Finding Happiness
Find yourself. Remember who you are. Take care of yourself. Be true to yourself.
And you will be happy.
We hear these phrases so frequently nowadays. But have you actually given any thought as to what they mean to you?
I hadn’t until recently. I realized that I had a complete misunderstanding of what these terms mean.
First I’ll explain my misunderstandings. Then I’ll share with you their new meaning to me.
Find yourself. I used to take this as I had to figure out what I wanted to do for a career. You know, that one thing. Everyone has a thing. For my dad, it was golf. He owned a golf course. For my mom, it was being a wife and mother. Dedication to her family is what gave her great joy. I had friends who were working in industries of their passions. A chef. An athlete. Another in politics. One in finance. They all seemed to genuinely enjoy their work in a way that I never had. So “Find yourself” to me became “Find your career” and you will be happy. But I did and I still wasn’t happy.
Remember who you are. Again, this was career focused for me. I took it as I should remember what I used to like to do when I was younger and do that again. But some of the things that interested me back then just didn’t interest me anymore. Some still did but industries and economies had changed. Plus this concept seemed to conflict with other ideologies I was learning of, such as to focus on the present, and not the past or the future. To be honest, I was just as lost, confused, and indecisive in the present as I was in my youth. So remembering wasn’t bringing anymore clarification to my world, just more confusion and compounding my sense of feeling lost.
Take care of yourself. I do this. I eat healthfully. I practice good hygiene. I take myself to the doctor. I try to exercise regularly and maintain good health. This is what taking care of yourself meant to me. To be honest, I found it boring at times and I felt like I was buying into an idea that I wasn’t sure I believed in. Just as described in the Radiohead song…”Fitter. Happier. More productive. Comfortable. Not drinking too much. Regular exercise at the gym (3 days a week)”. Was this really supposed to bring me happiness? Because I was doing these things, and I still wasn’t happy.
Be true to yourself. This was the trickiest of them all. Just be myself. I wasn’t sure who that was or what I wanted to be. I was different in various situations. I was good at assimilating. Sometimes I wasn’t quite sure if I did something, liked something, tried something because I wanted to or because that’s what others were doing. Where did I end and the rest of the world begin? I had no idea how I fit into the world. I had no idea who “myself” was.
A few years ago my dad died. At the time I was a self proclaimed atheist. I hadn’t always been. I was raised Christian. Even though my parents were not very religious, I became so in my early teenage years before abandoning all beliefs until my dad’s death. Seeing him here one minute and gone the next changed me. It started a quest in me to find out more about life and what it is.
What I term “God” is different for me now. I don’t believe in God as my earlier faith presented it or “Him” to be. The meaning of God as I understand it is the energy that is life itself. And that energy in physical form is all of the world and beyond. It’s what makes us grow and breathe; what keeps the universe together and expanding. It’s creation. Creation had to take on a new meaning for me as well. It took awhile for me to disassociate the Christian faith from my new concept of creation.
With this understanding of God and creation in mind, this is how I now interpret these sayings.
Find yourself = Find God God is all around you. You just have to open your eyes to it. God is in the sunrise. It’s in a flower. God is in the food we eat. In the love of an animal. God is in the connection with a loved one. Find things that you love and appreciate and you will find God.
Once you recognize God in these things, you will realize that God is in you too. That is finding yourself. You will realize that what you have been looking for the whole time, has been right here all along. It’s in you and around you and it’s all connected.
Remember who you are = remember you are a creation of God. This was a hard one for me. Even with my new understanding, I still felt that energy was something outside of me to obtain. Like catching the breeze on a warm day. And that it was going to be hard to find. It took awhile to recognize that God is innately within me, already there. It is something that I can increase or decrease the frequency of if I want. But God is always there.
Once you recognize that you are the energy, you will understand that you have the power to create as well. Once you get this, your life will change forever. You will see the power within you. The next step is to figure out how to harness that power to fully live your life. That is happiness.
Take care of yourself = do things that bring you back to the presence of God
Do things that bring you joy and that remind you of the energy within you. It could be playing an instrument. Or going for a hike outdoors. Something that nurtures your soul. Life can be hard, it can get us down and feeling lost. So it is important to reconnect with that energy. For me, my spiritual practice is yoga and meditation because they calm my mind, bring my concentration to my breath and my breath reminds me that I am alive and that God is in me.
Be true to yourself = listen to yourself (God) and act in accordance with it
What does that mean exactly? Follow your intuition. In other words, follow what excites you. Follow what feels right and good. Act in a loving way. Be compassionate. Accept others. Be open to situations and new ideas. Let energy be your guide. Always move towards that which brings you joy OR the least amount of pain. Do this and you will be happy.
I hope this serves you.