Now, that's not to say we can't find happiness. The Dalai Lama says life is all about finding happiness. (I've been reading the Art of Happiness, by his holiness, would highly recommend!) However, what I mean, is that it never ends, this search. It's not like one day you wake up and everything is perfect and it will stay that way forever because you've found the perfect relationship, the perfect job, the right amount of money, the ideal body then that's it. Life is frozen and stays still, time stops and you have your happy ending, everything you ever wanted. Cue wedding at the end of the movie and roll the credits. The end, life sails along blissfully from here on out. Reality check. Life is a series of never ending ups and downs, struggles and triumphs that never stop. The end is death. Other than that, things keep on rolling. There is no perfect, there is no stopping point where you've made it and now you can stop worrying and trying so damn hard.
Life keeps moving no matter how hard you might try to sit on your hands, you can't stop time from shooting forward in what can feel like leaps and bounds. Things go well, then badly and then they're just okay. What I've realized is to stop the searching for perfect, for the happy ending. I'm trying to surf the waves, enjoy the view of the land and the glistening of the sun. Relish in the company of my fellow surfers.
_DSC3422
From my limited understanding of both Buddhism and Yogic Philosophies, the causes of suffering are (among other things), ignorance, clinging and avoidance. We grasp and reach and then hold on for dear life to what we want, the things that makes us feel good. We run away and hide from the things we don't want, the things that make us feel bad. Ignorance being a misunderstanding of the impermanent nature of it all, not being able to see the true nature of reality. This is maya, the illusion created by our mind.
So go out and surf the waves, trust in the flow of life, be okay throughout both the ups and the downs. Then true equanimity of the mind will be a little less elusive. This my friends, is what the Dalai Lama means when he says life is about finding happiness. It's an internal happiness, one independent of what happens externally. Because we can't control what happens externally, in the world. Easier said than done but that's why yogis call it a practice. Go forth and practice my dear friends and loving souls.