Do you believe that your purpose is to live a happy life? Are most of your actions dedicated to trying to make yourself happy? How is that working for you? Society makes us think many things that are not true and sometimes we can live our whole lives from a belief that is a lie. If you believe that your happiness only comes from outside yourself then you have bought a lie. Happiness that comes from anything you seek outside yourself will not last; it cannot last because anything we look for outside of ourselves is impermanent.

Lasting happiness is your birthright and can only be found where it resides, in you. If you do not feel happy then the first thing you must do is stop looking in all the wrong places. We must awaken to our darkness, and then we can uncover our innate happiness. Many feel if they just ignore what they see it will go away. This is like standing next to at a pile of dung and expecting the smell to go away without removing the dung. We do not have to be mired in the muck; however, by acknowledging who we have become we can begin to uncover our True-Self. This rarely happens on its own and requires us to embrace all parts of ourselves, even the parts we do not like.

You will find that your happiness will spontaneously rise to the surface when you are in service to others. This of course has to be genuine which means it comes from a kind and loving place. Being of service happens in many ways; maybe it is opening the door for someone or picking up some trash. You cannot go around saying how thoughtless someone else is while picking up the trash because this is not being in service; it is called complaining and judgment. Being in service comes from the heart; anything less than that and you will not be able to experience your happiness. Remember even a smile can be in service to someone who is having a bad day. Send them love with your thoughts and energy. You can find many ways to be of service to the world, be creative.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, and to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

While it is true, the purpose of life is not to be happy, when we are in service with honorable intentions our happiness just shows up without looking for it. This is because our innate happiness grows exponentially when we are in service to the world. Now you know what to do the next time you find yourself feeling unhappy.

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.