Some people imagine that attaining happiness is the aim of life, but the pursuit of happiness usually leads to unhappiness. It's because happiness is definitely a consequence of a different life purpose - the pursuit of evolving our souls in our means to like ourselves and others.
When reaching happiness is your purpose, you would possibly pursue this in three alternative ways:
1) You might pursue momentary pleasure, believing that your happiness is identical as pleasure. When this is your belief, you might pursue happiness by substances corresponding to alcohol, drugs, nicotine, or food. Or you may pursue happiness by way of activities reminiscent of intercourse, spending or gambling.
2) If you happen to imagine that your happiness is attached to cash and the result of issues relating to cash, you may pursue control over outcomes by means of spending most of your time working, in addition to accumulating and managing money.
3) If you happen to imagine that your happiness is connected to people, you would possibly pursue control over getting love, approval, consideration, admiration, or acknowledgement.
While momentary pleasure feels good, it is simply momentary. Which implies that you want to keep on doing whatever you believe will carry you happiness, over and over. This is what creates addictions - the pursuit of what you imagine will avoid pain and convey pleasure. The issue is that none of these pursuits carry deep and abiding happiness, as a result of their impacts are always momentary.
True happiness isn't the result of DOING, however of a way of BEING. Fairly than being a result of the momentary pleasures of the outside world, it's the results of your intention to evolve daily as a loving human being.
What does this imply?
Which means that ongoing happiness is the results of choosing the religious path of kindness, compassion, understanding, and acceptance.
Yet it's not enough to specific kindness and compassion toward others. Many have tried this and nonetheless end up feeling empty and indignant when the deep happiness they want continues to elude them.
The path toward happiness starts with opening to learning about what's most loving and compassionate towards YOURSELF. You can have all the issues that people believe will deliver happiness - cash, a superb relationship, a family, work you take pleasure in - yet if you're important and judgmental towards yourself instead of accepting and compassionate with yourself, you will not really feel happy.
Think about a toddler who seemingly has the whole lot - tons of toys, the best faculties, great vacations, a number of friends. But imagine that this child has dad and mom who ignore her or him, or who're very critical, judgmental and controlling of him or her. This child won't be happy, irrespective of what number of exterior issues he or she has.
Imagine that this baby is you - the emotions within you. How are you treating this youngster? How do you deal with your emotions? Do you ignore your feelings and canopy them over with substance or process addictions? Are you judgmental of yourself, continuously telling yourself that you're not good enough, that you are insufficient indirectly?
Ignoring your self or judging your self will at all times result in unhappiness, so matter how a lot you've got in the external world or how loving you might be to others. Until you decide to start out treating your self the way in which you need others to treat you, deep and abiding happiness will elude you. As long as you're treating yourself the best way your mother and father may have treated you or themselves, you'll continue to really feel the emptiness and loneliness that comes from self-abandonment.
If you want to experience true happiness, then start to pay attention to your individual feelings with a deep want to learn about what you are doing or not doing that's causing your ache and unhappiness. Happiness will be the pure consequence of your willingness to take full, 100% responsibility to your own feelings, and study and take motion relating to what actually brings you joy.
