No “Thing” Can Make You Happy - Happiness Is an Inside Job

Welcome to the first episode of Sex, Love, and Elephants of 2022. Today, I talk about how you can be happy, content, and filled with loving kindness and grace… even when things are incredibly difficult in your circumstances, financially, and emotionally.  Have you ever found yourself hedging your happiness on one tangible thing? It could’ve been something small, like a really beautiful outfit for a special occasion, or maybe you bought a new bike for mountain biking. Maybe you finally bought that new pair of shoes you’d been eyeing for months or maybe you’re even guilty of telling yourself: “After this vacation, I’ll come back a whole person, rested and changed.” There's nothing wrong with seeking things that bring us pleasure, the problem comes when we expect that object or person or experience to keep us happy ever after.  In This Episode, You Will Learn: When we work with our minds through meditation, through faith based practice, through psychology, through contemplation, philosophy, etc, it can give us a vaster perspective we can actually learn to be happy for no reason (04:48) We get confused when we think that there’s a thing that will keep us happy ever after (05:48) We need to learn and cultivate the ability to be happy for no reason in order to have a strong flexible mind, a strong flexible heart, and a strong flexible spirit (10:54) In 2022, I’m going to focus on action steps and giving you small steps to work on in almost every episode, starting with the Passion Quiz that you can take right now (13:47) This week’s LoveByte (19:25) Q&A: I finally have the house/job/relationship I’ve always wanted… why am I still unhappy? When we chase after shiny objects and expect and hope for them to make us happy, we're in trouble. The key is to learn to be happy from the inside out.  What is the key to happiness? The key to happiness is learning that it is not based on one singular object or experience and that it comes from finding peace within yourself.  How can I be happy even if my circumstances are making me depressed? By expanding our perspective we can actually learn to be happy for no reason. You can be happy, and content regardless of your circumstances.   Do you have questions or topics for me to cover in 2022? Send your thoughts to [email protected]! Let’s Connect! About Me The website for the Buddhist group where I teach  Website - Sign up for Weekly LoveBytes here  Facebook Page   Youtube If you want to rate your relationship, take the Passion Quiz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.