ll also give you strategies to not only break the cycle, but enter into a new understanding and experience of life that you will ultimately find to be much more profound, rewarding, and fulfilling.

 

Of course there are many definitions of “happiness.”  As many as there are definitions of “success” I would imagine.  Regardless, as long as we are preoccupied with the quest for such a state, we will never allow ourselves the possibility of awakening beyond it and into the much deeper truth of who and what we always already are.  In future articles, we will spend much time exploring what that is.  We will also share the exact steps you can take to personally discover and enter into this vastly more expanded and rewarding experience of life.

 

For now I pose the following question:

 

Why stop at happiness when we can open beyond it and into the deep truth of who and what we truly are?  In other words, in regards to the state of happiness, why stop there? 

 

There is something way beyond happiness that I would love to be your life’s experience, and I am deeply committed to sharing it with all those, and only those, who are ready.

 

Throughout this blog I will introduce you to something else.  We’ll have many posts on this “something.”  If you choose to embark upon this journey with me, my promise to you is that this will expand your mind and allow you access to a much more awakened, authentic, and deeply fulfilled you.  Upon this realization, any remaining infatuation, or preoccupation with happiness will then be laid to rest.  So, let’s go on a journey together, shall we?

 

“The pursuit of happiness?”  What if there is something deeper?

Got Any Change?

 

I’m going to begin this article by pointing out the obvious:  We are in a period of dramatic change.  Much is different now, and for many, a lot didn’t quite turn out the way it was originally planned.  As we enter a new decade much has come to an “end” and much is undergoing a “new beginning.”  There will be more monumental events, challenges and adjustments in this new decade.  Changes will continue to be made, and they will impact us in numerous ways.  In not knowing what to expect, these times of change can naturally feel destabilizing.

 

While it may be a challenging time, particularly economically, it is also wise not to lose sight of the many balancing beneficial aspects of all that is occurring right now.  For how can we capitalize on that which we are unaware?  In order to do so, we have to operate from a broader, more balanced perspective, and move beyond thinking only bad thoughts.

 

We have entered a new era of adapting, adjusting, reconsidering and reinventing.  It’s through these very times of challenge and change that many are given a fresh start, an opportunity for renewal both personally and professionally. 

 

Many are receiving new insights and lessons in life, lessons that if applied, will prove to be invaluable and take them much further than they could have ever gone without them.  What would have been the price of never receiving them?

 

While many are being reminded of common-sense life-strategies such as wisely saving a good portion of their income, others are being schooled in some of life’s deeper lessons, such as the principle of impermanence and the difference between attachment and transformation (posts on these to come).

 

For me this new era has awakened more gratitude for being taught the importance of saving money at an early age, along with a bit of a wakeup to how much I spent on things that I didn’t really need, or but for a fleeting moment, want.  I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my life direction and have a newfound clarity and priority in my action steps.  I have moved forward on projects that I found myself waiting for the “perfect time” to do.  I am eating less and moving more as I find it helps me in clarifying my thoughts in moving forward with my new aspirations in life.  The effects are numerous.

 

How is the change in today’s economy serving and teaching you?