SRS Session 8 | Happiness

In session 8 we get curious about the true source of happiness and the impact that cultivating our own happiness can have on others. This session includes both affirmation and visualization. The Spiritual Recalibration Series (SRS) is designed to help you expand your awareness into a new, more open, curious and expansive way of being in daily life. This impactful series comprises 33 sessions, each with a short topic (the recalibration) followed by guided meditation. Meditations include affirmations, visualizations, and brief periods of quiet, musical stillness.

Transcript

Okay,

Welcome back to the Spiritual Recalibration Series.

Thank you for embarking on this series and opening yourself to a new way of being.

My name is David,

And this is Session 8,

Happiness.

Find a comfortable seat in a space where you can allow yourself 20 minutes or so,

Undistracted,

To focus just on you.

A quick reminder,

To get the most out of this series,

Please be sure you've listened to the Welcome Session,

Session Zero.

Here we go.

So a little bit of the process that I go through.

You know,

At the beginning of the week,

I kind of,

I get curious about what thing we might talk about.

And I jot down some initial ideas,

And I rock,

And I meditate,

And I practice,

And it just kind of percolates there,

Right,

A little bit,

Jot some things down,

And then invariably,

The morning of our practice,

Some of that stuff stays in little bits,

But in the morning,

New stuff comes in.

So that's kind of how it happens.

So this morning,

The way it came in is there were three people who said something at one time or another,

One of them was just yesterday,

About something else,

Not specifically related to happiness,

But I found myself playing with in regard to happiness.

And so the first one,

The first one was actually my sister.

My older sister has been a vegetarian for,

I think,

Basically her entire adult life.

She started when she was a late teen,

I think.

And I remember years ago,

Her mentioning to me,

We were talking about this sort of thing,

And she said that being a vegetarian is a meal-to-meal choice.

So I thought that was interesting then,

That this whole big thing comes down to,

This whole big thing that she ascribes to as far as her diet,

How she feeds herself,

And that it was a choice.

Every time she ate,

It was a choice to be a vegetarian.

And so that made me think about the choice to be happy.

It's happiness,

A meal-to-meal choice,

A day-to-day choice,

A moment-to-moment choice.

So that feels a little bit out,

That feels a little bit maybe a challenge to grasp the idea of choosing to be happy,

Because that's not really the way that we're conditioned,

I guess,

The way we're brought up.

So happiness is not a choice,

It's something that you acquire.

So the way I was thinking about choosing,

What I was thinking,

Okay,

When have I noticed happiness?

And it seems like there is a direct relationship to gratitude.

I remember not that long ago just saying,

Oh gosh,

I feel quite happy right now.

I was saying it to my wife or my daughter.

And what I tied it to right there in that moment was how grateful I was for just what was happening,

Just where I was and who I was with.

And in that moment,

I was grateful.

So as far as happiness being a choice,

It seems that maybe it begins with being grateful.

So maybe that gratitude practice we've talked about is a good thing.

And the second thing,

And I think this kind of all maybe ties together.

So the second one was,

I remember,

I think it was a year or two ago,

Or maybe longer,

Eckhart Tolle,

He was talking about,

And I might butcher the quote there,

But I believe he was referring to someone winning the lottery and the level of consciousness.

So you win the lottery and now you have all of these things,

But he said,

It's called your life situation.

So your life situation has changed,

But if nothing has changed internally,

Then you experience the same level of consciousness in more luxurious surroundings.

So I thought that was pretty cool the way he said that.

And so with happiness,

We win the lottery,

And then we experience the same level of happiness in more luxurious surroundings.

What if that's true?

Because I think we're conditioned to see happiness as something we acquire through external circumstances or external things being a certain way to bring us pleasure.

We all know how we do this.

I told you guys a few weeks ago about how I bought a car to replace my car,

And then I ended up having to buy another car at the same time.

So we ended up with two new used cars,

But nice cars.

And then a couple of things went wrong with these new things.

I found myself down at CarMax a few different times,

And they fixed it,

And that was fine.

But now with things,

With those two cars,

Now I need to fix them and take care of them and pay for them.

And there's the summer vacation,

Or just the vacation.

I don't know about you,

But I've experienced sadness on a beach.

It's like suddenly,

Or you're there,

And you come home,

And then you're home.

So it's just always,

And I've certainly played with someone else making me happy.

I'll be happy when I find a partner.

I'll be happy,

A relationship.

Look at teenage love,

Or just the nature of a romantic relationship,

Which we don't have to dive into now,

But the idea that someone else will make me happy,

The Jerry Maguire,

You complete me.

That's certainly a heck of a lot of responsibility to put on that person.

And then we realized that that person is also a person,

And maybe they're looking to be completed also.

And so the happiness doesn't seem to come from anything external,

Which means it's internal,

Which means it comes from within,

To me anyway,

Because all of that external stuff that we kind of are bred to believe will make us happy is temporary.

The novelty of any of that stuff wears off,

And then maybe the car gets old.

It's no longer,

You know,

Or you get another one.

So that leads me to the third person,

And this was just yesterday.

I was listening to a brief talk in meditation,

And the fellow was talking about oneness,

The idea of oneness,

Which is a big idea,

Which I love to get curious about.

But during that talk on oneness,

He was saying,

Well,

If,

You know,

You and I,

I mean,

You're,

I'm here,

You're there,

We're two different people.

So we're not one,

You are you,

And I am me.

But what,

So what do we have in common?

What is the common thing?

This is what I was hearing him say.

And the first thing he mentioned was peace.

He mentioned a few other things,

But what I heard him to say was that the peace that you experience is the same as the peace that I experience.

It's the same thing.

That's what we have in common.

So what if that's happiness?

If the happiness that comes from within is the same for you as it is for me?

Which is really interesting and empowering,

Just from a human perspective,

Because it seems like if that's true,

Then the most I can do to uplift the happiness of the people around me and people in general is to be happy myself,

Because it's all happiness.

So maybe when you tap into your happiness,

It's there for me,

And vice versa.

So there's that.

So let's,

So we're going to do a short practice now,

Just an affirmation practice,

And maybe a little visualization in our last few minutes here.

All right.

So reset your body there.

Make sure you're sitting up nice and tall.

If you're sitting in a chair,

Feet flat on the ground.

Close down the eyes gently,

Eyes soft behind the eyelids,

Palms face up or face down,

Your choice.

On the thighs,

At the juncture of thighs and abdomen,

Or a little bit further forward.

And tune into these words,

Allowing yourself to slowly memorize them as they come through,

Or just allowing them to seep in.

My happiness comes from within.

Happiness is my way.

I bring happiness when I awake.

I bring happiness with me to sleep.

In every encounter in life,

I open my heart and bring happiness.

My happiness comes from within.

Happiness is my way.

I bring happiness when I awake.

I bring happiness with me to sleep.

In every encounter in life,

I open my heart and bring happiness.

My happiness comes from within.

Happiness is my way.

I bring happiness when I awake.

I bring happiness with me to sleep.

In every encounter in life,

I open my heart and bring happiness.

Allowing yourself to say out loud,

Along with me in a whisper,

My happiness comes from within.

Happiness is my way.

I bring happiness when I awake.

I bring happiness with me to sleep.

In every encounter in life,

I open my heart and bring happiness.

Following along just in your mind,

Drawing your gaze upward gently toward the point between your eyebrows with concentration.

My happiness comes from within.

Happiness is my way.

I bring happiness when I awake.

I bring happiness with me to sleep.

In every encounter in life,

I open my heart and bring happiness.

Allowing the feeling behind the words to resonate for just a few moments,

With a gentle gaze upward toward the point between the eyebrows.

Allow yourself to see a flower.

This flower is within you.

It grows from the soil that is your trust.

You trust it.

Your desire for this happiness that grows within you waters this flower.

Your awareness of it,

This happiness within you,

Is the sunlight for this flower.

As you trust this happiness,

You desire it,

And you are aware that it comes from within.

This flower grows beautifully within you.

Allow it to expand.

Allow the blossom to open.

The scent of this flower is your love.

Allow it to be.

Choosing it.

Now let this visual go,

Drawing your gaze once again upward to the point between your eyebrows for just a moment or two longer.

Allow yourself to feel the happiness within you to whatever extent you do now.

And now,

Take an intentional inhale through your nose,

And an exhale through your nose.

Allow yourself to either stay just as you are for as long as you like,

And when you're ready,

Flutter open your eyes.