How I achieve a Continuous State of Being Happy

As I write this I am trying to come up with the best way to present without causing overwhelm because let’s be honest, it’s a lot of layers and nuances that are specific to me and my perception.

That’s why I am going to present to you the key concepts that I use and apply in variations to achieve my goal. I believe these are the essence of universal truths that make up a comprehensive toolkit. Everything stems from these and everything flows back into the wisdom held within these concepts.

That’s a bold claim I realize, but then if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be a fun experiment, would it?

Before the concepts, first let me share with you a few things that can be labeled as the guidelines for a healthy practice. I like to think of them as the skeleton that helps effectively mobilize the knowledge of the concepts into personal experiences. 

• Actual Practice. Doing the work. There is no shortcut to this one. There is a lot of knowledge out there, there is much that is written but I never made any progress till I got serious about applying it as actions in my life. Lips service will yield no result except to keep you distracted for a while but eventually, you’ll find yourself at the same spot sans progress. It’s all about actual practice, the hours you put in.
• Being Continuous and Steady. Transformation and living in a state of connection is the long game. It’s not enough that I do the work and practice, I have to remain in my practice continuously. It has to become a way of life not something I do when I have the time or when I feel down. Continuity and diligence keep the experience alive.
• Going Deeper. I have had the opportunities to be guided and presented with multiple philosophies and techniques. This was the case largely because I have always been curious and at any point in time I was always looking for new information. I found that any significant progress I made was when I ‘choose a spot and dug the well’ so to speak. Any technique will help but only when the practice is at a deeper level and not just wavering between one technique to another. Trying a little bit of this, then a little bit of that only caused me frustration. Like an onion, each technique opens up new possibilities but I’ve had to bunker down and move deeper to benefit.
• Personal Experience. This is a big one. Turning the information I learn to the wisdom that is applicable to me and to eventually finding my own truth is the single most powerful turnaround that made a difference. Yes I ask questions, yes I seek guidance but I do not take someone else’s knowledge, wisdom or experience to mean my truth. I find that by working the information, I find my own experience and feel the wisdom of that knowledge. Each concept or philosophy works its magic just a little differently for each person. So when I experience the wisdom for myself, I find transformation is easy, the shift is permanent and it’s no struggle at all.

When I work any tool or technique keeping these as guidelines, I’ve never failed.  

There are five core concepts at the heart of my practice. They have helped me understand and experience the reality for what it is and helped me unfold into the person I am destined to be. 

I have found that there is a natural law of consciousness, the essence of which is experienced and described in different ways by different people and these below,  is how I describe them. My intention is that you walk away with the essence, use any words that make sense to you.

1. Karma: Karma is a yogic philosophy that is translated best as cause (creation) and effect (manifestation). The causes will create a flow that manifests as an effect. The manifested effect, in turn, will be the trigger that results in a cause. And so the cycle continues. What we see and experience around us is a sum effect of the collective and individual causes of all things. The law of nature is such that every action, every cause, generates an effect or manifestation that the one creating, must personally face. People tend to understand this concept as describing the hopelessness of life, that we might not have control over what’s about to happen. That's not my view or experience. It’s a very empowering natural law. Once I truly experienced the simplicity of the cause and effect, it increased my circle of influence tenfold. With every moment I have the power to create what I'd want to have happen to me, in this life or the next. 
2. Mindfulness/Awareness/Staying Present: Awareness means to have knowledge of something, to have information or a perception about a situation or person. Present means existing or occurring right now. It’s the combination of the two that leads to the magic that allows for a creation of a happy experience at will. Being aware on it's own was not enough. True Mindfulness means to be completely aware of the present.  I can be aware yet at the same time be dwelling in past memories or future possibilities. I found that reducing the amount of time I spend rehashing the past or going over the future that hasn’t happened was the best way to create a continuous state of happy. 
3. Impermanent Nature:  Impermanence of nature is one of the universal truths. From spiritual and scientific perspective it is an undeniable and inescapable fact of existence. Spiritually, the flow of life is ever expanding and every evolving. The manifestations that appear in the physical world is part of the energy which furthers expansion of the consciousness, there are no exceptions. As a result, there is a continuous state of becoming and it is never ending. From a scientific perspective, we know cell division is continuous, and all energy cyclically changes form. The person you see now is not the exact same person you will encounter in the very next moment. The mental, emotional, psychological and physical makeup changes from moment to moment and is so quick it gives an illusion of continuity. When I work within the framework of the impermanent nature of the universe I realize the power of living in the now. I get braver to attempt the creation of my own reality. I get incentivized to soak in all the goodness of the moment. I get galvanized to choose which emotions to dwell in. Nothing in my experience right now is of any true significance for the next moment of my life because I can create in each moment and who I was before is not the same as who I am now.
4. Craving & Aversion: Two sides of the same action, judgment. We are always in the process of gathering information and making a judgment of what has shown up in our reality. This process is continuous and relentless and up until now, for me, it was an unconscious activity. We use our senses to send feedback to our mind and in turn, our mind puts the experience into two categories: either it’s like or it’s a dislike. This pattern stems from a sense of I-ness, a sense of separation from the rest and identifying with the physical body as the be all and end all. Liking leads to Love, leads to Clinging, Leads to Craving. Disliking leads to Hate, leads to anger, leads to Aversion. Both these bring with it a potential to disrupt alignment. And if the depth of the spiral is not caught in time, both these will result only in misery. I find likes and dislikes are a good tool to guide if I am going in the direction I am meant to. Knowing to take the guidance in an objective manner without moving towards carving or aversion to my reality makes a huge difference. 
5. Surrender / Letting Go: Surrender in the spiritual sense means to let go of personal preferences and remain in connection to source energy irrespective of what is unfolding in the external reality. This has to be looked at from beyond the material world where letting go looks like handing over something. This concept is a very active practice which requires a heightened practice of staying present, detaching from likes and dislikes, creating through actions with what’s manifested at present and remembering the impermanent nature of things. This is deliberate creation without the struggle; this is flowing from within the source energy and knowing the power within. This is also, in no way a victim mentality or somehow to be seen as a passive way to move through life. This practice requires an intense connection and control over the senses and witnessing the consciousness inside. 

​I have had to take each thought, past memory, feeling, fears and mental blocks and process them through these filters. With each question and there were many more questions which come into my head which must be looked at, must be dealt with. And that I do.

But I find as I have started to use these daily, it became easier and easier to work through creating a reality and still staying in that state of happy. 

There is more to say about each of these, nuances that aren't captured here and personal examples that demonstrate how it's worked out. That has prompted me to create an opportunity for you, the reader, to join me on a platform where you can actively participate in working these in your life. 

I am working out the details and I will have an invitation for the 'State of Happy' series sent out soon. My hope is that each of you join me. 

As always, Written with Love


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