This Sunday I will complete the series
of lessons based on Michael A. Singer’s book, The Untethered Soul, with
a talk entitled “Unconditional Happiness.”
In his book, Mr. Singer posits that life is actually quite simple, that
we only need to make one choice in life; that choice is whether we want to be
happy or not. He asserts that, “Once you
make that choice, your path through life becomes totally clear.”
My assumption is that every one of us,
if asked, “Do you want to be happy?” would respond with a resounding
“Yes!” If it is indeed a choice, and I
fully believe that it is; why do we ever choose to be unhappy? We would certainly choose happiness over
unhappiness. Or, would we?
No one consciously chooses to be
unhappy. However, we routinely place
conditions on our happiness. We choose
happiness as long as everything in our world goes according to our
predetermined set of conditional criteria.
Even though we resolve to choose happiness, when we lose a job, our significant
other leaves us, we get sick, or something else occurs that might conflict with
our plan for a “happy” life what happens to our happiness? In these instances, happiness is often
fleeting. In order to live a life of
unconditional happiness we must be willing to choose to be happy even in the
midst of a life event that we consider unwanted or judge as unacceptable. When we allow external conditions to
determine whether or not we are happy, we abdicate our power to something or
someone other than ourselves, and we live lives of conditional happiness.
In choosing unconditional happiness it
is important for us to realize that it is not the events in life that cause us
to be unhappy; it is our resistance to the events that stimulates unhappiness. Life happens, things change, people leave,
jobs end: It is the way of life. We are
either present in the moment, experiencing life and appreciating “what is”
which demonstrates happiness; or we are standing in a place of pushing against
what has come before or reaching for what has yet to be, thus stimulating our
own unhappiness.
Happiness is a choice, and choosing
unconditional happiness is a spiritual practice. As Mr. Singer says, the path becomes clear
once we make the choice to be happy. The
path to unconditional happiness requires that we practice nonresistance,
acceptance and gratitude. In order to
follow that path, we must be willing to release our preconceived ideas about
how life should or should not be. Life
is not going to conform to our prescript, so we are best served to “Let go and
let Life;” to accept things as they are and express gratitude in every moment. There
really is no other path to a happy life.
Please join me on Sunday as we explore how
to traverse our individual paths and discover what it means to live a life of
“Unconditional Happiness”.
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