In these trying times, remember that happiness is not a scarce commodity. However, we cannot seek happiness on our own terms or according to our fears and desires. Just allow yourself to be happy, regardless of circumstances, and you will find it in abundance. Even in trying times, joy is present, peace is present, and all-pervasive bliss knows no bounds, no conditions, no beginning, and no end.
Don’t get the idea that I am dismissing the current situation, or dismissing suffering. That would be missing the point. Many are suffering and the current situation may lead to greater suffering. Many people are afraid for their health and for their family. Many are depressed, confused, or fearful about the future. The course of events may lead to the deaths of friends and loved ones … and it may lead to our own death.
I am not dismissing any of that. We should do what we can to mitigate all this suffering. We should take action — or inaction — to keep ourselves and others safe as needed. We should help those around us who are experiencing fear, discomfort, and distress. We should give aid to those who are unwell and comfort those who are grieving. But to base our happiness on the need for such endeavors and the success or failure of them is a mistake.
When we seek happiness on our own terms, we are always seeking gain. We are saying, I will be happy if things go how I want. I will be happy if I get what I desire. I will be happy if my fears don’t come to pass, and so on. That is seeking happiness according to the ego. With that attitude, we are frequently disappointed, troubled, and angered by circumstances. Suffering is magnified, and any personal failure, conflict, or lack becomes a focal point to justify being unhappy.
Instead of seeking any kind of gain, if we root our actions in basic love and kindness, we become open to the whole situation. When we are open like that, we are open not only to suffering and the calamities of events, but to a happiness that does not depend on circumstances — an innate happiness of being. And by being open, we can give ourselves permission to enjoy this happiness. Because it has been there from the beginning and has never wavered, it is always in abundance.
Such happiness is never the product of egoic thinking, nor the result of carefully arranged circumstances. But when we look past all the concerns of the ego, its tangle of fears and desires, we find this innate happiness. Its source is the source of all. And even in such trying times, it is the source of all joy, all peace, all love, and all bliss.
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