Imagine for a moment that every one of your problems was magically removed.
No lack of money. No health issues.
No drama with your family.
No sense of loneliness.
No problems with your job, boss, or colleagues.
No feelings of depression.
All removed. Just like that.
Do you think your life would be much better?
Perhaps momentarily, but not for very long.
If we didn’t change the underlying cause of our unhappiness, we would quickly experience another set of problems – very similar to the original ones.
Which is why we keep experiencing the same “life issues” over and over.
Even if we win the lottery, we can’t win happiness.
Because happiness isn’t the consequence of an absence of problems – rather, happiness is a choice in our minds.
When we look to externals – meaning everything the world – as the determinants of our sense of well-being (or lack thereof), we will always be let down. We’ll keep looking for things in the world, and other people, to “make” us happy.
But we’re looking in the wrong place. No one, no thing, no situation, no outcome can ever make us happy. Happiness is simply a choice in the mind.
So why aren’t we truly happy?
Because we don’t believe that it’s simply a choice. We are so conditioned to believe happiness is out there that we spend all our time searching yet never really finding it.
But when we release the world its responsibility for our happiness and sadness, a new world of inexplicable joy opens. Conditioned on nothing but our choice. No amount of luck required.
Join me in Monday’s class where we’ll explore the nature of happiness and how we can practice making that choice. I look forward to seeing you then.