An inside-out job
Remember how delicious it felt when you passed that test, fell in love, received that amazing news you had long longed for? Most of us are a bit mixed up about what was actually happening during these moments of advantageous external circumstances. It was easy to assume that an outer world event generated these blissful feelings within us. After all, it had all finally come together, we got what we wanted, and therefore we were happy, right?
What truly allowed for our happiness, however, was not being granted a wish, but rather, the absence of something very crucial: desire itself.
When we’re happy we no longer want. We are finally getting a break from the continuous mind rape humans subject themselves to.
Readiness
For a decade, I struggled with chronic, disabling pain, (self-)destructive behavior, and depression. I thought this arduous journey would never end and spent my life and dollars attempting to find a cure until…
Until I was ready for the cure to find me. I began opening up and allowing happiness in rather than chasing it. Happiness is not something that needs to be attained. Happiness is our natural state.
What has to be un-learned are thought patterns and programs that we all have taken on from society and our upbringing. Another aspect of this is the paradox of willingness: We ask for happiness – like any other human – but are we truly ready for it? Can we handle it? Have we gained the maturity to slow down and experience it when it’s here?
Are you already looking for the next hit? If you are walking down the sidewalk, can you allow your thoughts to move through you, not identifying with them? Can you be part of this glorious dance of motion that is this life, without attaching judgment to everything you see, hear and think? Can you?
A willingness to upgrade
Our formative years will do it for every one of us. Parents and social structures around us interfered with – or, in some cases eradicated – our ability to be in this world in a joyous way. The carefree and celebratory attitude that we had as young children was quelled by belief systems our well-intentioned parents instilled in us. Our neurosis, passed down through generations can now end its journey.
It can end with you. Your mind is a computer system, your beliefs your programs, your emotions the key to paradise. All of us have learned to cope with or manage our troubling emotions, even if that meant that we tuned out and suppressed them. Instead of resisting or trying to move through negative emotion, our emotions can be utilized as a simple indicator of what we are doing in this very moment. Have you ever felt horrible without simultaneously entertaining horrifying, scary, negative thoughts? Behind every emotion stands an array of thoughts and thought patterns. Guess what! These thoughts can be changed; these pathways can be reprogrammed just like you can train your physical muscles. Still coveting that boyfriend, job, or body weight that you were programmed to think will make you happy? Think again. If I can do it, so can you.
GET STARTED!
3 Tips to re-wire
1. Relax. Everything is unfolding perfectly. When experiencing stress, gently say to yourself: “It’s OK. I’m there for you now. We are letting this go.”
2. Allow. Give yourself permission to move through the process at your own pace. You wouldn’t hit your Mac while it is performing an update, just because you feel impatient, would you? Don’t interfere with this divine process.
3. Get out of your way. You are birthing a new You. Be hands–off.
Trust it.
