If one is happy, one is present to the moment. In some sense happiness marks moments we wish not to end. But as we get more acclimated to happiness, even our melancholy about the fleeting of time calms down. In these moments the eternal opens up in the here and now.
In such moments… when white clouds tower in an azure sky, when the pupils of a beloved’s eye opens wide and we tumble into a reverie of soul within body, when a warm afternoon hovers languidly, when the touch of skin transports and transfixes, when the luxury of fruit fills our mouths, when the scent of our favorite dish laps upon our shore like a zephyr as horizons of illuminated memory shimmer in our minds… in such moments we want for nothing and we fear nothing. Such is happiness—the wanting of what just simply is.
Happiness is like the Tao, you can use it for all sorts of things, but you really can’t explain it or define it.
Yet happiness, although we “pursue” it, as is our constitutional right, appears to remain elusive and in short supply. So much future-focus blocks happiness, but it does get us to the mall, the car dealership and the open houses, forever questing for a good feeling that slips through the holes of our colander consciousness.
By radically embracing whatever just is, we dramatically reduce both our fears and our desires. This liberates us from the reptilian brain and opens the elevator to the pre-frontal cortex—the neuron nest where we invite the appreciation of music, the intuitive connecting with others… the good stuff.
Happiness also liberates us from being manipulated, controlled, cowed and conned—and in this way happiness is radically subversive in that it undermines the status quo in a fear-based culture.
So, let’s dedicate today to happiness by leaping into the void of wanting nothing but what is, embracing what we have, who we are with, even putting our arms around our sorrows, limitations and misfortunes. Easier said than done I admit, but when done, powerfully transformative and liberating. Here’s to the effort: breathe in love, breathe out fear and desire—in the service of all our collective children.
Namaste, Bruce
