Day 186/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
A whirl of thoughts and memes and memories and debates over happiness race through my mind as I consider the content for this topic. As with most days I'm drawing on my own reflections and so not really planning this in any way, shape or form. I'm trusting that whatever surfaces will be the most appropriate content.
The first thoughts that come to mind suggest that the pursuit of happiness is a waste of time, for lots of reasons.
In my family the reason that life wasn't meant to be happy was because it was meant to be about suffering...and ...your rewards will be in heaven. Yep, no wonder we were experts at suffering. Trust me, that's no way to live your life.
Then there are other writers who speak about the elements of happiness. It's not really happiness that we are seeking but fulfilment, or meaning, or challenges, or accomplishments. Well, to my way of thinking, we pursue those things because somewhere in the future there is a reach for an outcome that we call happiness.
Maybe I have that wrong. I don't think it matters. What matters is that we know that where we are right now doesn't feel good, and we know in our hearts of hearts, that life is meant to be different, happier, easier.
At one stage I settled for contentment. It was a good compromise...but it was a compromise. It had flavours of giving up, settling, defeat.
I've certainly subscribed to a life that has meaning, that is fulfilling, that is joyful and that is devoid of suffering. I've unsubscribed to suffering, any and all forms of misery.
That doesn't mean to say that I am free from sadness or worry or anxiety. It simply means that I don't stay there and bathe in them. It's my practice to sit with them, discover their source, then wash them away. That's it.
This practice has been my "go to" for inner work for a long time, and I can reassure you that it gets easier and easier to ferret out the source of your troubles. Then review, revise and release.
Then suddenly, one day out of the blue, happiness happened. It arrived. It came along with my usual inner work on my self-mastery journey. It came with a realisation that had eluded me. It simply showed up and filled me up, and it stayed.
My happiness had to come from within, and so does yours. Mentoring my self-mastery programme supports my clients to find their joy by sharing inner work techniques and helping them to discover their own hidden realisations.
Significant breakthroughs in my lifelong journey in search of happiness emerged a while ago. You can read more about it in my book, "Commit to Feel Good; your health, wealth and happiness depend on it."
At the time it was an expansive and life-changing experience. However it was only the beginning of making sense of the world from a completely different worldview. More to come on that later
Never give up on happiness, and be open to approach it from different perspectives. If your current approach hasn't yielded any real change, change your approach. The human mind is capable of amazing things, and changing course is the least of them. Reach out if you need a hand.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.
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