True Happiness

What is true happiness? For the convenience of my meditation, I will define it as a sense of contentment that comes from within. Remember a moment when you felt that you were at peace with the world? When everything suddenly makes sense? When nothing in the world could bring you down? That's what I mean. Some describe this as the experience of feeling God's presence. Other's as an enlightening moment. Whichever the case, this is what I would call true happiness.

What is mundane happiness? Happiness that is obtained from external experiences, from materialistic pleasures. To put it simply, it is pleasure. Remember a moment when you felt exhilarated after getting extremely good results for your exams? A moment when you felt good after being given a present? A moment of satisfaction when you see someone else doing worse off than you? Yes, that is what I will define as mundane happiness or pleasure.

When comparing the two, realize that mundane happiness can be both good and bad. You are mundanely happy because you are comparing yourself with others. Got a marvelous present? Of course you are happy - noone else got it! Got excellent results? Fantastic - because not many people did better than you! So with this kind of happiness, you may be better off, but always at the expense of another. With true happiness however, there is no comparison. You are just content, at peace. There is no need to see others in relation to you. Hence, we can see that true happiness is better than mundane happiness in the sense that you can be happy without making someone worse off.

Furthermore, mundane happiness is only temporary. How long did your happiness last after obtaining those amazing grades? A day? A week? Okay, let's be generous and give it a year? Still, this kind of happiness does not last in the long run. Sooner or later, you will feel disastisfied again and look for more external objects to derive your happiness from. It's a never ending vicious circle of you pursuing happiness from material entities. What about true happiness? Well, it has the POTENTIAL to be permanent with the right mindset and training. Why? Because ultimately, you are gaining happiness from something that is within and is not dependent upon outside situations or goods. This something within you is constant, and does not change, unlike the external world, which you have no control of. Hence, true happiness is better than mundane happiness in the sense that it has the pontential to last far longer and does not require you to constantly pursue external objects.

So how can true happiness be achieved and what sort of mindset can we adopt to make it last? This is a difficult question which I have yet to attain a complete answer to. One method that I do know is to think more about your actions. Sit in a quiet spot so that you are not distracted. If you need to, try some breathing exercises to calm your mind down. Empty your mind of any prpblems or worries that you have. Once your mind is calm and you can think objectively without any distractions, think through about the things you have done and ask yourself why you have done them. See whether what you have done is truly right or wrong - or perhaps neither. This will give you a better perspective of things, and perhaps lead you to a moment of true happiness.

Now how can we prolong this moment? The next step then is to repeat what I've just shown you in real life, with all the distractions. This is the most difficult step - keeping a calm mind while going through your daily life. It's very hard, but it can be done - as countless other people have also done. THis requires much time and effort, you'll have to progress slowly and steadily. Start by doing it withouth distractions first for 5 minutes a day, and then slowly increasing the lenght of time. Then once you can do it for a comfortably long lenght of time, try it out in the real world. It take's much time and effort, but as we discussed earlier, definitely worth it. Give it a try, and let me know whether it works for you! I would love to hear the results.

A question I would like to address. So does attaining true happiness mean that we no longer have to care about the world? NO! Contentment does not mean complacency. It does not mean you do not have to do your best. What it does mean is that once you've done your best, be happy. No need to complain or grumble or compare something that has already been done because you know you've given it your best shot.

Contentment also does not mean not planning ahead. You should plan ahead yes, but be flexible. Be content with whatever outcome that happens. Neither does contentment mean you do not have to care for others.

The funny thing is, contentment or true happiness actually makes you more effective. It makes you perform better because it relieves you of undue pressure and stress. It actually makes you care more for others because you put selfishness (which comes from mundane happiness) aside. As a whole, being truly happy is not only good for yourself, but for others as well.

Don't believe me? Give it a try. And let me know what happens - I really wanna hear about it!

Ganbatte!