People ask you, “Why are you so happy?” and you are surprised to hear this question. You did not plan to be happy; it was not a planned project. Happiness is something you feel without a reason. It makes you smile, and people realize it because of your soothing words. It is your natural state of being.
If happiness is not your natural state of being, it is a trade, a pursuit, or even a slavery to a cause and effect relationship with outer objects and other people. If you need your own house, a spouse, a car, a lover, children, money, status, a new dress, a glorious dinner out, or beautiful words (even if they are lies) to be happy, don’t long for these. There is the danger of not achieving the results you desire, the risk of losing, and the possibility of not finding what you are looking for. If you are a slave to outer happiness, you will have no positive results.
If your happiness is bound to material objects, you will feel desperate when they disappear one day, and you will then always long for the past. When everything is temporary and constantly changing, being dependant on things means you cannot stand their absence. If you are soppy, you cry for past events. On the other hand, you feel content when your tears and misery attract the attention of others. If you are the ambitious type, you may feel like a ferocious lion and demand more happiness from outside. However, when things change and your happiness dissipates, you feel as cowardly as a mouse.
This is how life goes on—everything changes. The only way to be happy is to synchronize with change, blow with the wind, burn with the fire, and go with the flow. Because change is endless, you need to be prepared for it. You need to be ready for the unexpected. You should be patient and unprejudiced. Knowing that all mental journeys will bring judgment and separation, you should choose the path that allows you to see the secret behind the unknown, adapt to the changing conditions, be patient and strong, and accept existence and surrender to all that it is. This is the path to happiness!
When your mind is active, you begin classifying life into the “past” and “future,” and you label things that add to your fears and judgments. However, time is an illusion, and there is only “now.” If the door to the past is left open while you imagine a future through a newly opened window, you risk the moment. It gets caught in the draft between the door and the window. Happiness is in the here and now—it should be your natural state.
Happiness is not a possession to be bought. It is not a desire to be sought. It is not a peak to climb. That peak is already your natural place, but you should just check how you get there. Do you step on anything to get there? Do you use your wings to fly up there? If you step on furs, jewels, property, money, lovers, or other possessions, you are a consumer who only seeks happiness in the world outside. You have to wait for someone or something to bring happiness to you.
Happiness is not equal to the title on your business card or your marital status. It is more than assumptions. It is within your heart, which is physically as small as your hand but as huge as the cosmos in terms of spirituality. It is not found in answers but rather when you stop asking questions.
As Carl Jung said, “The one who looks outside sleeps; the one who looks inside awakens.” There are also many Sufi stories about knocking on the door from the inside. So, wake up from your dream and start experiencing new lucid dreams where the only reality is how happy you are. Do not dream of the things you assume will make you happy. Dream only about happiness itself, a transcended state of being. You are the one with the power to change conditions—just reflect your light and be happy.
You will then accept all that is and not try to change others through your assumptions. You will accept everyone as they are, because you will know the reason for their existence is only you. If you think some things should change, you should just start with yourself. Do not look for happiness—just be that happiness. Do not look for love—just be the love. Stop looking for things on the outside—turn inside and create a new structure there. Build your new reality on happiness, so you never need to buy it. Happiness will then be the straight path that is shared by everyone as a natural right rather than through a mechanism of supply and demand.
Well, your heart may be broken many times, but this only serves to pry it open so the pearl inside will be revealed. Just accept that everything is for your own good. When life tests you by giving and taking, just find the only thing that no one can take away from you, the only thing you have from eternity.
Are you happy now?
