Thich Nhat Hanh says that, “Happy teachers will change the world.”
“I am willing to change” is where learning how to be happy started for me. Then it became: I am willing to be happy. I am willing to be healthy. I am willing to enjoy my life. I am willing to give greatly. I am willing to receive greatly. I am willing to accept the truth of my life, no matter how beautiful that is.
In addition to minding my own business, my main work, it seems, is to keep diligently clearing the channel between me and God through decluttering my physical belongings, detoxing and nourishing my body, and paying attention to how I feel.
Getting clear about how I want to feel has been pretty crucial on this path for me. I want to feel free. I want to feel creative, wealthy, and healthy. I want to feel connected, in communion, and holy. I want to feel happy, sexy, and turned on. I want to feel peaceful, grounded, and awake.
As Abraham-Hicks teaches, how we feel is our vibrational GPS for how to navigate living our lives. When I’m around people, places, and things that shut those feelings down, I want to notice. When I’m around people, places, and things that enhance those feelings, I want to notice. Noticing is the first step in discernment. When I remember that I curate my life, it’s important for me to remember that my feelings are the guideposts on that journey.
Abraham-Hicks says that we are all always searching for relief and that the best we can do that is to keep reaching for the better feeling thought, relax, and enjoy the ride down the river of life, rapids and all. The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships by Esther and Jerry Hicks is a good starting place to meet these teachers. I think that the audiobook version is especially delightful.
Marie Kondo discusses her approach on how to be happy in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Keep items that spark joy. Learn what joy sparks feels like. Danielle LaPorte lays this out her perspective on living a life that feels good in The Desire Map. Figure out how you want to feel. Cross reference the rest of your life with those core desired feelings. Stop chasing goals, start chasing feelings.
Gregory McEwon talks through this concept in Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. This book includes such gems as, “Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life someone else will,” and, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”
Donald Neale Walsh explains this practice as Be-Do-Have instead of Have-Do-Be in Conversations with God, Book 3: Embracing the Love of the Universe. Instead of thinking I need to have more ______ (i.e. time, money, etc.) so I can do _______ (i.e. a trip, a shopping spree, etc.) so I will feel ______ (i.e. loved, safe, etc.) the actual plan is to flip the order. Cultivate the feeling first so that all things that follow in the doing and having categories are sure to be in alignment with the feeling you start out with.
I love the teaching that it’s all the same light and we are each a lamp. We get to learn and teach things in the words, images, and vibrations that make sense in each chapter of our lives. Thanks life for teaching us how to be happy, one moment at a time, remembering and forgetting and remembering again.
Leah Moon
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