Dialing-In Happiness

Are you in the habit of dialing-in what you want to listen to? Whether it be a play list stored in your iPod or tunes from your favorite radio station, you may enjoy consciously choosing your listening experience. Have you ever thought about dialing-in happiness the same way?

A wide variety of music, news, and entertainment broadcasts are always available to us - anytime, anywhere. The same is true for happiness. True happiness resides deep within us. Each of us is born with it, stamped on every cell of our being. Yet much of the time, happiness seems to lie beneath the surface of our lives, allowed to rise only when certain conditions are met - or so we think.

To deliberately call up happiness, consciously bringing it into our immediate experience, has not been something we have been taught. But it is something we can learn to do now - especially now - because we have arrived at a pivotal place in time and space where states of awareness can be chosen. Choosing one’s thoughts and feelings is the new scientific and spiritual frontier that beckons to be explored. Our daily, personal experience of happiness glimmers brightly on the edge of this exciting new horizon.

The truth is, happiness resides in our core, our essence. It is housed within us as the powerful Source energy we call Love, or Spirit, which permeates everything. As Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj explained it, “You are Love itself - when you are not afraid.” Love, and its manifestation of happiness, is available to us at all times. Like the play list on your iPod or music on the radio, happiness is there, ready and waiting, whenever you are.

We’ve all had moments when we were able to tap into an experience of happiness. It arrived spontaneously while engaged in a specific activity, a loving interaction, a pleasurable pastime or hobby, or in the beauty of nature. Or, it appeared through an act of noticing, a sudden appreciation of what was right in front of us. Before we knew it, we felt lighter, more content, more connected to our true self, others, and to Spirit.

Happiness, therefore, is not something to be achieved, but a state of mind and emotion to be accessed. So, what prevents us from actually dialing-in greater happiness? We maintain it is our conditioned way of doing things in the same way over and over again that keeps happiness at bay. Our “wiring,” sourced in the human ego, also keeps us convinced that happiness must be searched for, hard won, or earned.

True happiness is a matter of personal choice. Accessing it can be as simple as shifting our awareness from the head (ego) to the heart (Love). This may require effort at first. To make manifest any new choice, to move away from a habituated way of operating, takes time, practice, and commitment. We’d like to share one such method we’ve discovered for dialing-in greater happiness. This method is especially valuable when you do not have the luxury of changing your environment; when you are sitting in your office cubicle, driving in the car, or waiting for an airplane.

Begin by closing your eyes. Relax, and take a few deep, cleansing breaths. When you feel yourself becoming more calm, begin to direct your attention to the area of your heart. Allow yourself to notice and accept the clockwise spinning of your heart center, or heart chakra (as viewed from outside the body). Stay focused in this way for a few moments. Then bring this same focus of attention to the area between your shoulder blades on your back. Envision the clockwise spinning at the front and back of your heart center simultaneously.

If you are able to hold this focus long enough (usually it takes a few minutes), you may begin to experience an enhanced sense of calm, and, soon after, a natural, subtle feeling of happiness. Root your attention in this place a while longer and you may find yourself moving into deeper levels of happiness, joy, or gratitude. Stay even longer and bliss may be yours, accompanied by a sense of oneness with all creation.

Happiness truly is a choice, a choice of the heart and soul. Happiness is our sacred birthright and our destiny. All we need do is remember to dial it in - often.

May true happiness be yours, each and every day of your life.

Brad and Jan Lundy are the authors of Perfect Love. Brad is a spiritual counselor and the creator of SoulSailing™, a practice for living from your heart. Contact him for private sessions at info@EnjoyPerfectLove.com. Jan is an Interfaith Spiritual Director and the author of Your Truest Self (Sorin Books, Oct. 2008). www.awakenedliving.com They work, love, and play together in northern Michigan.