It seems that what we really want is happiness. We know that happiness is not found in things, but in ourselves. So why do we not seek happiness within ourselves instead of more things?

asked 27 May '12, 20:32

Fairy%20Princess's gravatar image

Fairy Princess
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This is a great question, FP! I am sorry I missed it until now...Thanks for posting it! <3 Jai

(03 Jul '12, 17:47) Jaianniah

Thank you.

(04 Jul '12, 02:11) Fairy Princess
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To desire something and refusing to be happy until it's in your physical experience will lead to misery. To desire something and still enjoy your life is different.

A happy person, IMHO, desires more than an unhappy person. They're excited about life, they want to go do new things with the people they love. Many unhappy people start to isolate themselves and don't want to do anything.

Desiring can be anything from wanting to go to a new restaurant to wanting to be a billionaire. You could ask "why go somewhere new if you're already happy where you are?" It's new, it's different, it's fun. See, we all really do want happiness, but we also want to experience. It's important to learn to be happy without being dependent on the outside. This won't stop you from having new desires, however.

I agree that we should not be dependent on an outcome for happiness. We should learn how to be happy on our own. If you can learn to be happy most of the time you will live an enjoyable life.

But a life without desire is incomplete. We can't be happy 100% of the time and we wouldn't move forward if we were. We all have that "sense of adventure" within us. Maybe it's the idea of helping people. Maybe it's the experience of a relationship or raising your children. Maybe it's traveling and seeing the world.

Happiness is something you must be. Happiness can open many doors and possibilities to you. It is "the first step" and the "last". My life has blossomed beautifully before me from being happy. It wilted before me when I was not. It has only increased my "sense of adventure" and desire for more of life.

Happiness for me is sort of like... filling up the gas tank? :) You have the only thing that's gonna move you're car forward, now where to?

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answered 04 Jul '12, 17:49

LapisLazuli's gravatar image

LapisLazuli
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@LapisLazuli, your last two paragraphs got me thinking - I agree with @CalonLan in a comment above, that "happiness in not a thing, it's a way", but I've never really thought of happiness in terms of fuel for us. It does get me moving, that's for sure! And opens many doors, as you said. Good point! I think it has to do with releasing resistance to the good that is always flowing to us. There's energy in that, galvanizing us.

(05 Jul '12, 09:51) Grace
1

@LapisLazuli, "A happy person, IMHO, desires more than an unhappy person. They're excited about life, they want to go do new things with the people they love" -- I think this is the key which many do not understand. It is not a chase to happiness or to anything. Happy people know that:) Positivity all around, thanks for the insight.

(16 Jul '12, 00:57) Xoomaville

I think having desires is just a natural consequence of us living our lives.You just cant escape it.To allow true happiness you have to resist nothing.

And when you think about its not really the manifestation we are after but the resonance that comes with having the manifestation.

If we are feeling lack in our present moment from a desire not yet realised we should Love ourselves enough to allow ourselves to feel that resonance.Michael Brown calls it "feeding the desire".

This way were not feeling lack or denying the desire.Eventually you get to a stage where the desire is so real in your mind it has to manifest,but even if it didnt you probably wouldnt even care ;)

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answered 03 Jul '12, 11:59

Satori's gravatar image

Satori
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satori, to satisfy desires is natural for the child but even he changes. to know the first step then move on. by believing you stay at having desires overide your will you are retreating back down the path. look for the next step

(03 Jul '12, 14:56) fred
2

@Satori, you and several other folks here have recently been getting it in my head to stop resisting what I judge "bad". I just wanted to mention it, and say thanks, because it is having a good effect on me. I actually relax and feel something soften and let go in me when read the words "resist nothing". :)

(03 Jul '12, 16:08) Grace

@Satori - I love that bit about loving ourselves enough to feel the resonance of a feeling of lack about something. I'm reading and listening to Eckhart Tolle and there are a lot of similarities between their teachings. Have you read Alchemy of the Heart by MB?

(04 Jul '12, 09:21) Catherine

@Satori - trying to find the bit you mention above in the PP and came across on P 257 in the POSSIBILITY section an interesting piece about deja vu. I guess you have probably read it by now but just thought I would mention it.

(04 Jul '12, 11:36) Catherine

@Satori, very well put especially the last line:) I am beginning to notice that I am more and more getting detached from eventual outcome. I feel that it's making me fearless! A great way to live, I believe:)

(06 Jul '12, 03:47) Xoomaville

@Xoomaville-Thanks,yes manifestations can be an anti-climax sometimes.For me at least.I suppose the journey is really what its all about;-)

(06 Jul '12, 04:28) Satori

@Catherine-Thank you,as i understand it, Alchemy of the Heart is a follow up to TPP,I have it on my bookshelf and intend reading it.I read that quote about deja vu,thanks for the reminder,very thoughtful:).

(06 Jul '12, 04:31) Satori

@Grace-Good for you Grace and thanks,happy for you that your finding stuff that resonates.;)

(06 Jul '12, 04:33) Satori

@Fred 1-Thank you,point taken;)

(06 Jul '12, 04:34) Satori
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I think it is about having experiences. That we are here to live and experience all the contrast that comes from identifying what we do and do not desire, to ultimately align ourselves with and experience the manifestation of our desires. To expand through the process.

People with many and varied experiences lead rich and wonderful lives, I think. They are satisfied and interested and interesting, not by being greedy about having things, but by being successful in having a vast array of human experience. :)

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answered 03 Jul '12, 12:38

Grace's gravatar image

Grace
5.3k1087

Good point!

(03 Jul '12, 13:20) Fairy Princess
1

Not a good point! The best one. To expand through a directed effort of experiencing whatever it is we love.

Your key to happiness has two parts. Identify what you love doing, then find a purpose for it. If you love riding car, but has no desired destination to go to. You'll probably never leave the parking lot. But watch the bomb go off when you work towards a thing in the way that you love.

The way never goes away, riding car can be done all the time. But the purpose does. Once you reach one

(04 Jul '12, 08:39) CalonLan
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find another. And then another. And keep riding towards them.

It is those purposes that will provide you with a unique experience of living the way you love. And you will see places and meet people.

Do what you love and do it with a purpose!

I know @Fairy Princess you wish for happiness to be unconditional, but that's just so not me. :) My point of view I just shared here, makes it conditional. But on the other hand, it can't fail.

(04 Jul '12, 08:44) CalonLan

@CalonLan Your choice. I choose unconditional happiness. I enjoy it way more than not being happy untill I get what I want. That sounds like a two year old. I am going to not be happy untill I get what I want.

(04 Jul '12, 10:11) Fairy Princess
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@Fairy Princess, and it's cool :) If you can be happy without food to eat, without a warm place to sleep in cold winters, or even without the air to breath. You find ultimate way to be happy for no reason. And I sincerely congratulate you :)

(04 Jul '12, 11:21) CalonLan

@CalonLan you are taking it to an extreme. That is your creation, your interpretation of reality. However, when I was a child, I grew up in Colorado where it was very cold in the winter. We had no running water and had to haul our water. We didn't have a car most of the time, so we had to hitch rides to haul water to drink, cook, clean, bathe, etc... We were very poor and got our clothes from the Free Store or other second hand venues. It was a tiny town with barely any resources. No real stores

(04 Jul '12, 11:42) Fairy Princess

So to get groceries, we had to hitch rides to the store 30 miles away. My mom was a single mom with two little girls. There weren't jobs, so my mom made crafts to sell so she could be home with us. Some of the houses we lived in had electricity. We lived in a bread van with a stove and bunk beds, we lived in a tent/yurt (not in Colorado), we lived in a two room adobe shack with no electricity and no running water. Just to give you a taste of what my childhood was like. So I reconnected with an

(04 Jul '12, 11:46) Fairy Princess

old childhood friend a few years ago. We were talking about old times and she said that I was alway so positive and happy. Even when things were crappy I would say things like, "Well at least we have the fresh mountain air."

(04 Jul '12, 11:47) Fairy Princess

My sister and I didn't have much in the way of toys. We joke that our toys were sticks and rocks. I spent a lot of time exploring the hills or forrest, or whatever nature was our back yard. I miss that since I moved to the city. But walks are beautiful here too. Just different.

(04 Jul '12, 11:53) Fairy Princess

I learned recently not to create 'what if things go wrong' plans, and scenarios, but to create a 'what if things are great' reality. If you don't want to go there physically, don't go there mentally.

(04 Jul '12, 11:55) Fairy Princess

@CalonLan Don't be rediculous, nobody can be happy without air to breathe. No air to breathe means no life. Can you be happy just to be alive? Yes, that is a condition, but without it there is no unhappiness either. We are talking about being alive and breathing as a prerequisite to even have this conversation. Unless someone here is a nonphysical being communicating with us through this website. So unless you are a computer virus or nonphysical being, you must meet the condition of being alive.

(04 Jul '12, 12:41) Fairy Princess
2

@Grace I agree! I don't think we came here for happiness but simply to experience and expand. Desire is necessary, without it you wouldn't reach for new things to experience. Take the bad with the good, it only makes the good that much more enjoyable. :)

(04 Jul '12, 17:07) LapisLazuli

I for one have something I want badly that will make me very happy. I am, however, thoroughly enjoying the chase. ;)

(04 Jul '12, 19:56) Grace
2

@Fairy Princess, only wanted to illustrate that unhappiness is your friend in bad and unwanted situations. If you sit in a room, the air is running out, and you're happy for no reason despite facing a certain death if you continue doing so. Then you'd die. The moment you get unhappy with where you are and what's happening to you, you go and make a change. Perhaps a thought of death makes you unhappy and a thought of life makes you happy. Just saying there's always a reason to find. ;)

(05 Jul '12, 02:02) CalonLan
2

But that's only what I think, I don't want you to agree with me, just my 2 cents. And more or less a point of view for others, who haven't become stubborn in their ways as we two are yet, to choose from the options and decide for themselves. =)

p.s. and I see nothing wrong with examples of extremes situations. After all, they're just another version of moderate situations of the same kind.

(05 Jul '12, 02:06) CalonLan
1

@CalonLan - "I see nothing wrong with examples of extremes situations. After all, they're just another version of moderate situations of the same kind." - Indeed, if a general principle that is being suggested doesn't apply in all situations then it's not a general principle :)

(05 Jul '12, 06:49) Stingray

@CalonLan Go ahead and create that reality if that's what makes you happy. I don't want to. I have been there and done that. Now on to a better way.

(05 Jul '12, 11:05) Fairy Princess

@Fairy Princess, "better" is an illusion :) And totally dependent on a point of view. But if the reality is stripped of point of views, we all know there's no better or worse =)

(06 Jul '12, 02:45) CalonLan
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@Fairy Princess-Thanks for sharing your story,makes me think twice about what I write here on IQ, and my limited perspective of reality.;)

(06 Jul '12, 04:38) Satori
1

Have you ever thought you should have appreciated something more while you had it? Well NOW is that time again.

(10 Jul '12, 13:03) Fairy Princess

@CalonLan If you really understood reality creation, you wouldn't create undesirable whatif situations to be happy or unhappy in. You can just decide to be happy. Or you can create all sorts of scenarios where you would find it hard to remain happy in to prove that you can or cannot be happy. I have gone both routes and they both create the corresponding realities. Fear is the little voice that says, "What if this or that?" Either way, it still boils down to your choice.

(23 Jul '12, 10:46) Fairy Princess
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LETTER FROM SATAN

Dear Earthly people,

I am soooooo very glad that you want more and more of the things of my world. I am hoping right now that you are dissatisfied with your car, your house, and your job. That way, you will chase after more stuff and will be too busy to see those darned poor and wretched people that are always crying for help. I love hearing them cry for help, and seeing them ignored. It makes my day!

Don't you know that I rule this world??? It is true. When I convinced Eve to eat the apple, that stupid contract that man had with God was (quite cleverly, in my humble opinion) broken. That put me in charge of the Earth, and I have been having a ball, making people lust and hate and kill and...well, you know what I mean. All the stuff that people of the world enjoy.

Unfortunately for me, God figured out a way to make a new contract. He found that sugary-sweet virgin, made her pregnant, and she bore...Oh it kills me to say his name. It really does. He was so...holy. I didn't expect belief in him to last all this time. I really didn't. But there are always a few who are (repeat in a sing-song voice, please) faithful to Jesus and follow His leadings and just make me really pissed.

They have left my wonderful world with all its great stuff, and have gone into the "world of believers"- whatever...I thought when they nailed him to the cross, "Yippee! I win again!!!" But, no...Of course, the guy came back after visiting my humble abode and surviving that to live even after he was killed.

I was not expecting that ending.

I really was not.

A new covenant was thus made between God and man, which says that if you believe in that wonderful guy, you leave my jurisdiction, and belong to him. Unfortunately for me, it is true. Those Jesus people are really, really stubborn. They believe that God will answer their prayers. And he does.

It all makes me sick.

So, to wrap up, if you want more and more, good. It will keep your mind off of helping your neighbor, loving each other, and all that junk that Jesus promised to be true. I mean, "Blessed are the poor???"

Give me a break.

Just keep on wanting more, and keep me happy, huh?

With all my great desires,

Your friend Satan

Thankfully in Peace,

Jaianniah

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answered 03 Jul '12, 16:58

Jaianniah's gravatar image

Jaianniah
37.8k13104607

Jai, do you see what paradigm is there in your post when you read it in-between the lines. People are hungry for action, for stagnation is despair. But don't choose wisely which actions happen. Mostly, just something going on is enough. And there is no difference made between learning an educated knowledge or gossiping with your friends on the corner of the street. Those two actions are equal in value, yet so opposite to each other in their sense. You can want a new car or to help a neighbor.

(04 Jul '12, 08:10) CalonLan

But one thing is for sure, you want something to happen. Hunger for experience it is. And it might be hard for someone who's used to experiencing not so great things to see, that there's a better way. Better activity to do. E.g. my roommate just decided to buy a cat. A desperate move to shift focus and run away from his pathetic life. You can't argue with him, he has to go through this himself and realize that outer world won't bring you happiness.

(04 Jul '12, 08:14) CalonLan

It's not things you have, but in how you live with yourself everyday.

Happiness is not a thing, it's a way. And I'm aware I used judgement in my example calling my friend's life pathetic. Which was to only illustrate the difference between what is and what could be, if he wanted.

(04 Jul '12, 08:14) CalonLan
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I hate to be authoritative but, the only way to be happy is to be happy for no reason. be happy really happy for no reason. Blesssings

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answered 04 Jul '12, 16:50

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Tom
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Amen to that Tom :-)

(15 Jul '12, 21:32) Starlight

As source energy with are bathed in perfection,but as we all know we as Human Beings are not perfect, this is what drives our desires.It is our desire to become what we already are.Perfect Circle. Love and Light.

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answered 03 Jul '12, 22:13

Roy's gravatar image

Roy
4.6k11440

it is where your thoughts go,
by nature you are material form,
with sensations and intellect
yet, where do hold spirit

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answered 27 May '12, 22:08

fred's gravatar image

fred
19.7k176

We want more because we love the expansion. We are source energy living in these physical bodies. We came here to expand, to grow, to love and so desire is very good. Desire, align with it which means if the Source within you agrees with it you will feel good and so it will manifest. If you feel bad than your belief about it has to change.

Desires push up to move forward to expand and learn

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answered 23 Jul '12, 12:59

Marilyn's gravatar image

Marilyn
212

it may be the spirit within us that goads the indolence of material form, yet we intellect that desire rules. there may be more yet to learn of what we are

(24 Jul '12, 06:30) fred
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