Process of Happiness

It’s not what you think

There are so many paths to happiness, and so many words for what that means. But ultimate happiness is not pleasure, that’s for sure. The more comfortable we are on the outside, the less reason we actually have to look inside. But happiness, or whatever words you’re using, cannot be found outside. Moments of comfort and satisfaction pass with the conditions on which they depend. To see this clearly and no longer live in the illusion that happiness can be bought or created is a process of maturation. We will fail to create a world that makes us more happy.

Once we’ve come to this conclusion, we begin to look inside with some seriousness. But we’ve learned to look for happiness outside, so we will first try to look for it in the same way inside. We will change ourselves to become more happy. More of this, less of that… We want to become a ‘better person’ and remove negative qualities. But what we call ‘self-development’ actually creates an even tighter suit for the soul.

We try to change our behaviour based on what we think is right. But our thoughts also come from the outside. They follow the patterns of our culture and past. So, essentially, we’re still looking for happiness outside by what people will think of us and how we appear in the world. We convinced ourselves that we’re now looking inside, but really, we are still looking outside.

When we come to this point of realization, we see that happiness is truly not something we can create. It’s actually a state of being. We are happiness, we only convince ourselves otherwise. When we stop looking for things and people to make us happy, we may discover our inherent happiness: that who we are in essence is pure and free. What a joy!

When we feel this, not only think it, then our behaviour will change quite naturally. We no longer need to prove or show anything. We can just be ourselves. We don’t need to argue with parts of ourselves we made up in our mind. We can just be at peace with who we are, because we know that we are whole. That’s when tension releases, and our violence stops.

We’re free from outside conditions. We are happy when we are comfortable, and we are happy when we are not comfortable. Everything is fine as it is.

This is the result of finding happiness on the inside. It’s neither a science nor an art, but it’s very simple. Everyone can do it. We don’t need to be skilled, but see ourselves for who we are. No pretense, no trying, but being grateful.

This is such a beautiful journey and, as I said in the beginning, it has many paths.

Enjoy whichever you’re walking on.

Be happy.