Many of us have heard Sir Isaac Newton's famous Third Law of Motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." While Newton was referencing physics when he made this statement, his words actually apply to all aspects of life. In the case of happiness, we are told that being happy is 100 percent good, pure and true; it is a state of higher bliss that every human being wants to achieve… Lately, I have been wondering, however, what are the ramifications of happiness? In keeping with Newton's Law, there must be another side to happy that we hardly consider.
Know Where the Hurt Comes From
The following thought occurred to me this week out of the blue: Where there is happy, there is hurt. I don't know about you, but at first glance, this does not sound like sage wisdom to follow. Nevertheless, whenever an idea of this magnitude hits me, I become anxious to know more and explore the deeper meaning behind it, so in keeping with tradition, I did exactly that. I kept asking the question over and over again in my mind: Who or what gets hurt when a person is happy? On the surface, the answer is nothing. Happiness is the essence of your authentic self shining through in the present moment. It attracts greatness to you always and uplifts all who surround you. Still, there is a flipside to choosing joy, and the entity that falls apart and withers away when you do so is the infamous ego.
Accept the Happiness
Embracing a joyful state means allowing your higher self to radiate through and take the reins of your mind and body. When this happens, your ego becomes the injured party and right away goes on the defensive, trying to break through once again. Because we as people are conditioned to expect pain at every corner, many of us latch back onto the ego, consciously believing that nothing good can ever last. This response is what feels natural to us, more natural at least than lasting happiness, and it is also what keeps us in an unhealthy, unbalanced state of pain. The really unfortunate part here is that most of us are unfamiliar with pure, unadulterated happiness. We always seem to let the hurt come flooding back, and as a result, we associate feeling happy with feeling hurt.
Do Things That Make You Happy
Now, I am not saying that we need to block out the hurt entirely. After all, if you want to heal your life, you have to feel all the emotions that comprise your life. What we can do, though is recondition ourselves to remain in that untouched state of bliss for extended periods of time. Through practices like yoga and meditation, our minds and bodies naturally flow to happy places and remain there longer. When we actively seek pleasure or participate in whatever activities that bring us back to joy, happiness comes knocking. Doing anything that takes our minds away from the hurtful messages filtered through television sets, computer screens, magazines and newspapers, brings us to laugh and smile for reasons our ego mind cannot comprehend.
This is precisely how we find a way around the pain: Keep physically doing whatever it is that revives the joy in you, and simultaneously, avoid as best you can the lines of communication that so easily sabotage the mindset of happiness. By taking this approach, you will ultimately counteract the hurt you are so used to feeling and restore a much-needed balance and sense of power to your inner world.
