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What Is Happiness?

What Is Happiness?

What is it that everyone is seeking? Happiness with no sorrow. A continuous happiness with no taint whatsoever of sorrow.~Lester Levenson

Happiness is our basic nature.

We rarely find it because we are not in touch with our basic nature. Instead we look for happiness everywhere where it doesn't exist.

The world equates happiness with fulfilling a desire. Yet every goal achieved and every possession finally owned is a fleeting pleasure.

I do appreciate what I have. Yes, I am grateful for it. However, satisfaction and pleasure are not the same as happiness.

Again, one can be loved, even adored, and still not be happy. People, for example, considered Elvis Presley adorable. He was beautiful, talented, and kind-hearted. Yet, he, himself, was not happy.

What, then, is happiness?

Everybody craves it, but few enjoy it. And those that do enjoy it, do so only fleetingly. Seasons pass and what was once considered a source of endless delight fades in its glory.

The closest we can get to happiness is through love. Loving stimulates happiness.

This happiness arises when we give love. It arises because love, too, is our basic nature.

Thus, when we love, we are happy; and we are happy because we are being ourselves, expressing our true nature.

Our true nature is happiness. This is the quality of soul. In fact, soul, in its primal aspect, is a consciousness that is blissful, wise, and powerful beyond measure.

However, we seldom experience our true nature and seldom get in touch with our souls because the limitations of thought shadow the soul the way clouds hide the sun.

It is the task of every person to discover their own soul. This quest is fulfilled through spiritual practices.

As we shed our illusions about the nature of the world and our relationship to it, we become more aware of our own luminosity.

When we give, love, and share, we touch upon the majesty of our soul. We bring it out into the world. We slip out from behind the veil of mind and show ourselves.

One who has stripped away all veneer of thought, all layers of mind, becomes ensouled. When the mind is quiet there is nothing left over but the infinite Self.

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Saleem Rana got his Masters degree in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html%3Fid%3De65966de-012d-4a46-b573-26771fc21992cid=0ei=yYb0SMjKKYmE6QOspNiZDQusg=AFQjCNHwSE1h4aedS18JoC5UloPvVqPInwWhy not make bhappiness/b a goal?/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTimes Colonist,nbsp;Canadanbsp;-/font nobr3 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Why not bhappiness/b? It#39;s surely as important for governments to consider our collective bhappiness/b in developing policies and charting a course for the future b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.telegram.com/article/20081014/NEWS/810140377/1052cid=0ei=yYb0SMjKKYmE6QOspNiZDQusg=AFQjCNE9yGyx3q5VM7-MAFbTE6BvA30O6gToday’s guest: Robert Biswas-Diener, co-author of ‘bHappiness/b b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWorcester Telegram,nbsp;MAnbsp;-/font nobr3 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1MC: But bhappiness/b is indeed a worthy goal. RB: When people are put into a positive mood, they actually are healthier, they tend to get sick less, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2008/10/13/money-cant-buy-happiness/cid=0ei=yYb0SMjKKYmE6QOspNiZDQusg=AFQjCNGdrDVYvZLRPnsy9bhfocJUPfV2NAMoney can#39;t buy bhappiness/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fUM Maneater,nbsp;MOnbsp;-/font nobr8 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1In this country, we#39;re supposed to believe in this ambiguous American dream that definitely involves bhappiness/b and probably involves making money. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.record-bee.com/ci_10713711cid=0ei=yYb0SMjKKYmE6QOspNiZDQusg=AFQjCNHFiALIiO1_u7KpiJ2gKRh_Oh9z5AHarvesting bhappiness/b at the 13th annual Harvest Festival/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fLake County Record-Bee,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr7 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Tiffany Revelle -- Staff reporter Milo Powers, 9, eats banana cream pie with no hands in a contest Saturday during the 13th annual Harvest Festival held b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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