The Simple (not so) Secret of Happiness
By Sarah McCrum
Can you remember when you were a child? Sometimes you felt so happy for no reason whatsoever. Maybe you were just lying in the grass or on the beach or playing or doing nothing in particular.
If you have spent much time in the world of personal development you may sometimes wonder what happened to that simple, natural happiness. As adults it seems the search for happiness is much more complicated.
First we tend to think it lies in being rich or having the right job or being able to discover and live our passion. Then we gradually discover that life doesn't always work that way. We see people who are rich and not happy. We get the right job and it doesn't make us a lot happier than we were. We can even discover our passion
and find we sabotage ourselves with self-doubt.
Then we learn how to be positive; how to change our thinking; how to clear negativity; how to identify and get rid of self-limiting beliefs; and how to do a whole lot more. We feel happier sometimes but it often seems elusive. We can't rely on it. Sometimes it's there but it can disappear so easily, leaving us with another lot of negativity to clear out or work on. It can be pretty exhausting.
Then we learn that happiness lies in connecting with the right energy, or with God or with Source and we try really hard to connect the right way. We can put huge effort into being connected and sometimes it feels amazing. We pray, meditate and relax. We get some powerful experiences. We feel increasingly positive and life is definitely getting better. But that happiness can still be elusive. Maybe we didn't pray well enough. Maybe we just couldn't connect today. We clear out some more negativity, put on a brave face, keep going, pray or meditate or relax some more. We are hoping for happiness.