An Inside Job

Have you ever got something you really wanted?

For me, I think about getting into medical school, having the girl I was absolutely besotted over say yes to going out with me, getting married to the woman I loved, having children, seeing them grow, achieving levels of success in life and work.

What was it for you?

I bet you were absolutely jumping over the moon with joy, feeling showered with rose petals, living in the land of plenty.

Do you remember what happened soon after?

You were back to ‘normal’ life.  Whatever that feels like for you.

In the same vein, but in the opposite direction, have you ever been mad about something? Somebody did something or didn’t do something and you felt so mad you felt like you could burst into flames?

Or  has something been ripped away from you and you found yourself plummeting into the depths of grief.  Feeling like the dark, cold, lonely abyss was swallowing you up …forever?

At some point the emotional storm passed over and you were returned to calm waters, love reawakened in your heart and you could receive the arms that were being held out to you.

Life seems to be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster doesn’t it?

Getting Off The Emotional Rollercoaster

But as we’ve all experienced we can get off it.  The idea is to be more conscious of that process.  What if there is a way off this rollercoaster ride?  Would you choose it?  Or would the thrill of the roller coaster ride pull you back in?

No discussion of Happiness would be complete if it didn’t consider the Source of Happiness.   The way I see it is, if you are ‘lost’ in the world you will see happiness as coming or going, dependent on whether you are getting what you want in the world or not

But there is another way of being in the world, that we can all learn, where Happiness is experienced as a given, forever waiting for us to accept and share with the world.

It’s not hiding or being elusive.  We simply need to recognise it’s always there, ready and waiting, beyond what is going on in our minds.

You won’t see this if you believe happiness depends on getting what you want.

This is the kind of happiness that depends on nothing in the world.

Beyond Body, Beyond Mind

So, that’s where no discussion of happiness can be complete without going beyond the world, beyond the body and beyond the mind.

And that’s where we come face to face with our concepts and beliefs about whatever we want to call God.

The fact that we either run from or run to the word, God, shows how traumatic it can be for us.

But if there is a happiness that exists beyond form, beyond getting what we want in the world, then that’s where we need to go.

Some people call it the ‘substantive qualities of being’.  Meaning our beings, who we are, are in possession of qualities that have substance, are real.  And because life is everlasting these too, are forever and always.

That’s why in the middle of rage, if we remember who we are, we are suddenly out of rage and the birds are singing again.

I imagine, we’ve all experienced this in some form and at some point in our lives.  But the crucial point is, did we appreciate it for what it is?

Our choice is simply to recognise the reality of the process and therefore the reality of the being that we tap into in those moments and learn to live there, so we can extend the light and in doing so, reconfirm to ourselves what is real and what is not.

You can take a deep dive into my thoughts on this in Light, Love, Laws & Lies:  https://www.daragrennie.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Book-Light-Love-Laws-Lies-Nov-2021-Edition.pdf