aisaywhat.com Says T.S. Eliot “The purpose of this poem is happiness.” ― T.S. Eliot Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. – Howard Thurman You might think your purpose is to seek happiness. But I tell you the truth, if you do not first seek satisfaction for yourself, no amount of external happiness will bring you lasting contentment. You have to learn that what you plant in the inner ground will be returned to you with interest, more than you can imagine. The more you seek happiness from external experiences, the more your spirit is cut to the core and cannot rise to the full stature of your being. We have all known people who have accomplished great achievements in their external lives and yet there has been little happiness in their lives. They only thought they were happy but they were actually full of fear and anxiety. Our inner being is always seeking to express itself and bring us into alignment with the universal movement. The inner being is the real us and when this is in balance, there is no separation between what we do in the external world and the energy that flows from the universe. When you do something from the highest desire, something that gives you a sense of joy, the universe comes to assist you and this connection then opens up doors to you to more and more of what will bring you joy. It is through this action that you will find real satisfaction and happiness. If you are doing something for which you feel no joy, you are not living from your center and you are probably going to find that life will pass you by while you are pursuing your own personal goals. In truth, the ego is not really our own; it is only a cover. It is a false face that we put on to enable us to get through life. We are looking to the world for the happiness and the joy, rather than basing it in our own being. We would all like to be the perfect human being. We would like to appear like a pillar of salt. We want to appear invulnerable, to live in a world where we don’t feel anything, where we don’t have to take responsibility for our actions. We want a life that is easy and flowing like water in a stream. But as we know, life is not like that. It’s a lot more complex than that. No one can experience life like that. When I see my life as a stream, I know that I can put a rock there, a rock that blocks the stream. This is the truth – our lives are like streams with rocks in them that block the flow and stop it up. Life is always flowing. And the more we accept the pain of life, the more the life will flow, just like water running down a hill. You know that the rock is going to cause trouble down below if you leave it. If the rock goes up the stream and you push it to the other side, it’s going to create problems up there. But if you decide that you are not going to allow the rock to stand, then you may have to do a lot of work to move it. You may have to take it away and throw it down into a different place in the stream and that process of taking the rock to the side of the stream is what life is really about. We all have to experience that journey into life. We all have to go through the darkness of darkness and get up in the morning to face a new day. That is why we have to be willing to let go of everything that was once valuable in our lives and begin again on a new path. Life is really about transformation, an uninterrupted journey into a new journey with fresh new experiences that are exciting and exhilarating. If we do not change, we do not grow and then there is no way of getting up the next step. Change means we are evolving, and growth is an integral part of that. It’s a journey of discovery and it’s the challenge of a lifetime. The reason life is so exciting is because it’s always changing, never static. And life is always an adventure. I am a product of my environment and I feel deeply privileged that I have had such diverse experiences. I’ve never felt ashamed to be associated with any of them. Don’t try and have no conflicts – you are going to create them if you do. Don’t suppress your feelings and if they arise, just look at them and know that they are not about you. As far as I’m concerned life is a learning experience. It’s an opportunity for me to see what there is to be learned from each experience. It is from the learning process that you get a sense of life. Each experience is a piece of the puzzle that makes us who we are. Sometimes we find ourselves in a relationship that we didn’t choose and there is no way to escape from it. So what is the way of learning from the experience? Well, you can’t run away and you can’t try and control the relationship – it will just go on and on, until you finally come to terms with it. When you reach a state of complete acceptance with where you are, and what you have in this situation, you become very peaceful within yourself. You accept what is and you are not so much interested in making any changes. You are accepting what is and even though you may want to break free of it, you can appreciate that this is your learning. We must give up some of our old ways of thinking and feeling to allow some of our new thoughts and feelings to emerge. When we do this, we are experiencing the beauty of living in the present moment. This is what Buddhism calls the ‘middle path’. It is a very clear and open process of allowing the space between everything. It is the ‘middle ground’ where the experience of life in the moment occurs. At the moment, you don’t have to struggle with the reality of life. When we accept ourselves and the situation we are in as it is, we accept it in a spirit of love. I am not saying that if you get into difficulties you shouldn’t get help, or that you shouldn’t find a way of resolving it or of helping yourself. But that there is a different way to get there. Most people tend to rush out and get help, to do something immediately. We should always do something if there is an emergency, but we should find a way that works for us and then maintain that way. After all, you have to live with yourself and your life for a long time, you can’t afford to live a way of life that you haven’t settled on. You find that when you are in balance you are able to see and appreciate the beauty of life. You will see the light of the sun, and the beauty of the flowers, the birds singing, the trees, the breeze that blows through your hair as you are lying by the river. You are in touch with your essence. And as you get more in touch with that, it becomes clearer, more peaceful, more connected with all of life, all at once. You have become ‘one’, and it feels like nothing is separate anymore. That is what happens when you touch your essence – you become complete. You have all the qualities, the essence of life. All the contradictions are no longer a problem. You just become whole, one with everything. It’s like being one with God. If you are unhappy with your life, and you ask yourself what it is you are looking for in your life, you can find that what you are really looking for is something that you never really had. We don’t get something that we don’t want or desire – we get what we desire. Whatever the external world throws at us, we can deal with it and overcome it. And we will enjoy life more. The journey of life, a journey of enlightenment. It’s all part of the process. This is the truth about how to be happy. Take the first step and go with the flow. Know that life is a river with many different streams. All the different things you can do in life bring you joy. There are so many different ways you can choose. Do the things that make you feel joyful, and find some sort of balance in your life. Don’t follow the stream of your life wherever it takes you, as your goal should be to feel joyful and satisfied. It is the joy that you bring to the world that makes you a contribution to life. You will learn what you need to learn through relationships with people. So don’t be afraid of relationships – they are something that you cannot avoid. Love and work are the two words that sum up life and each gives rise to the other. We are all a part of each other, we are one energy, one life force, that pervades everything. The way you relate to the world is what determines your future. It is in the relationships we have in our lifetime, both good and bad, that we learn about life, what life is about and what it is really all about. Life is about relationships. Life is like a mirror: when you look into it, you don’t see a face, you just see a reflection of yourself. And it is in this reflection of yourself that we come to know what we are all about.