YOUR PERSONAL HAPPINESS – It’s time you got a little exercise...
/Hi again folks,
Having been properly floored by the response to ‘Relationship Catastrophe’ I decided to find my feet and continue with the theme, but from a slightly different angle; that of Your Personal Happiness; nobody else’s – Just yours.
Imagine that every external relationship you have, is just another Revealing Expression of the relationship that you have with yourself. Now imagine this assertion to be true for EVERY relationship that you will EVER have. Make no mistake about the efficacy of that statement. It is a reality that I present to you without equivocation. You can test it, by no longer imagining it, and it will still be true; unlike perhaps, some other aspects of your life that will often depend on your imagination to find their place in your ‘Way of Life’ ecosystem. In the context of Your Personal Happiness, you can rest thoroughly assured, that if the relationship that YOU have with others is not particularly healthy, then the relationship that YOU will have with YOU will NOT be particularly healthy either, and Your Personal Happiness will reflect - Exactly That.
Importantly, in the context of a ‘Relationship Catastrophe’ - who you are ‘being’ with YOU, will spill, ripple and bleed painfully into all your relationships; particularly, the relationship with your life partner, and there is NO amount of fluffy reading that can fix that. What fluffy, politically sensitive and overly euphemistic material WILL do - is pander to your insecurities and make you feel warm and a little less hairy about who you are NOT being, by Disrupting Your Personal Unhappiness - with vague phraseology, intriguing distractions and mysterious diversions that will lead you steadily, almost imperceptibly, toward a life of crime.
There are far too many people, who, like me, have been side-swiped and emotionally lacerated because of their unwitting reliance on intangible ‘Way of Life’ platitudes that appear to have substance - when in reality, they are little more than creative expressions with artificial appeal. Only when properly contemplated do they reveal themselves as counterfeit; as imitations of anything even remotely realisable. The very unfortunate outcome of subscribing to them, thereby investing one’s self in them - is that they leave most people dangling from the same branch by a different foot; effectively abandoned – and staring at a slightly dissimilar landscape masquerading as a life-changing experience; perhaps not too unlike the abstract art experience – I digress.
You Enemy, Your Friend - doesn’t do any of that. I willingly risk your condemnation for my approach to the noble pursuit of Your Personal Happiness; and so - to that end, I challenge you with this understanding.
Personal Happiness is “ALL THE HAPPINESS THERE IS”. Simply, there is NO OTHER KIND.
Being happy for others for example - is a kind of happiness, sometimes a very good kind of happiness, BUT it is NOT and CANNOT ever be the same thing nor can it be a worthwhile substitute . I hope you ‘get’ that.
So where then is all of this Personal Happiness hiding? I hear you ask...
The answer of course, is ludicrously simple:
Your Personal Happiness IS in fact – EVERYWHERE - that Your Personal Unhappiness - IS NOT. Take a moment to discover that statement for the unmitigated clarity that it conveys in the simplest of terms.
My dearest enemy and my dearest friend, there is NO point scouring the earth with a metal detector and a selfie-stick - looking for Your Personal Happiness as though it is hiding under a stone. Your Personal Happiness is already with you. You were BORN with it. You trusted your community with it and you community helped you to learn it away. But it wasn’t intentional. So move on by taking action to recover it. REVEAL Your Personal Happiness, by unearthing every aspect of Your Personal Unhappiness and making an example of it. Be 'gangsta' with it.
Begin by intercepting every moment of your discontent as it occurs. Don’t move past it quickly so that you don't have to deal with it. Slow down and become present to it. It takes a little practice and is of course - tied into the philosophy of Greater Awareness as a path to REAL Emotional Freedom. When you’ve identified an aspect of thought / behaviour that you determine contributes to Your Personal Unhappiness, you can take action to remove it from your ‘Way of Life’- if of course, that is what you want. You have the power to choose your action.
Eventually you will need a little help because - it is what you CANNOT see - that matters the most. But that’s why we have a book. In preparation for that book, there will be a lot that you CAN actually see because you ARE INHERENTLY CAPABLE of doing that - by way of being HUMAN. Never disrespect your humanity with oppressive rules and guidelines that take that power from you. Again...I digress just a little more.
IMPORTANTLY - You CANNOT remove somebody else's thought-behaviour – ONLY yours. Try it and see what happens. Anything that other people THINK, SAY & DO, is for THEM to own. Who YOU are being when that happens - is YOURS to own. Behavioural CATASTROPHE emerges when YOUR behaviour is undesirable despite your intention AND it occurs when you try to change somebody else’s – so that you can be happy.
I warn you, this will NOT be easy. Deeply Ingrained ‘Way of Life’ thought-behaviour is stubborn and will not be trifled with. It thinks it is YOU and it thinks it is REAL.
Where to begin - where to begin – Where to begin?
Here’s a hint...Way of Life mistake No. 1.
Most people will mistake Achievements, Possessions, Acknowledgement, Validation and Admiration - for PERSONAL HAPPINESS.
See what you can do with that little nugget. Take all the time you need. If you like, post me a question.
Carry out this activity properly and you will surprise yourself.
Carry out this activity long enough and you will become quite good at it.
Carry out this activity a little longer - and you will eventually RUN OUT of things to do.
I wonder what you might be left with then?
Once again – I have enjoyed being your Enemy. I’m even considering becoming - your friend.
Haha- just kidding.
