In a hot summer afternoon, when you are feeing completely parched, if someone offers you an ice cold drink, how do you feel when you see the glass? How do you feel when you drink it? Will you describe your feeling as happiness or as pleasure? You will say it is a feeling of pleasure. There is a connection between these two kinds of feelings, and sometime one evokes the other, but they are not the same thing. Pleasure is more dependent on the five senses, has to do with enjoyment through the five senses and also dependent on external circumstances, objects and people while  happiness is  independent of all these and totally internal.

When you are happy, unpleasant events usually do not disturb you. When you are unhappy, even minor things upset you and you feel as if everything is against you. You may compensate for it by doing something that gives you pleasure; yet you stay unhappy.

No matter what activity is sought, at the moment when happiness is experienced, something happens. Whether it is the thrill of reaching the summit of a high mountain, eating a delicious piece of cake, winning a lottery or whatever the action may be, there is a common element that is always present. At the peak of happiness there is a stoppage of the thinking process. There is inner silence. There is peace. The competition or dangers are over. Worries are dropped away.  This may last for a brief moment or a few. It is not the object gained or the successful performance of the action that brought this feeling. It is something internal and independent of the external world.

Happiness is not something to be found from somewhere, something or someone. It is always there within, but covered by layers of thoughts, desires and fears. It is experienced when these covers vanish for a while. When a fear or a worry comes to an end or a desire attained, there is a temporary disappearance of these layers. The ego and personality stop projecting for a while, and a great sense of satisfaction recognizing that inner happiness is experienced. It is a moment of revelation. There is no need to search for happiness or to create it. There is no need to have all kinds of outer experiences and actions in order to feel it. On the contrary, everything has to be dropped in order to experience it.

Hold on to that Inner joy. Anchor the mind to that Core. Then irrespective of what happens or doesn’t happen you can make every moment joyful. So it is all in your hands…Sorry…in your mind! Fill every moment, minute, day, week, month, year and thus all your life with smiles.  Have a happy life! 

Life is a fun-fair. But there is a catch. We can’t just stand aside and watch. With out a choice, we’re in it. All of us. Which ride shall we choose? The Rollercoaster? Vow! That sounds like fun.

There you go. Up. And now all the way down. One moment you are up, the next you are way down. And up again, then down again into the darkness. People around you yell in an odd mixture of fear and enjoyment. Up and down, up and down again; then a sudden swing round a corner, you almost feel like you are falling off the rails.

Is this supposed to be fun? Well, yes it is, if you let go of holding onto everything within reach. It is fun when you understand that you don’t have to hold on to anything except that which holds every atom in the creation. But most of us do keep hold of some things in this wildly ‘rocking’ world. For example, the seat, the body in which you are seated! If all the fun fair is external, the body, which acts as the seat is also external. The body needs a functional mind within to translate every thought, into words and actions. The subtle mind within the gross body makes it possible to understand the entire external world. But all the gross that is external cannot reveal that factor, the Consciousness behind the subtle mind making life tick. The ever-changing swirls of fear, exhilarations, excitements, disappointments, dejections and such torrent of feelings, all of these, as fast as they come, they go. If you try to hold onto any one, you get run over by the next. What remains constant through all the ups and downs, in all twisting and turning through space and time is the Awareness. The fun, the joy, is not in the action but in the process. Not in holding on to any one emotion or action, but in being through all of them.

Once we are in it, there is no way we can get out till it is over. So what do we do? Hold on. Hold on to the core and wait. We all know that eventually it comes to an end. To keep panic at bay all we need to do is to sit back and watch it pass. Every thing passes in time: thoughts, emotions, words, actions and events however pleasant or unpleasant it is. Take long, deep, smooth breaths. Look ahead. The ability to be resilient is what helps us bounce back from the edge, helps us find our strength in adverse circumstances and helps us thrive.

If you think you could have chosen another ride that would have been more fun and less stressful, well, you are mistaken. They are all like this. All the rides. Take for example the Hall of Mirrors. If you think it is any better then you are wrong. You enter there and look around. It is full of reflections. Reflections of you, some stretched, and some shrunk, in other words mostly distorted. You find the same reflection changing like a chameleon as your mind changes! The inside reflects outside. So you decide as how the outside should look by choosing the projection inside. The choice is yours! Or you want to move on to watch the acts of clowns? You realize as you are watching other clowns on stage, you yourself are one among them, being watched by others!

There is only one way in and only one way out. In the meantime, we are here. So we may as well get the best out of it! Have a jolly good ride!