The Search for Happiness: The Journey between Peace and Happiness

For most of my life, I was on the never-ending search for happiness. Yes, I had plenty of happy times but they were fleeting. It seemed that the happiness that I was experiencing was in direct relation to what was happening, what was going on, or whether or not something (and the ‘something’ kept constantly changing) was in my life or not. It appeared that my happiness was directly relating to my income, who was in my life at that specific time, my productivity, or some altered state of the mind.
I soon realized that I was allowing my relationships with people, my relationship with my bank account, my relationship with my business, etc. to dictate my happiness. My happiness was directly related to someone or something else. I was allowing the government, the politicians, the church, my marriages or relationships to determine my degree of happiness. I soon realized that those things around me were going to be constantly changing and I was going to be constantly struggling if I were to count on an outside force to rule my degree of happiness. That was not a pleasant thought.
On the other hand, I had already tasted peace, throughout different phases of my life. I knew what it tasted like; I knew that I enjoyed it; it digested well, and supported my body. I also had realized that there had been peace even when there were not ‘things’ that were bringing about happiness. I began to see that peace was not because of happiness and happiness did not necessarily bring peace.
The more I looked inward, the more I saw that peace always resides inside; it is always there. I saw that it would be hidden from me by my thoughts. I saw that it was covered over with my judgments, and I saw that it was masqueraded by ego. I saw that once I let the mind settle or I looked beyond my own personal thoughts or feelings, peace was still dancing inside, and waiting for me to join in. Yes, happiness was nice, but peace was bliss! I no longer strive to just be happy, because I realized that when I was peaceful, happiness would come along for the ride.
Today, just be open to see if this is true for you. Be open to see that your happiness is because of something outside of you. Be open to see that peace is there always, independent of anything else, irrelevant to something else. Be open to see that peace does look and feel different than happiness, and then let your own conclusions do the rest.

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