Obstacles to Happiness

Knowing that our true nature is happiness, and not a state of ephemeral good mood, but real happiness being our essential nature, we must strive to banish from our lives those obstacles that keep it from being always with us.

Many a philosopher and religious leader have implied that happiness is like a valley between two mountains of trouble and travail in our lives. What imagery and examples they give! Even great religious leaders have interpreted religion as telling us to accept pain and suffering as part of our lot. This conditioning of our thought from our earliest childhood is one of the greatest obstacles to allowing us to be happy.

Another obstacle that stands in the way to us recognizing our true nature is the false belief that happiness is external.  Believing this (also a conditioned misconception, often reinforced daily by the media, and advertising companies) is a great obstacle to being happy, as it usually brings only the opposite.

Finally, the great lie that happiness is just a state-of-mind is equally to blame for keeping us unhappy! If happiness is illusionary, and can be induced by suggestion, it has no basis in fact.  Nothing can be further from the truth, and believing the lie, leaves one only unhappy.

These obstacles often, and more often than not, lead us to sickness and tragedy. If we escape from these life lessons, we are often wiser for it, and appreciate the truth most easily recognized after the negative experience is over.  Lucky is the person that has learned this valuable lesson. It is like being released from prison, into the free and clear air. It is like the bird with a broken wing taking back to the sky.

So when you are faced with the three major obstacles to happiness, that is , hearing those that would have you believe hardship and misery are necessary parts of life, that our true nature is not happiness and that happiness is an illusion, you must reject these  false notions. You must turn your back on them, and banish them from your consciousness. You must remember, just for a moment one thing that made you happy. That small memory will, and does, bring with it the truth. Expand that memory to other moments, and add to it gratitude, and the three lies will dissolve like mist does with the morning sun.

The Barefoot Saint

There was once a great saint in ancient India that walked the length and breadth of that great land spreading his  wisdom to all who gathered near. People came from everywhere to hear him speak, and were moved by his wise words and stories. However the saint held one complaint in his heart that made him unhappy. As he was barefoot, it seems he often prayed for shoes! Then one day he saw a man without feet, and understood and was eternally grateful and happy forever at his truly blessed situation