What is happiness? Understanding its elusive nature

Happiness is hard to define. It is a subjective feeling which usually relates to the contents of our thoughts. We can say what makes us happy, and we can describe the emotions that go along with being happy. But what is happiness itself? We have in our memory experiences that can bring about the subjective feeling of happiness. This is ‘recorded happiness.’ We harbor many versions of such recorded joy. However, it does not allow us to investigate happiness itself.

Why is happiness worth investigating?

The subjective state of happiness, even if it is in relation to something else, feels very natural. When we are happy, tension and stress leave the mind and the body, and we begin to relax. We expend a lot of time and effort in gaining and sustaining happiness. To understand what happiness is, we must find its source. It is common practice to seek it elsewhere other an in ourselves. Since happiness feels so natural, it should follow that it is part of our being.

The subjective state of happiness, even if it is in relation to something else, feels very natural.

In the very effort of seeking, we move away from the center of our being. We come into the world as a self-contained unit comprising the body and the mind. We perceive them both, but the power of sensory perception limited. Where senses cannot go, feelings and imagination can penetrate.

In the very effort of seeking, we move away from the center of our being.

Imagination moves outwards while feeling moves inwards. We imagine and project mental images, and we source happiness from them, and we enjoy this subjective feeling of happiness.

Through seeking, we deny ourselves access to the well of happiness we carry within. By seeking, we are telling ourselves we don’t already possess happiness. The act of seeking happiness takes us further away from its source.

Through seeking, we deny ourselves access to the well of happiness we carry within.

Joy is everyone’s birthright. It is our wealth, and all we have to do is discover it within. The mind will not easily allow inner discovery of joy. It threatens the very existence of the mind, and it positions itself as an essential intermediary between us and happiness.

We can be happy without relating to anything that we know or is known to bring happiness. Furthermore, we cannot teach someone to be happy. It is a spontaneous occurrence, and not creation or an invention of the mind. There is no specific way to happiness. We don’t need to fulfill a set of conditions to be happy.

We cannot teach someone to be happy. It is a spontaneous occurrence, and not creation or an invention of the mind.

At this very moment, we can experience joy if we drop a set of conditions that we give ourselves as a precursor to happiness. External triggers no doubt can influence and sustain subjective happiness, but it is not a primary phenomenon.

When we try to top off a gas tank that is already full, fuel spills over. Similarly, once we recognize our being of inner happiness, we find that it is full of joy. When we bring in external happiness, it overflows and is returned to the world. When we open ourselves, we share more of that happiness. Our ‘tank’ of joy is always full. There is no need to fill it from the outside.

Our ‘tank’ of joy is always full. There is no need to fill it from the outside.

Thoughts, interactions with people, and the objective world are external phenomena. Joy is a natural internal phenomenon. The two are not related. Our expectation that external events will bring happiness is fundamentally flawed. It leads us to seek and sow the seeds of our unhappiness.

Experiences of the world create various sensations within the brain and the nervous system. When these sensations have a calming effect on the mind making it less restless, it triggers part of the nervous system involved in relaxation. We then interpret and associate those sensations with happiness.

These learned associations which bring us happiness build on what is already a foundation within. Such associations are made based on prior learning and memory of sensations evoked in the body and the mind.

When there is a subjective experience of happiness, whether it is in response to an external event or a spontaneous inner occurrence, there is one important common factor. There is a cessation of the mind’s constant movement from one thought to another.

When happiness is related to an external event, it comes as a thought experience. We lose ourselves in that state of happiness, and for all practical purposes, the rest of the mind does not exist. When we are happy, we no longer jump from one thought to another, like a restless monkey going from one branch of a tree to another.

When we are happy, we no longer jump from one thought to another, like a restless monkey going from one branch of a tree to another.

Since this state of happiness is dependent on an idea or an experience, it is temporary. As long as the thought remains in our awareness and we are identified with that thought, we remain happy. When the thought fades, which invariably happens, so does our link to happiness. It remains as a memory which we try to access.

Thoughts by nature are transitory, regardless of their contents. We work hard to make happiness last by attempting to overcome the ephemeral nature of thoughts. The way we do this is through a continual seeking of a variety of sensory experiences, so if one thought fades, another takes its place. Ultimately it does not matter what the contents of our thoughts are, as long as they make us happy, and we can prolong the subjective state of happiness.

We work hard to make happiness last by attempting to overcome the ephemeral nature of thoughts. The way we do this is through a continual seeking of a variety of sensory experiences, so if one thought fades, another takes its place.

However, there are downsides in trying to flood the mind with experiences that bring happiness, so no matter what the thought, we are happy. Ultimately we end up becoming slaves of our thoughts and experiences.

Spontaneous joy is not related to the mind, thoughts, and experiences. When there is no specific reason for being joyful, there is no need to look for a reason for such joy. This is our original state of being. The memory does not encode such happiness, and it cannot come about through mental recall. The moment we bring the mind into the equation, spontaneity disappears, and conditions appear.

Spontaneous joy is our original state of being.

The mind cannot make us spontaneous. As we grow in awareness, we become spontaneous, and there is satisfaction, contentment, and overwhelming joy. Awareness does not seek or long for anything.

Living in awareness is the secret to being happy all the time. Once we remove the idea that doing something will make us happy, we begin to relax immediately. It is as if a load is lifted off our shoulders. The stress of achieving happiness goes away and is no longer a goal.

Living in awareness is the secret to being happy all the time.

When we remain a witness to the act of seeking happiness, there comes an understanding that we are seeking that which we already are. Not in terms of a thing or an association with something but as a living expression of joy. This expression precedes and remains after thoughts and experiences leave our conscious perception. Such awareness comes through witnessing the mind.

By remaining a watcher, we recognize the thread of happiness everywhere in the mind. Sunlight is always there, but only the parts of the earth facing the sun receive those rays. Similarly, joy is innate, but when the mind turns towards the world, and it cannot perceive that joy, which is the very foundation of our being.

The mind can hide happiness from us, but it cannot take it away completely. When seeking stops, we begin living as expressions of joy.