I believe that one of the reasons so many of us seem to be so unhappy these days is that we don’t know what happiness really is. Is it the presence of something, the absence of something, or both? Is it a fleeting thing, a sustainable state, or a combination of the two? How do we know when we are really happy? What are the signs that we are not? As someone who has been through multiple traumas, most resulting from the violence or narcissism of other humans; someone who is always brimming with a smile, leveeing laughter with a grimace and rippling abs; someone who earned the description “Dr. Happy Talk,” maintaining a rose colored cattitude no matter what; and someone licensed as a shrink, and trained as an alternative healer; I feel uniquely qualified to make my mark on this one. I believe that true happiness is an internal state that may or may not manifest in our external, material world experiences. In other words, my view is that we can be happy on the inside no matter what is happening on the outside.
Perspective Vs. Pleasure
It seems like a lot of people think happiness is feeling pleasure when getting their needs satisfied in some way. Although this feels good, I don’t think this is happiness. It is just pleasure. We can definitely feel pleasure without being happy. When we indulge in brain-blowing sex, a decadent dessert, or refreshing cocktail on the beach; we can feel pleasure under the most unhappy of circumstances. For me, true happiness requires a spiritual connection, within which our awareness vibrates at the frequency of truth. It is perspective, not pleasure. When this state is reached, truth creates the spiritual awarenesses of love, joy, and peace; making them true love, true joy, and true peace; which I believe combine to form real happiness. So, as in the seven colors of conscious creation happiness is love, joy, and peace vibrating at the frequency of truth. This state can be experienced regardless of our external circumstances. It is ideal when our outer world aligns with our inner true nature, but our inner happiness can exist regardless of our material world conditions.
General Mile Markerss
Our conscious condition determines our access to the ranges of what we believe to be happiness. Its blissful reaches are limited by things like what we in the West describe as mental illness, the egoic mind, and levels of spiritual development. For those suffering from stress, anxiety or depression or other mental maladies; hope and the absence of emotional pain may represent what they believe to be happiness. Some have never known anything more than this. When we have transcended mental illness, but are ruled by our egoic mind, then what we believe to be happiness may derive from feeling right, winning an argument or competition, receiving attention from others, being recognized for achievements, having control or authority over others, having a fit or sexy body, making a lot of money, being socially popular, being liked or approved of by others, etc. The pleasure experienced from such attainments may be temporary or enduring, but it is based on our egoic interpretation of things external to us; and is therefore controlled by these external things. So in this mind-based place we might feel love, joy, and peace; along with pleasure and gratification; but they would be based on our egoic interpretation of external occurrences and would therefore be unstable and situational. They would also lack the higher vibrational elements of conscious infinite light, which would render them impervious to material world influences. When reaching the mile marker of universal consciousness, we experience love, joy, and peace vibrating at the frequency of truth. We also, through this connection, create our existence by consciously choosing quantum wave functions from the infinite pool of coexisting possibilities before they randomly reduce into one such possibility. At this level, happiness is the pure bliss of true love, true joy, and true peace; is sustainable; is beyond the influence of the material world, our egoic thoughts, and our physical senses; and is based on the vastness of the universe. No matter what level we are at we can feel good, and strive to feel better, until arriving at the highest form of happiness.
Whisper Me A Rainbow
So let’s check out what others have to say on the subject. For a practical method for attaining higher happiness, consider the 10 Commandments of True Happiness, as presented by the Chopra Institute. This route could help us reach our destination more directly than some. Here are Seven Timeless Tips from the past 2500 years to help us find the way. And here is another map to true happiness. Prefer the scenic route, then please consider this five step approach. This reductionist view suggest that happiness comes from having less. This post discusses seven ways to find inner, and true happiness. Here comes one that offers 11 ways to find true happiness and makes the important point that happiness does not just come to us, it is something that we must pursue. And finally, here are 10 truths you will learn before finding happiness.
Photo credit: Lady May Pamintuan
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