Do not be bound by emotions be they happiness, sadness, fear, anxiety, or anything. The truth is life is filled with good days and bad days, with happy thoughts and sad thoughts, with health and illness. It is how we view these things and how we deal with them that have made our life what it is today.
What is your criteria for happiness?
Have you made a list and begun to check it off like Santa Claus?
I’ll be happy when: I get a great job, when I graduate from college, when I get married/divorced, when I am over this financial difficulty, when I’m cured from this illness… The list could go on and on and then when you do feel happy do you catch yourself thinking…I wonder when this will end or I don’t really deserve happiness after what I did or said. Du Bonheur Fontenelle wrote: A great obstacle to happiness is to anticipate too great a happiness.
How often does that happen? I made a dish for supper and as I cooked it looked like the most delicious dish I had ever made—yet when I sat down to eat it the food did not live up to my expectations. One day my friend did not live up to my expectations, on another day my job did not live up to my expectations, and I probably could go on and on, thankfully, I won’t.
Happiness can be elusive, subtle, fragmented, and fantastic all in the same day! We have the capacity to even make happiness a challenge. Have you ever had someone say to you, “What are you so happy about?! Do you know what’s going on here?” When happiness eludes you do you try to grab on to it, chase after it, or fret over its disappearance?
Buddhism helps us learn how to live in the moment regardless of our thinking: happy, sad, or mad. The great teacher Shunryu Suzuki wrote:
The only way is to enjoy your life. Even though you are practicing zazen [meditation], counting your breath like a snail, you can enjoy your life, perhaps even more than taking a trip to the moon. That is why we practice zazen [meditation]. The most important thing is to be able to enjoy your life without being fooled by things (page 28).[1]
When was the last time you got fooled by things or thoughts? Not that long ago I‘ll wager! Just remember “We are never so happy nor so unhappy as we imagine (Maxims page 407).”[2] What are you imaging today?!
In gassho,
Shokai
[1] Suzuki, S. (2002) Not Always So Practicing the True Spirit of Zen. HarperOne: NY, NY.
[2] Tripp, R.H. Ed., (1987) The International Thesaurus of Quotations. Harper & Row Publishers: NY, NY