What Really Creates Happiness?
continued
What does this mean?
This means that ongoing happiness is the result of choosing the spiritual path of kindness, compassion, understanding, and acceptance.
Yet it is not enough to express kindness and compassion toward others. Many have tried this and still end up feeling empty and angry when the deep happiness they desire continues to elude them.
The path toward happiness starts with opening to learning about what is most loving and compassionate toward YOURSELF. You can have all the things that people believe will bring happiness - money, a good relationship, a family, work you enjoy - yet if you are critical and judgmental toward yourself instead of accepting and compassionate with yourself, you will not feel happy.
Imagine a child who seemingly has everything - tons of toys, the best schools, great vacations, lots of friends. But imagine that this child has parents who ignore him or her, or who are very critical, judgmental and controlling of him or her. This child will not be happy, no matter how many external things he or she has.
Imagine that this child is you - the feelings within you. How are you treating this child? How do you treat your feelings? Do you ignore your feelings and cover them over with substance or process addictions? Are you judgmental of yourself, constantly telling yourself that you are not good enough, that you are inadequate in some way?
Ignoring yourself or judging yourself will always lead to unhappiness, so matter how much you have in the external world or how loving you are to others. Until you decide to start treating yourself the way you want others to treat you, deep and abiding happiness will elude you. As long as you are treating yourself the way your parents may have treated you or themselves, you will continue to feel the emptiness and aloneness that comes from self-abandonment.
If you want to experience true happiness, then start to pay attention to your own feelings with a deep desire to learn about what you are doing or not doing that is causing your pain and unhappiness. Happiness will be the natural consequence of your willingness to take full, 100% responsibility for your own feelings, and learn about and take action regarding what truly brings you joy.
Learn Inner bonding now! Visit Dr. Paul’s website for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or email her at mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com. Phone sessions available.
Other Related Articles:Article Archives
