How To Be Happy
To be conscious involves living in many different realities simultaneously or in rapid succession. We all experience this. One moment, we are in love with life – the beauty of the sun glinting off the freshly fallen snow. The next moment we are aware of massive suffering around us – the 22,000 homeless children in New York City. Then we find ourselves focused on a mundane task, say, washing dishes. Suddenly our mind is filled with worry about work or health. Later we are relaxed in a kind of steady state of sufficiency. Then we find ourselves in conflict with someone we love. And so it goes throughout a day. We all know about the roller coaster of situations and emotions to which we are subject.
There are times when we are overflowing with hope and possibility. At other times we fall into despair or depression. We have moments of great certitude concerning the perfection and goodness of this life. And there are times when we are full of doubt concerning the meaning of life and death. These are the normal fluctuations of consciousness moving through time and space and responding emotionally, mentally and physically moment by moment.
In the midst of these seemingly contradictory states of consciousness, how do we maintain equilibrium, equanimity and momentum? How do we move from caring for our mundane existence, to dreaming big dreams for self, family and society, to experiencing pain and confusion, to enjoying being alive, to facing our own mortality or to working to catalyze a new world that works for everyone?
One profound insight concerning relating to these fluctuations of consciousness has to do with learning to tolerate cognitive dissonance of the relative and the absolute. Our relative reality has to do with whatever fleeting situations and emotions we are experiencing from moment to moment. The absolute has to do with the realization that all of it is perfect. In as much as we embrace impermanence, interdependence and suffering as perfect, we experience happiness and peace. It is all good. And it is with this understanding that we can relax in gratitude and extend boundless compassion to our fellow and sister beings and to ourselves.