Happiness Machines

We are all, each one of us, in the happiness business. Happiness is not something that comes and goes, depending on what’s happening. It is what we are. We are made of it. And not just happiness; we are boundless joy right down to our toes.

I know that sounds peculiar, given that, as we are reminded all the time, there is so much misery and suffering in the world. I’m not denying the unhappiness. I’m just saying it’s a cover-up of the real stuff. Joy is what we really are. It’s where we came from. It’s where we’re going. And in-between we forget. But joy is there all the time, as our true nature.

Take one of those times we would say we’re extraordinarily happy. We fall in love. We have a huge success. Someone gives us a million dollars. What do we do? We automatically look out there and say, “That’s what did it for me—that person, that win, that money.” But what if all the time that joy was there in us, just waiting to spring up? What if the experience we had was just a pickaxe that drove through the crust of our tedious self-denial, and released it.

See how mistaken we are? We’ve got it totally wrong. It’s like the professor who opened his psychology class by saying to the class, “Raise your hand if you’re deluded.” When no hands go up, he smacks his forehead and says, “Oh, that’s right! How would you know?” The truth? CSNY sang it, decades ago:

We are stardust. We are golden.
And we’ve go to get ourselves back to the Garden.

One evidence that joy is our nature’s home town is the ease and lightness that comes to us when we’re happy. There’s a flow to it. Stress is gone, effort is nil. We are lightened up. More and more studies show that the actual practice of joyfulness, laughter and gratitude strengthens the immune system and produces measurable improvement in our mental and physical health. All this should tell us that when we are in joy we’re aligning with the natural course of our being.

On the other hand, when we’re miserable there’s all kinds of effort to it. Every cell seems to cry out. It’s harder to just get up in the morning. However, far be it for me to stand in your way if you’re dead-set on being miserable. In fact, the following video is included to help you achieve misery more efficiently.

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One session of Life coaching can help you free up more joy. Visit www.myjimballard.com

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