happiness

Found this piece from the web.   -posting with thanks to the writer. I have been researching happiness for months now, collecting evidence, published studies, and opinions of experts on this subject that is of great interest to me. However, I am putting all of my notes aside in order to share a personal experience of real happiness ~ and how I recently spent 24 hours. This was my son’s idea: with time short and much to do before his family’s departure for Morocco (where they will be living indefinitely), he suggested we plan an overnight in downtown Seattle and create a “family play weekend”. We chose a hotel with festive lights and decorations, the presence of Santa, a swimming pool, a hot tub and two adjoining rooms. There are seven of us altogether, including my son and his wife, their three children, ages 6, 4 and 2, my husband and me. We were a merry group from the outset! We left our “to do” lists at home, our worries behind and caravanned to the Seattle Sheraton Hotel. ...

Found this bequtiful piece from one of OSHO's lectures. "I was reading a few beautiful lines of Michael Adam:  'Perhaps trying even makes for unhappiness.  Perhaps all the din of my desiring has kept the  strange bird from my shoulder.  I have tried so long and so loud after happiness.  I have  looked so far and wide.  I have always imagined that happiness is an island in the river.  Perhaps it is the river.  I have thought happiness to be the name of an inn at the end of the  road.  Perhaps it is the road.  I have believed that happiness was always tomorrow and  tomorrow and tomorrow.  Perhaps it is here. Perhaps it is now.  I have looked everywhere  else. 'So: here and now. ' But here and now is clearly unhappiness.  Perhaps then, no such  thing as happiness.  Perhaps happiness exists not, it is just a dream created by an unhappy  mind.  Certainly it cannot be as I unhap...

  The search for happiness is a never ending one.  We watch youtube, do facebook, instagram .... We do exercise to keep ourselves fit. We make love. We read books. We go to wellness camps and courses. We do all sort of things to be happy. But in the end, it remains elusive from us. Because we search outside. Whereas happiness resides inside. So turn inwards. Then there will be happiness.

 Has one tried ?  To see, to watch his/her thoughts. Yes but when one tries to observe their thoughts, they are nowhere to be seen.  They might say, I tried but could not. There was some body talking to me to watch my thoughts. Who is it who goes on talking to one in his/her mind. Or one may say I tried but could not. So how to see/watch/observe the train of thoughts. Like a child. A 1 year old. How does he see... Like that.

Thoughts, thoughts and thoughts. Endless train of thoughts continue to run in one's mind. They make one sick. One  just wants to kill the damn thoughts. They suck the energy out of the whole of one's existence. And they bring the core to unhappiness. One just wants to get rid of them. What to do ? The answer lies in seeing, watching, observing them. Don't run away from them. One can't because they reside at the very core of us. Just see them. I may sound preaching. Just try and see what happens.  to be continued...

The question whether sleep is important for happiness leads us to the question whether body is important for happiness. Well, if we follow the method of selection by elimination, how do you feel if you are short on sleep or sleep deprived or your sleep patterns are disturbed. We feel drowsy, dull and certainly, all that is the opposite of refreshed and energised.  Then another question -  Can you complete a 100 km trip with a broken car ?  or,  If you have a headache, can you write an AI program. Some of us, hardy ones to say, will say why not? But most of us would think it wise to get the car repaired and the headache cured before we undertake the task. Same is the case with sleep,  happiness means awakening, awareness, consciousness. -  A fresh mind will be a better environment for these experiences. So, Sleep well- complete your sleep cycle everyday and you will feel it.