temporary

How long is considered short-termed? Whatever that increment is, I feel like I’m constantly trying to aim for it. I can’t say that that’s how I want to live my life, even though I fall into the trap on an every day basis, and it’s so easy to live for the short-term. The deeper I delve into life this summer, the more I realize that the things I do, think, feel are based on me wanting to be happy in that moment, but not really thinking about the rest of the day, week, or even my life. Sure, it’s really great to be happy in the moment, but if that is constantly fluctuating, what’s the point? If the next moment I’m going to be unhappy, confused, frustrated, was that one moment of happiness worth it? To be completely honest, I don’t know if it is.

I can tell you that what I want is to be happy in every moment the rest of my life. And what’s the key to that? Well, in theory, it’s pretty simple.

There’s this idea of temporary versus permanent. What is permanent in this world? Physically, on a gross level, nothing really. We are constantly changing; one day we will deteriorate back into the Earth from which we came. Our jobs, family, schools, environment is always changing. Ever internally, we can’t really rely on our thoughts and emotions, our mind because they too are constantly changing as well. Unfortunately, not many of us have the power to harness our mind’s energy and be able to control. On the flip side, our mind controls us. Our intellect controls us. Our senses control us. We are constantly chasing after all these things, the latest shoe, the best tasting dish, a great education. What is all of that doing to us? What are we gaining from it? Up to a certain point, we are benefitting. However, we are benefitting on a pretty gross level. We are just feeding our senses. And sure, that is giving us this in the moment happiness, but it also can give us in the moment frustration, anger, hatred, confusion, and so many other emotions. What use is this if we really truly want to be happy? Is this the way to eternal happiness? Is this what is going to make our souls–our true and pure selves happy? I can’t say that it will.

On this current adventure I am on, I heard a really interesting thing the other night. The speaker was talking all about what we attach ourselves to in terms of temporary and permanent. In terms of permanence, what is more true? The mind? Or the soul? As permanent as the mind seems, it is in constant fluctuation; chasing what the senses want and getting in the way of our true nature. The soul on the other hand is the truest aspect of ourselves. It is true happiness and bliss and perfection. But, unfortunately, we have lost sense of our true self as the soul and the God within (or whatever lingo you wish to use).

We need to stop attaching and identifying ourselves with the temporary, ever-changing things in this world. Bind to something that is constant and permanent. True happiness isn’t a hard thing to achieve. It just takes a lot of work.

It takes a lot of soul searching. Literally. Reconnect with your true self. Ask yourself what is real and what is not, what’s temporary and what’s permanent. Everything is relative; and it’s okay to live in this relative world, because that’s just what we have to do. What’s important is we learn to be aware of the relative, and learn how to move past that and into the permanent.

That permanent is something bigger than ourselves. Seek your path and find your way back to your true self.

because y’all know I love gratitude

I know I’ve mentioned something about gratitude in several of my posts. I’ve posted a few daily encouragements that mention gratefulness. One of my favorite quotes by the most influential person in my life is “To be grateful is to be human.”

I want to pass on this video to you all about gratitude. Got 7 minutes? Go ahead, watch it now.

Did you watch it? I think it’s pretty amazing how something so simple (and free for that matter!) is the key to our happiness. This just further proves that all of this stuff we surround ourselves with doesn’t create a solution to our happiness. And, this is something that is even hard for me to fully act on most of the time. Doing all of the stuff that we love, hiking, shopping, reading, painting, whatever just makes life more fun. But does it really truly make us happy? Short term, maybe. But, we can’t keep living for short-term results, because then in the long-term, it can maybe cause unhappiness and dissatisfaction. It’s kind of like this. Why do we take vitamins and work out and even brush our teeth? Because we know that it’s good for us, and can prevent disease and  rotten teeth in the future. If we can take care of our physical self so that we can be healthy later on in life, why can’t we take care of our spiritual and mental self?

Something so simple, but so hard to do. Yeah, it means putting aside our ego for a little bit to let another individual, or thing, or whatever that you’re grateful for what they did for you; that because of them you succeeded in xyz. But, in the end, a little humility and gratitude does keep ourselves in check. And that’s not a bad thing, right?

So, go ahead. Tell someone thank you. And really truly mean it. Don’t say it out of an obligatory way like when someone holds the door open for you and you grudgingly thank them for that little task. Be grateful and be awesome!

Want to read the actual study? I haven’t gotten around to it, but definitely on my reading list. Here it is!

it’s the first day of spring y’all

Happy official first day of Spring! This is my absolute favorite season, hands down. Things are getting warmer, brighter, and just all around happier! (Not to mention, it’s the season of my birthday…just to make things even more awesome). I think it stands true that the weather change definitely brings about a change in the atmosphere, and in the environment that surrounds you.

So, this week I noticed a couple things that literally hit me. I didn’t realize or really pay attention to the details. First, I was sitting in our kitchen, and the blinds were open. It was a pretty clear day outside. I was having one of those moments where I was staring off into space, but all of a sudden I noticed that one of our growing trees in the background was sprouting green buds. This was not there the day before. It’s like it literally happened overnight. Then, yesterday, I was driving to work, did my normal work thing, and as I was coming home, I realized that the trees that line the entrance of our neighborhood were in complete full bloom. Okay, that for sure wasn’t there that morning.

the trees that line the entrance of our neighborhood; so gorgeous in the spring time!

It was so amazing to see the beauty of spring literally appear before my eyes. And I couldn’t help but smile and marvel at the amazingness of nature.

I think there’s an important lesson we can learn from this season. When I think of spring, I think of rejuvenation and revival. After being cooped up inside all winter long, covered from head to toe in sweatshirts and fleece pants and wool socks (or is that just me?), it’s nice to be able to breathe again. It’s nice to be able to literally take in fresh air. There is definitely a rejuvenation and a revival in me the minute that the sun starts shining a little bit more and the days become a bit more longer. It’s that feeling of “I’m going to conquer and take on whatever feat and whatever challenge comes my way.”

As the flowers are blooming, and developing into something beautiful, I am reminded of our own constant development. We are never the same person we were just two minutes ago. And as cliche and ridiculous as this sounds, we are constantly blooming into something more and more beautiful each day. And that is the beauty of spring–shedding off the layers upon layers of things and just stuff that is holding us back…the layers that are hindering us from achieving our goals. With the rejuvenation that comes with spring, we’re able to shed those layers and really take on the task at hand.

Who says resolutions can only be made on January 1? I think the spring time is one of the prime times to set goals for yourself and really get to work with them. You always have the chance to start again. So why not take a lesson from the nature that surrounds you? Everything around us is coming to life again. It’s time for us to come to life too. Refresh, revive, rejuvenate.  Happy Spring!

*The image at the top of the post is one of the trees that line our neighborhood. The perfect capture of spring in a photograph. 

 

it’s finally that time of year

It’s safe to say that the holiday season is officially upon us across the world. Thanksgiving and family time is anticipated in the States. The arrival of St. Nicholas and the birth of Jesus Christ are in the air across the world. Here in India, Diwali, the biggest festival of our culture, starts tomorrow. And of course the celebration of the end of this year, and the ringing in of 2013 will be the perfect ending to what truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

I just want to take a minute to remind myself, more than anything, that past the lights, gifts, and feasts, there is something greater to these days, and that is family, love, happiness, and gratefulness.

As we enjoy the food and gifts this season, let’s remember to be grateful that we have even been given the opportunity. Love. Be happy. Be grateful.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.”          –Brother David Steindl-Rast