The Happiest Place On Earth

In this episode of the Happiness podcast, Dr. Puff explores how to live every moment at the 'happiest place on earth'. He challenges our conventional understanding of what happiness is and how we can aim to achieve it. Listen to this enlivening and informative podcast to become inspired to embrace every opportunity and reap joy from all things in life.

Transcript

Welcome to the Happiness Podcast.

I'm Dr.

Robert Puff.

I live in Southern California,

And you've probably heard of this place called Disneyland.

Well,

It's not too far from my home,

And I've been there many times over the years.

And if you've been there or any of the parks around the world,

You'll know there's a slogan that goes along with Disneyland or Disney World.

It says,

The happiest place on earth.

And though Disneyland is such a beautiful place,

And my family and I have such beautiful memories about being there over the years.

If you're an observant like I am,

You know sometimes it isn't the happiest place on earth.

Sometimes people get there,

And after being there all day,

They're exhausted,

Their kids are exhausted,

And that happy feeling just isn't there.

I used to get sad by it,

Particularly when I saw a kid crying.

So what I did,

And I've done it for many,

Many years now,

Is I try to carry my own special toys in my fanny pack.

So when I see a kid crying,

I pull out my toy,

Show it to him or her,

And usually that's enough to distract them from whatever's upsetting them at that moment.

I do think though that that's where a lot of people get caught in regards to happiness.

That happiness is events,

Things that happen,

And if we can have them enough and regular,

Then everything's going to be wonderful.

But I think we'll find that that isn't true.

The real fallacy of trying to put our happiness in something external is that things change.

I mean you get to Disneyland,

It's a great day,

You're excited,

But hours later your feet hurt,

You're tired,

You're exhausted,

You're overwhelmed by all the activity and people,

And you just want to go home and go to bed,

But you spend a lot of money.

So you want to stay there,

You want to see all the sights,

So you keep pushing it.

And again,

There's a lot of good times,

But throughout the day,

If you're really honest,

There are hard times too.

And many years ago I discovered the same thing with traveling.

When I was younger,

I was able to work one summer and make good money,

And I saved all the amount,

And the next summer with that $2,

000 I had,

I went to Europe for three months and obviously traveled very cheaply because that included my airfare,

And I traveled all around Europe,

And it was great,

And I loved it,

And I continue to travel to this day as long as I'm able to.

But however,

Many,

Many years ago,

I figured something out,

That while traveling is fun,

There are aspects of traveling that are utterly exhausting.

There's getting there,

There's getting around,

And if you're on a tight budget like I was,

There's a lot of time just focusing on,

Well,

I have enough money to get home.

I mean,

It isn't that traveling is bad.

It's just like when we go to Disneyland,

There are aspects of it that can be tiresome,

And the tiresome part we tend to forget when we get back home.

We tend to focus on just all the positive and forget that there often is aspects to traveling that aren't always the best.

Now,

You may be thinking like some people,

Well,

Dr.

Buff,

I'll fly first class,

And I'll have a driver drive me around,

And I'll stay in really posh hotels,

And all those things can sound great,

But in order to afford those things,

How much are we going to have to sacrifice to save up for that?

What type of work are we going to have to do where we can afford a trip just like that?

So,

The point I'm trying to make here,

Hopefully it's coming across clearly,

Is that no matter how hard we try to create this happiest place on earth,

If we're looking for it externally,

There's always going to be some flaws in it.

No matter who we are,

No matter where we are,

There's always going to be something that's going to make that happy place unhappy.

I could go on and on and try to prove my point,

But I'm hoping that you kind of get it.

You know through your own personal experiences,

Things that you've done,

Events that you've gone to,

That were supposed to be spectacular,

And sometimes they are.

If you look at the whole picture,

There might be parts of it that had problems with it.

Even the fact that it ended can be a problem.

Now we have to get back to regular life.

So,

What I'm going to argue is these external things that we seek happiness with are going to be more thrills than truly happiness because of change,

Because of the whole picture,

All that they come with.

There's always going to be some flaw when we look externally for happiness.

We just can't control everything.

We can have some awesome thrills,

But they are thrills.

And I think what we have to be careful there is that this can become an addiction.

It was a thrill that I had to work on to overcome myself.

I have a lot of energy.

I love doing things.

I love exploring our world,

But that can become an addiction.

It can be something that distracts us from what's going on inside,

Distracts us from finding happiness wherever we're at in the here and now.

Thankfully,

I did learn this,

And even though I still like to go to Disneyland,

I still like to travel,

I'm not attached to it anymore.

And where I really saw the thrill aspect of traveling or experiences was with my clients that I work with.

I've worked with some pretty wealthy clients over the years,

And I love them.

They're beautiful people,

But what I've learned from them is they don't always work very hard on their souls,

On themselves,

To learn to be deep,

Spiritual,

Healthy,

Happy people.

When things are going poorly for them,

They'll go on a trip.

They'll buy a new toy.

They'll get a new thrill,

And it works.

It's like being a heroin addict.

Things can be going horribly,

But if you shoot that heroin in your blood,

You're going to feel better.

It's the same way with thrills.

They too work the same way in the sense that when we're not doing well inside,

When things aren't going well,

Instead of working towards fixing it,

We find a thrill,

And that thrill distracts us from the chaos in our lives.

And I think where the Disneyland's in our life can be kind of tricky is these travel events,

These things that we do that are so exciting that everyone loves,

Have that caveat in them,

And that they're external,

And we can't control them.

And no matter how hard we try,

They're still going to be suffering.

So instead,

What if we were to say,

I do want to find the happiest place in the world.

Where is that?

Guess what?

It's inside of us.

That's where we find it.

We're never going to find it externally because of change,

Because of impermanence.

But the one thing that we have always with us is the present moment.

And so if we begin to say,

Okay,

How do I find happiness in this present moment?

Then what happens is,

No matter where we're at,

If we're at Disneyland,

Or if we're sick,

Stuck in a hospital bed by ourselves,

Wherever we're at,

Whatever fill in the blank we find,

We can be okay.

Not only that,

We can truly find peace and happiness in any moment.

The key is really doing the opposite of what we try to do when we go on trips.

Again,

Nothing wrong with going on trips.

But when we hang on to things and say,

I need to go to Disneyland today to be happy,

Then what's going to happen?

If we're not at Disneyland,

We're going to be unhappy.

And if we are at Disneyland,

We say,

I can be happy at Disneyland.

I can be happy where I'm not at Disneyland.

Then what happens is,

We're free.

We're free because when we're at Disneyland,

Our hearts are good.

We're not trying to hang on to anything.

And when we're not at Disneyland,

Our hearts are good,

Because we're not trying to hang on to anything.

It's the hanging on,

It's the wanting,

It's the wishing things to be a certain way.

Then we suffer.

And we say,

Instead,

Okay,

I get it.

When I'm not attached to anything,

Then I'm free to explore everything.

So let's say we're at Disneyland and it's a really long line.

Then we say,

Okay,

We're going to be in this line for a while.

So why don't I strike up a good conversation with the person behind me?

Or why don't I put on my headphones and listen to the happiness podcast?

Sorry,

I was just being silly.

But what we find,

It is that it's a bit of playfulness with life,

Because we're not hanging on to anything.

So anything can be great.

We can just explore,

Like little kids exploring their world.

The whole world becomes our adventure.

And we look out and say,

Wow,

What's going on now?

And we're curious,

We're engaging,

We're not attached to anything.

And that non-attachment makes the happiest place on earth our hearts,

The present moment.

And if we string a whole lot of present moments together that are happy,

Then we are at the happiest place on earth.

And that place we carry with us everywhere.

So I do believe all of us can have beautiful lives.

I say it so many times,

You're probably sick of it,

But I believe it.

And the only thing keeping us from it is us,

Our attachments to things having to go a certain way.

So if we let go of that attachment,

Say,

You know,

Whatever way life goes,

If it's a Disneyland day,

Or if it's a three hour wait for the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland,

I'm going to still enjoy each moment of that day,

Because life is a gift.

And that non-attachment really helps us see how life,

When we're in the present moment,

Without our thoughts,

Without our fears,

Without our anxieties,

Just living in the here and now,

Exploring what's before us,

Whatever that is,

Then life,

Each moment,

Can be the happiest place on earth.

Thank you for joining me on the happiness podcast.

Besides creating this podcast,

There are a variety of other things that I do.

If you'd like to keep abreast of these activities,

And perhaps someday we may be able to meet in person,

Just go to www.

Happinesspodcast.

Org.

That's happinesspodcast.

Org.

You can subscribe to my newsletter.

And if you do,

You'll be emailed a free PDF copy of my meditation book called Reflections on Meditation.

And until next time,

Accept what is,

Love what is.

Reviews

Excellent!

Truth that happiness is inside and not a specific person or place. Great episode. Thank you

Thank you. Enjoyed this. Think my need for travel is to share time with people I love. But my favorite is a good snow day. When the world stops and you can just enjoy the moment with family. “Home”.

Great advice! Thanks!😊

Excellent! So grateful for this relatable and enjoyable talk! Thank you!!

That 's it.Congratulation.The Best place is here and now.

Wow! Accept what is...love what is

Connecting with the joy within! Thanks Dr.Puff! Good stuff!

Today i’ll continue to be mindful of gifting ☀️myself with vacations of a lifetime Dr. Puff☺️🙋🏻‍♀️💕 Loved this metaphoric fun. So true...it’s too simple. We run and hide in difficulty....Happiness is us!!!! Thanks Doc💕🔥🐠 kiss the sky!

I love your podcasts, Dr. Puff! Non attachment is the key to happiness in the present moment! Thank you!

This was excellent. 🙏

Thank you Namaste 💞