How to be happy anytime...

[doodle]

I came across this post today, and I thought its message held a lot of truth. When spiritual teachers talk about staying in the "now" this what they are referring to. I think of it as cultivating my inner dog mind...

How to Be Happy Anytime
Post written by Leo Babauta.

My friend Barron recently asked, “If you could be anywhere right now, doing anything you want, where would you be? And what would you be doing?”?

And my answer was, “I’m always where I want to be, doing what I want to be doing.”?

I’ve noticed that in the past, like many people, I was always wishing I was doing something different, thinking about what I would do in the future, making plans for my life to come, reading (with jealousy) about cool things other people were doing.

It’s a fool’s game.

Many of us do this, but if you get into the mindset of thinking about what you *could* be doing, you’ll never be happy doing what you actually *are* doing. You’ll compare what you’re doing with what other people (on Facebook and Twitter, perhaps?) are doing. You’ll wish your life were better. You’ll never be satisfied, because there’s *always* something better to do.

Instead, I’ve adopted the mindset that whatever I’m doing right now is perfect. If I’m writing a post, that’s amazing. If I’m reading blog posts on the Internet, that’s interesting. If I’m doing nothing but hanging out with my family, that’s incredible. If I’m walking outside, enjoying the fresh air, that’s beautiful.

There’s nothing I’m ever doing that isn’t the most incredible thing on Earth. If I’m doing something sucky (I can’t remember doing that recently), maybe that’s an invaluable life lesson. If I’m with someone boring or obnoxious, it’s a lesson in patience, or empathy, or in learning to understand people better.

The Now Mindset, In Practice
Let’s say you’re washing the dishes. Wouldn’t you rather be having a delicious meal instead, or talking with your best friend? Sure, those things are great, but they’re only better if you believe they’re better, and more importantly, the comparison is totally unnecessary. Why should you compare what you’re doing now (washing dishes) with anything else? Wouldn’t almost anything lose out if you compare it to something you like more? Will you ever be happy with what you’re doing if you always compare it with something you like more?

Washing dishes can be as great as anything else, if you decide to see it that way. You’re in solitude, which is a beautiful thing. If you do it mindfully, washing dishes can be pleasant as you feel the suds and water in your hands, pay attention to the dish and its texture, notice your breathing and thoughts. It’s meditation, it’s quiet, it’s lovely.

You can say the same of anything. Driving to work? Enjoy the solitude, the chance to be alone with your thoughts, or to listen to music you love, to see the world around you. In a meeting with co-workers? Pay attention to how people talk and interact, learn about the human mind, see yourself in everyone around you, learn to love anyone no matter who they are, practice giving up expectations of who people should be or what this meeting should be like.

I’m always happy with what I’m doing, because I don’t compare it to anything else, and instead pay close attention to the activity itself. I’m always happy with whoever I’m with, because I learn to see the perfection in every person. I’m always happy with where I am, because there’s no place on Earth that’s not a miracle.

Life will suck if you are always wishing you’re doing something else. Life will rock if you realize you’re already doing the best thing ever.

[Benko]

Excellent point.

BE with the washing the dishes i.e. the sensations of washing the dishes, be with the beautiful appearence of the sunset you are watching.

Be with whatever you are doing--NOT THE THOUGHTS--but whatever you are doing.

Of course without some form of meditation, that is nearly impossible, but if you make the effort you will still notice some difference.

It is the thoughts that are the problem.

[doodle]

One of the funy things about life is that although we often think about it in external materialist terms as a series of events that happen "to us" everthing we know, experience, perceive, feel etc. happens "within us". Everything around us is perceived and interpreted by our mind. Our interpretation of reality is heavily colored by the limited sensory machinery that we are equipped with. In other words, the reality in a relative universe is that the "world is" as "we are". You cannot seperate the mechanism that is observing, from that which is being observed.

Once you grasp that through meditation or intellectually, I think you realize that it is up to you whether your life and the events that you perceive as filling it resemble a tranquil lake or a topsy turvy ocean. As Shakespeare has put it...there is nothing good or bad, but only thinking that makes it so. It is our judgements and expectations about life that create pain or pleasure....ease or disease. Even death, the end of our mortal existence is only negative because we perceive or judge it (perhaps wrongly) to be so.

[Coffee]

Recipe for mediocrity, in my opinion. 

Striving for something better is part of humanity.  It's what creates greatness.
If everything is always perfect, there is no impetus to move forward. 

[doodle]

Recipe for mediocrity, in my opinion. 

Striving for something better is part of humanity.  It's what creates greatness.
If everything is always perfect, there is no impetus to move forward. 

Dont misinterpret this...but what direction is "forward" in our universe? We dont even know what the destination or purpose of human life is, so how can we designate a direction to travel in?

If you have made a billion dollars but are malcontented with life, have you really achieved anything at all? Can we really achieve anything permanent anyways? The greatest treasures and empires have all come and gone and are as impermanent as what we are doing  today is...

[Benko]

Striving for something better is part of humanity.  It's what creates greatness.
If everything is always perfect, there is no impetus to move forward.

You misunderstand and there is no contradiction.

If you are washing the dishes, you are washing the dishes, if you are in nature, you are in nature.  If you are plotting the overthrow of your corporation/the gov't/designing something new, you are doing that. 

The problem is not striving, or anything.  The problem is doing one thing/being one place physically, and your mind is not there, but some place else.  You can enjoy life more, be more effective at your striving or whatever you are doing, if you are really, truly, fully doing it.  Not easy, not by a long shot.  But one can take steps in that direction.

I hope that makes sense (this stuff is hard to talk about).