Sunshine brings our happiness out – Mountain Lesson No.45

What makes you happy?

Buddhism teaches us that happiness is within us and suggests that external things don’t make us happy. Not really. Not for long. The problem with ‘things’ making us happy is that when we can’t find something to make us happy or that ‘thing’ that makes us happy is no longer there, then we crave more of that ‘thing’ and we become unhappy. And, craving is a source of misery. 

Yep. This is a hard pill to swallow. “But ice cream makes me happy and a glass of wine makes me happy and my friends make me happy and my dog makes me happy and my car makes me happy and reading makes me happy and ...” fill in the blank with your preferred source of happiness.

What happens when we can’t have any of those things? What happens when it’s dark and grey and cold in the middle of winter? We know that this is a source of tragedy in some countries in northern Europe.

Here in Australia, we are a third of the way into winter and Adelaide gets pretty cold in winter. Yesterday was an exception. 20 ℃ plus in some areas and the sun was out all day. Blue skies! Days like this bring the people out. Record numbers of people trying to jam into the car park at Mount Lofty, a popular local nature hike. Thousands of people down at the beaches (not swimming, admittedly). Everyone enjoying the sunshine and all appearing quite happy.

So how do we find happiness or how do we create happiness when the things that we rely on to make us happy are not there?

Here’s three things that we can practice:

1. We can think about the things that make us happy and that will lift our spirits.

2. We can think about being happy and just pretend—yep, fake it til you make it!

3. We can just simply be happy.

Being happy is a choice. Being miserable is a choice. Being angry is a choice. Being kind is a choice. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. I spent 10 days learning about this at the beginning of the year, at a silent Vipassana meditation retreat. Yes, I do mention the retreat occasionally because it had such a profound impact on me. Admit it. We tend to talk about things that make us happy. Yes, some people like to complain about things that don’t make them happy. Perhaps the complaining makes them feel better for a moment, but it’s difficult to be angry or annoyed about something and be happy at the same time.

This is particularly relevant now with COVID-19 and the lockdowns that are happening. In some countries, people have hardly been allowed to leave their house for three months. And there are unfortunate side effects of this isolation and confinement, with domestic violence and mental health, etc. So now is a really important time to learn to find happiness and joy within ourselves. 

So, how are you going to find your happiness next time you’re looking for it? Sit in the sun? Go for a hike? Think about being happy? It’s inside you.

As the great teacher of Vipassana meditation S. N.Goenka said “Be happy”.

Dan :)

Photo by Dylan Sauerwein on Unsplash