Be Happy – Differentiate Between External and Internal Happiness

We have never considered why we do the things we do and what makes us happy. After we take care of our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter for survival, we probably do things because they make us happy or keep us away from becoming unhappy.

Since everyone has different thoughts, actions and emotions on their memory sheet, we have to consider in general concepts instead of specifics. That’s why it’s so important for us to be true to ourselves when we think on our own life. We must take an honest look at our life and realize how much the different emotions on our memory sheet affect our view of the world and happiness. We do the things we do because of what is on our past memory sheet and your spirit’s level of awareness. It is our internal matter.

Now, we consider external factors. We must ask if we depend on possessions, people and things outside of ourselves to make us happy. Do we depend on escapisms like watching television, movies or sports, playing games and taking external substances to make us happy or mask our unhappiness? If we do so, it means that we are looking for happiness outside of ourselves. The business and advertising worlds know this very well. They use our dependence on things outside of ourselves that make us feel good, to entice us to buy what they are selling. Have we ever taken a serious look at why we buy the things or do the things, sometime unnecessary? We buy things and spend money on escapisms because they make us feel good. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the world outside of us by having lots of possessions or escaping to relax. However, we must not expect the outside world to produce lasting happiness because after the initial euphoria wears off, we will find ourselves looking outside of ourselves for more, or different things to make us feel good again.

It’s a vicious cycle. The more we get, the more we need to maintain our happiness. We end up being a junkie dependent on things outside of ourselves to make us happy. There may be hundred of books on how we look to the outside world and escapisms to make ourselves happy. However, it is better if we come to that realization ourselves. We must look around and consider all the things outside of ourselves that we depend on to make us happy, or unhappy.

We may start observing all the advertisements that promise to increase our happiness, directly or indirectly, if we buy what they are trying to sell us, and pay attention to what we desire to buy in order to be happy or happier. Here, we must consider if we are buying or trying to buy our happiness. Are we are waiting for things in the future to make us happy? Do I tell myself that “I’ll be happy when I get _________________ (fill in the blank)?”

Money can’t buy us happiness. Because true and lasting happiness always comes from within. Yet, many individuals depend on things outside of themselves to make them happy. How about us? If we want to reduce or eliminate our dependency on things outside of us to make us happy, we may have to structure our life so that we are able to generate our excitement and happiness from within. The great thing about internal happiness is that it doesn’t cost us any money to acquire it and no one, except ourselves, can ever take it away from us.

Now the pertinent question is how one can create internal happiness from within. It is very easy to do if we think about it. If we want to be happy, all we may have to do is stop thinking about ourselves and help others. The less we think about ourselves and the more we help others, the happier we will become. This is a fact. The reason is because our brain secretes positive chemicals corresponding to our positive emotions. When we help someone, we are being generous with our time and personal resources. We are going to be brave because we are not afraid of losing out while we are helping someone else, instead of ourselves. Plus, we experience the feeling of love and well being when we help someone.

As a side benefit, these positive emotions elevate our chemistry, allowing our natural abilities to increase as well as our health. Every one must take some time out of the busy schedules to help others because it will raise the individual’s chemistry and allow him to perform at higher levels in the competitive arena.

We may take time out of our life to help others because it will make us feel happy inside. Better yet, we may choose a vocation that we enjoy where we help others while we are earning our livelihood even if we make less money than we could earn doing something else. We may invest our time and energy wisely because the more people we help, the happier we will feel.

Also, the more honest and positive we become; the less stress we will experience in our life. Do you know how great it makes you feel when you know that you always do the right thing and you are here to help others? Because It puts a big smile on your face and makes your spirit glow inside. People can even see it in your eyes.

After going through the above lines, your memory sheet is telling you, “What nonsense” or, “I’d rather have lots of money and buy my happiness.” Some other may be thinking, “If I’m always truthful, I won’t make or have as much money to buy things that make me happy.”

Some of us don’t like what we do for a living, but resign ourselves to putting up with our job as a means to buy things that will make us happy, or escape on the weekend. Our memory sheet would rather have us work at something we don’t enjoy because we can make more money than you. Would you continue to work something you loved, but you are paid less? One day you will give up. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. If you love your work and make an honest living by helping others, you are a very rich person in many ways. “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”-Confucius

Have you ever heard the saying, “Do what you love and the money will come?” This is true. Zig Ziglar says, “You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” You can have the best of both your inner and outer worlds, as long as you are always truthful, positive and helping others.

The reason I say this is because the house always wins. Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the world, attracts millions of visitors a year and makes billions of dollars by playing the percentages. They make the rules and set the odds in their favor. You may win some money, but if you keep gambling in the hopes of winning more, you will end up losing because in the long run the house always wins.

What does Las Vegas have to do with our happiness? It is just an example to illustrate that the house always wins. Let’s take a look at ourselves and the big picture of life. If we were the Creator, the House in this example, who gave the over six billion individuals presently living on this planet a free will to do whatever they pleased, would we like to retain some element of control over our creation? It only seems logical that we would. But, how could we control these individuals and give them a free will at the same time? If I were the Creator, I would design individuals with a free will to choose and do as they desire. However, I would set up a system of checks and balances to maintain control of my creation. I would do it by designing them so when they were truthful, positive and helping others, their brains would secrete beneficial chemicals. This would enhance their ability to think, perform and co-create in the direction that I wanted the universe to evolve. When they were untruthful, negative, and selfish and going in the wrong direction from what I desired, their brains would secrete detrimental chemicals. This would hinder their thinking, health and performance. We may think about it. With this system of checks and balances, the odds would be in my favor. Every individual would have a free will and I would have control of my creation. This is the system I would design and use if I were the Creator. Does this make sense to you? How does this make you feel? If your spirit has evolved, this scenario probably makes a lot of sense to you. We were designed to function according to the laws of God, or a Higher Power, or the Universe, or whatever Cosmic Intelligence or Infinite Source you feel comfortable calling It. If you are truthful, positive and helping others, you get rewarded. If you are untruthful, negative and selfish, you pay the price until you learn your lesson because the House always wins.

It’s just a matter of time. If your memory sheet feels that it is unrealistic to be always truthful, positive and helping others in the “real world,” that may be right for the time being. However, when you find yourself unhappy, bored or depressed,you need to take a look at why. Is it because you are depending on the world outside of yourself to make you happy? Is it because you are paying the price for being untruthful, negative or selfish? If you depend on things outside of yourself to make you happy, the daily affirmation will create conflicts with your memory sheet. However, if you structure your life to live by the daily affirmation, you will find that your internal happiness will grow and your dependence on things outside of yourself for your happiness will diminish.

However, as our natural abilities increase by aligning our thoughts and actions with the daily affirmation, we may find ourselves more productive and creative. More than likely, we will end up making more money and be able to afford more outside pleasures as well. God gave us a free will to do as we please. We can look for happiness outside of ourselves or choose to find happiness within by doing the right thing. Fortunately, we can have both if we play our cards right. If we take care of the inside by playing by the House rules of always being truthful, positive and helping others, our outside world will take care of itself because we will have God on our side to help us out. Since God gave us a free will, the choice is ours.

Be Happy - You may kindly differentiate between external and internal happiness.