Rejoice For No Reason!

One of the greatest stumbling blocks to happiness is that we often feel that there must be a tangible reason for us to BE happy.  But there is an innate difference between “being happy” and “being happy about” something. They are two completely and significantly different states of being.Being happy about something is an ephemeral state of being which comes, not from within us but, from an external source. For example, we can be happy because we earned a raise at work or because our significant other paid us a compliment or because of a specific achievement.  And yet each of these examples carries with it the ability to completely disappear and then where are we?  Even worse, these things don’t need to actually disappear from our lives in order for them to lose their happiness-inducing potential.

Psychologists call it “habituation” or “sensory adaptation”. This is the tendency or the human brain to become used to something’s presence and to no longer take note of it in the same way; somewhat like your ability to smell your perfume when you first put it on and not notice it at all an hour later.  That is sensory adaptation or habituation at work.  If our brains did not filter out old information, we would become inundated by incoming sensation.  When we rely on external sources for our state of happiness, it is never a secure or dependable feeling.

Learning to look deeper within ourselves in order to simply BE happy offers us greater potential longevity for our feelings of happiness.The Dali Lama encourages us to, “Be happy without reason.  If you are happy with a reason, that reason may be taken away from you, and you’ll lose your joy. If you are happy without reason, nobody can take your happiness away.”

So, I encourage you to use this day well!  Be like a child! Find your Joy in the Journey rather than in the destination and not matter what your age, gender or life situation

…Rejoice for no reason!