[I started a writing project in “Bali”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/beachwalks/sets/72157600290396487/ a few months ago and am releasing it to the world under cover of “National Blog Posting Month”:http://nablopomo.ning.com/. Comments are welcome.]
I am interested in happiness. It seems elusive, dispensed by chance by a god who plays favorites, yet continues to occupy space in many minds. Or perhaps to be more accurate, unhappiness is what actually occupies many minds. If this describes your mind, you are very welcome here.
My credentials in this area are solid I believe. I started life as a sparkling happy child, spent much of high school as a loner in tears listening to Bob Dylan, distraught over the Vietnam War, and finally descending into frequent thoughts of suicide for the next few decades. Happiness came and went as unpredictably and erratically as the other things in my life that I did not understand.
bq. I started to write, “as erratically as traffic in a third world country.” But then I had a moment of consciousness. Traffic in many countries actually flows quite well and predictably even if it doesn’t obey the lines. It only appears erratic to an American trained on lanes and lights until it becomes familiar, and then it makes sense. My writing will expose how I examine my thoughts as I am having them and how this technique reduces stress and contributes to feelings of happiness.
Details Don’t Matter
The details are insignificant in and of themselves; after all, each of us has a story to tell, many of the details are shared, and many of them are starkly different. That is not the point. The point is the energy of the details, and how that can highlight where we slide into unconsciousness, by letting the details keep the energy they have had for centuries without question.
Another point is that I have found a measure of happiness undreamed of and am interested in sharing how I found it with you. The happiness I have experienced is subjective. Your mileage may vary, and that is the good news, not bad news. My intent is to remove myself from the details as much as possible, and to present the mechanics as I understand them.
Still, the limits of my consciousness will keep this from being perfect, so now is a good time for you to claim your experience, your history, your desires, for yourself. An essential part of my process of discovering happiness is to run ideas and opinions through my own inner filters, to check them against my wisdom to date, my comfort level in the moment, and my answer to two powerful questions, “Does this make sense to me? Does this make sense for me?”
As much as I will attempt to present these ideas in a fashion that many can use, it is only in their specific application to each individual life where they are useful. This is most definitely not a “ten steps to happiness” book full of rules to memorize. There are some of you for whom none of this may apply. I thank you in any case for sharing the time with me and actually am interested in learning more about your experiences, if you are inclined to share. I find those kinds of discussions very illuminating, and they help me to stay detached from my own beliefs and thoughts. I find I am happier the larger my world becomes, but remember, that is just me. It may not be true for you.
