The Happiness Highway

Tao Te Ching Verse 3

MANTRA: "I know there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” ~ W. Dyer

            Today in Orange county traffic I had ample opportunity to test the idea that happiness resides within me and is not something that happens to me. Even though I study happiness I still wonder exactly what it is for me and for others. There is a mystery to it that science tries to solve through surveys and statistics, but maybe the most important thing we have learned thus far is the value of happiness and positive emotion to daily life.             

           According to the Tao I get the most bang for my attention buck when I focus on creating a detached positive emotional state. Putting myself in a joyful or peaceful state of mind requires that I let go of stressful deadlines, financial pressures, relationship difficulties, expectations for the future and boredom and accept myself where I am in the moment. These are the times I have to remind myself that I am a human being not a human doing. I believe it is important to practice being mindful so that I do not miss my life or my youth because I am rushing and racing through the next task and the latest goal. I have to practice not doing so that life doesn’t become an ongoing to-do list and ultimately a burden.                 

            My ace in the hole is always my breath, which allows me to shift awareness away from ambition, ego, fear, doubt and judgment and towards acceptance, happiness, joy, gratitude, hope and excitement. I believe myself and all beings are engineered to be happy and this encompasses both incredible excitement and sacred relaxation. I do not have to wait for the perfect job, or to be debt free, or a mother of two to be truly happy because true happiness is a choice I cultivate and nurture through mindfulness.  

             

Tao Te Ching Verse 3:

If you overesteem great men,

people become powerless.

If you overvalue possessions,

people begin to steal.

The Master leads

by emptying people's minds

and filling their cores,

by weakening their ambition

and toughening their resolve.

He helps people lose everything

they know, everything they desire,

and creates confusion

in those who think that they know.

Practice not-doing,

and everything will fall into place.