About happiness

I often find myself reminding people of the universal motivation - the desire to be happy. People do what they do because of the belief that their actions will make them happy. Unfortunately, due to ignorance, many actions do not lead to happiness at all and are tragically unskillful. The core of inner work, then, is to identify exactly what ways of working with the mind and what outward behaviors actually support authentic happiness and true well-being. Paul Wilson speaks to this in a passage from Instant Calm:

Have you ever secretly envied those people whose lives seem to be an ongoing game or adventure, who are always striving to have a good time, who continually seem to live for the present? Have you ever worried that the conservative ideals of your upbringing - planning for the future, saving, working for retirement - severely limit your capacity to enjoy and get the most out of life?

Most happy, contented people recognize that the ideal is a midway course between the two extremes. Most worriers do not.

The people who are most calm and relaxed about their lives are not those who have unblemished or uncomplicated pasts, nor are they those who have sorted out everything to do with their futures. They are those who have learned to live in the present. (Note, "in" in the present, not "for" the present.)

All right. It's not going to surprise you for me to say that meditation is the way to learn this. Because it's true. In meditation we gently bring the mind back to the present moment whenever our mind wanders by returning to the object of our meditation - that is, the meditation support. This training allows the mind to settle and to rest. It also enables us to be truly in the moment because we are willing to give relaxed attention to the support instead of indulging the desire to get caught up and involved with distractions. This is not to say that we are never distracted. But we do not indulge the distractions. Training the mind in this way makes it possible to be truly in the present moment. And it is only in the present moment that we can be happy.