RELATION OF HAPPINESS TO INNER SELF

 

                          “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it’s all within yourself,

                                                   In your way of thinking”

                 -------- Marcus Aurelius

 

The above quote by Marcus Aurelius is very significant, but perhaps not many people may be able to understand the profound importance of these words. It means that man creates his own happiness and it does not come from any source from the external world, but from the way he thinks about the condition he is in.  The issue I would like to address here is why happiness comes from the inside and not from the external world's glitter, glamour, and materialistic affluence. Well, that is primarily because most human beings are mentally conditioned to the external world. And that is why the sense of pleasure and materialistic desires have become the objects of gratification that pleases the mind, the most. But in chasing these, only a few people realize that these are only transient and the pleasure derived from these are temporary, as these fade away fast with time. And after that, the reason for happiness no longer persists, it also evaporates very fast, leaving us again back to square one.

A wise man realizes this and so abstains from chasing sense and materialistic gratification as a futile endeavor that brings only momentary happiness. 

First of all, let me put in a very simple and generalised language what happiness means. It can be stated as " the experience of a positive emotion generated in the mind in the absence of any physical discomfort and also being in a mentally stable state (free from any worries and anxieties) that a person is at any moment" . This is also accompanied by a sense of joy.

Now putting into proper perspective that includes all dimensions of happiness, as stated by an American psychologist in the following words.

“ Happiness is to do things that are harmonious with who we are, with what we can do, with what we like, and with what we think is right.”

                                      ----- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (spelled as “Chick-sent-me-high”)

 When suffering from any physical discomfort or mentally unstable state, he would not experience a sense of happiness. Because the mind would be focused on the body or on whatever thought that is destabilizing the mind. And that, till the time these persist, happiness would prove to be something elusive.

A wise person dwells in the inner self because he knows that true happiness comes from the bliss experienced by dwelling in the deepest core of the inner self. And that is because he realizes that happiness arises from something related to his own identity. That is the reason why the source of happiness has to originate from the inner self if it has to impart a lasting elevation of the mental state. In this way, it deviates from the sense of pleasure that comes from reasons that are in the external world.

Our self-identity is related to the nature of our perception of realities experienced by us. Giving up the pleasures and comforts of the external world is a matter of mental deconditioning. Hence, it can be given up to a certain extent, retaining only the minimum requirements for the sake of self-sustenance. The deconditioning of the mind is possible through physical and mental restraint. We should focus more on the inner self by calming the mind from all deviations of the external world. The best way to achieve this is through the practice of meditation because, during this practice, the senses are drawn inwards into the mind (i.e. senses are non-judgmental now), which thus becomes reinforced to focus on the inner self. And this brings in a state of bliss that is much more profound than the happiness experienced by the external world.

Below is a link to a book for the practice of Mindful meditation for beginners.

Mindful Meditation for Beginners