Let me ask you this question “are you happy?” sometimes that is difficult to answer positively. Most people immediately answer that they are not unhappy, but of course that is not the same thing. Searching for happiness is a modern day phenomenon and it appears the more people search the less likely they are to find it. A belief abounds especially with the young, that money, fame, or celebrity lifestyle is the answer. 

This may be instantly disproved by the simple fact that numerous people who attain all this still crave happiness.  Research however, has proved that those with a spiritual belief are not only happier but actually enjoy better health and live longer! I t appears the angels really do take care of us if we only let them. Here is a story of one lady who discovered this for herself.

Recently I was enjoying a lovely day by the sea- shore, it was rather windy but fairly mild in temperature, the wind actually made the scene more beautiful, whipping up the waves as the crashed amongst the rocks. As I walked I was fascinated to see so many beautiful pebbles, it was a beach I had not visited previously and the number of pebbles and their sheer variety came as a surprise.

I was at once taken back to my childhood and the joy of scrambling around in rock pool, collecting shells and stones in my tin bucket! I vividly recall carrying this bucket home with me to my city house and loving the sight and smell of those items long after the holiday had ended. I was particularly fond of stones and pebbles, keeping them in a wooden box which I still have today .Not only does it take me back to childhood it reminds me forcefully of how quickly life goes by and we must enjoy and appreciate every day.

Are you concerned about how you look in your bathing suit?  Do you worry you don’t look as good as you did last year, or ten or twenty years ago?  Are you struggling with friendships or business ventures that once worked for you, but do not offer the reward they once did?

If so, George Bernard Shaw might show you the door to peace: “The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me.  The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.”

Each human being on planet Earth is – consciously or unconsciously – searching for happiness with unlimited persistence and greed. Happiness appears as a mirage; we try countless ways in order to find it in the external world, with perseverance and determination; nevertheless, each time, the desired happiness finally results in disappointing delusion.

Other, more subjective individuals turn to their inner world; in this case as well, their thirst for happiness is satisfied by sheer deceitful imagination. In each of our attempts to search for it, we start from what we know or imagine. Such happiness is always motivated by an object we anticipate or desire.

True happiness ensues indirectly. It always appears in a state of non-search. Practically, we do not know what happiness is, but, when the mind is completely silent, in a state of total passiveness, our whole being experiences harmony. In this state, as complete beings, integrated into Life, we are overwhelmed with an immense Joy and Happiness without cause.

The only true
measure of success
is happiness.

These were sent to my by Nancy Rascon. Joyful indeed!