Finding Happiness

When searching for happiness, we tend to look outward away from any discomfort or pain. And yet more often than not, the happiness we seek is found within, within the pain and discomfort itself. So all of us struggle in one way or another at different times in life. And when we experience any sense of whether it's physical, mental, emotional, discomfort, pain, or suffering the temptation is to look outside of ourselves. It might be to another person. It might be to another place. It might be to another thing, a distraction of some kind. But in moving away from ourselves, we only really temporarily distract ourselves. We don't really address the discomfort or the pain. Sometimes it might alleviate a little bit, but more often than not, we have to come back to it at some stage. And of course, if we're always running away from our suffering, then we never really understand it. But if we can find within ourselves this willingness to sit with that discomfort, to sit with that pain. Then all of a sudden we start to feel a bit more confident, more courageous. We no longer fearful of these things arising in our mind. And that really starts to change the way we experience the mind, the way we experience our life. But more than that, if we sit with it, we start to understand the essence of discomfort or pain or suffering. Again, whether it's physical, mental, emotional. We start to see that it's maybe not as fixed as we once thought it was. It's maybe not as permanent as we once thought it was. And that everything is changing all of the time. And as we develop that relationship with the suffering, with the discomfort, and we start to find a peace of mind. Even if it doesn't shift immediately, even if it doesn't shift that much. There's a greater willingness to be with the mind as it is in the moment, no matter how it appears. And that's the biggest transformation. Finding not a sort of a surface layer of happiness where we're free from any kind of discomfort 'cause that's not really the nature of the human condition. But instead finding an underlying sense of contentment at ease, no matter how the mind and the body feels at any given moment in time. So just taking a moment to settle yourself, make sure you're sitting comfortably. We're gonna begin with some deep breaths, but just make sure that the eyes are open. Not staring at any one thing, just a nice soft focus. And just maintaining that focus. Just taking those deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, just closing the eyes. Just feeling, the weight of gravity pressing down. Just focusing on those different points of contact. And just noticing any, sounds around you now. I'm bringing the attention back to the body now. Just getting a sense...