The simple truth of happiness

Today I was musing on some dilemmas we all face. It is tricky because there are no real answers to them, but still interesting to inquire into. Here goes:

Most people I know, including myself, are usually caught up in one of these two concepts:

Working hard will someday get me where I want to be.
Waiting and hoping will someday get me where I want to be.

Which one do you prefer?
You might say it is pretty obvious. But if you look at the entire humanity as a whole you could not tell which one is the most successful or which one is the most used. There is no proof that either of the concepts work better than the other.

First option
Anyway, you might still say that it is obviously choice number one.
This basically means, that someday after a lot of effort, things will turn out fine. But even if they did, does that mean you just drop everything when you have “arrived”? I know of nobody who is happy not doing anything. And does it mean the life before you “arrived” is not important? If it is important, why the need be somewhere else?

Second option
This is more used when people give up or lately, is a kind of reaction to all the ”achieve, achieve and achieve” that I think most people agree on just does not work anymore. But just hanging around and waiting is terribly depressing.

Both concepts tend to make you arrive in the same place.

None of these strategies are fine with “what is”. Both strategies basically assume that you are messed up from the start and something needs to change.

So why do we pursue these concepts?
Because we miss ourselves. We don’t know who we are. We are desperately searching outside ourselves, trying to define what we are. It is not a problem that we define ourselves with objects out there. The problem is we think we are separated objects.

The answer is too simple.
So what then?
Well, our ego, like it or not, is totally incapable of not doing any of the mentioned concepts.
Even if you try to relax into what is, you are still “trying”. Even if you give up, you are still “trying” something in order to change what is now. Ego does not understand the simplest truth there is:

that things are ok.

So you might just say, “Ok, things are ok. What’s the point then to do anything?”
You just started concept number two again. You are giving up, and you also assume there is no worth in what is.

Do you see the “prison” we are caught in? Your ego can not figure this one out. It absolutely cannot because there is nothing to figure out, or place to go!

So why do I say all this then?
Two reasons:

1. To relax a little.
Again, not talking about giving up, or doing nothing, because that is still doing something. I am talking about relaxing into whatever you are doing. Working is good, relaxing is good. But if the purpose is to get somewhere else then here, you are missing the point.

We confuse our basic needs.
Everybody needs to work, to make money, to take care of themselves. It is good to help people and to take care of our surroundings. These are basic things. But it is often confused with “the meaning of life”. We think that work, money, sex etc will get us “somewhere”. No, these things are here for us to “play” with and I believe the playing itself is the point.
Most of us seem to focus mainly on the results, missing the game.

2. Practice
Start to pay attention to what is happening. While you work, feel what is going on in your body. Make your work your experience, not something in order to get somewhere. This practice is not so that one day you will understand life. It is not trying for results. It is experiencing what happens now. The understanding is now. It is as good as it gets.

Too easy? (Too hard?)
Now, will you do this practice? It certainly does not promise anything about a “fantastic” future that we all wait or strive for.

So you could go back to the two concepts mentioned in the beginning and that is totally fine with me. In fact we all will, and that is part of the game and totally ok.

But now you at least know those concepts will not bring what you need – Yourself.
And you could practice living life right here without waiting for it to happen. It is already happening whether you are ready or not.

Cheers!