By Fred Cavaiani
Happiness is not what happens to me. Happiness, a feeling of peace, a feeling of love and a feeling of personal contentment and meaning in this present moment is the result of how I embrace and experience what happens to me in each moment of life. I cannot control what happens to me in each moment of life. But I can control of how I discover joy and peace in each moment.
I must gently experience this present moment. When I do this, I am challenged to discover what life is really all about.
Each of us knows that we will eventually die. That may take a number of years or it could be just around the corner. I think that HAPPINESS NOW is experienced when I focus on the present moment and discover the presence of the Divine in each moment. This doesn’t depend upon what religion I might practice. It depends up how gently I let myself experience life in each moment.
It becomes easy to rush through life and think that the next moment will bring us happiness. Life is only in this moment and in the acceptance and experience of this moment something very profound happens. I slow down and go deeper within myself. In this journey deeper into myself I begin to discover something very profound –God. This experience can only happen when I am not rushing through life or believing happiness comes in the next moment. We will all experience pain, love and joy. Sometimes this may all happen in the present moment. HAPPINESS NOW is the result of the embrace of each present moment. It slows our whole system down and allows us to realize what life is all about: an experience of God. Faith in something deeper can take hold of me when I allow the depth of this moment to be experienced.This moment can be very painful. It can be very joyful. It can be happy. It can be sad. But there is a Divine Element in each moment of life which is always coming to us no matter the joy or pain we might be feeling. This Divine Element calms us and helps us understand the meaning of life.
Life becomes meaningful in the slow and gentle embrace of the Now. This embrace becomes an openness to discovering HAPPINESS NOW because I am not fighting anything. I am just experiencing the present moment which is where the Divine is coming toward me.
Life is quite simple. We complicate life when we rush to the next moment and avoid what is happening in this moment.
Have you ever watched a loved one suffer? It is painful. But in the embrace of this pain, a profound sense of love is experienced and an appreciation and gratitude for this person in your life becomes deep and meaningful. The strength to bring more love to this loved person gets deeper and compassion and love becomes deep so this person experiences your compassion and love. What first was difficult to see and embrace in watching this suffering of your loved one, now becomes a journey into pouring more love into this loved one. It creates a connection and bond that brings the presence of God closer to both of you.
Suffering and pain can never be avoided in life. When I try to avoid the pain I have to experience, I block myself from love and I block myself from experiencing God and bringing more love to others. HAPPINESS NOW is always the embrace of the NOW in my life. And this embrace of the NOW becomes the door opening into a profound experience of God.
HAPPINESS NOW results from being caring, loving and receptive in the present moment of life. When this happens, I will feel the importance of slowing down. I will realize the importance of being more loving. I will discover that God is always with me in this present moment and all of life is to enter a more profound relationship with God by slowing down and being more loving to everyone in each moment of life. Life is a journey into LOVE which becomes a journey into GOD. And this journey will last forever with peace and joy.
