Are You Really Happy?

Have you ever questioned if you're truly happy?  Do you know what being or feeling happy would even look like?  Do you pretend to be happy around others while you're feeling just the opposite on the inside?  Do you know what you need to be truly happy?  

I read lots of self-help books and am always searching for the tools to uncover my inner self -- to get to what every books calls "the authentic self."  I feel that's when real happiness will reveal itself.  With so much chatter in my head, I wonder if I will even hear or recognize my authentic self?  Is a lot of what you think based on external forces -- your environment, family, friends, career? Do you base your success or failure on societal pressures?  As Vernon Howard (The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power) points out.. "We live in two worlds -- the material world of business and homes, and the spiritual world."  Keep each of these worlds in its place.  If you think your success in the material world will help you find your true self, you will be disappointed and fall into depression.  

These are things I've been thinking about (maybe thinking is part of the dilemma) and that I need to quiet my mind more.  I'm realizing it's not in the "searching" but in the internal witnessing.  Rather than "trying" to become more knowledgeable, which can be exhausting, let the simple pleasures of everyday life be your teacher.  As Vernon Howard also states, "Mere knowledge is not enough.  It must form a foundation for personal perception.  Knowledge without insight is like a horse in a library.  Look for more self-insight in the little things that happen to you every day.  Ask why you reacted as you did to that unexpected news.  Try to understand why you replied the way you did to a question.  Be aware of the disappointment you feel when a hoped for event fails to appear.  Waste nothing that happens to you.  Don't resist anything; just observe it."  I love that!  Kind of a "self-inquiry," a "getting to know" your true self.  

I was very saddened, as most of the world was, of the passing of Robin Williams.  He was an incredibly talented person who seemed to have it all -- fame, money, family, genius.. only to lose his life to the utmost act of despair.  Being the same age as Robin Williams, I thought about how the passage of time had not brought him some peace as it has for me.  I imagine the addictions played a big part in that.  When does that time come when you realize that external forces can no longer dictate your happiness?.. that judgements made against you no longer hold up?  When do you come to know that childhood insecurities, criticism, and all the negative forces that eat away at your soul are not who you are?.. when do you let go of the demons and see the beautiful spirit that you are?..  You can learn and grow from everything that blocks you from being happy and not carry them with you.  How freeing it must be to know you are okay just as you are.  Your true self has nothing to do with anything outside of you. You are always a bright light inside - you just have to open your eyes and awaken to see it.  

My Recipe For Happiness

• Follow your heart
• Don't be afraid of the truth
• Don't react to your feelings but be a witness to them
• You have the power of choice
• Let nothing stand in your way
• Wake up