Quest for Happiness

Quoting some lines from Donna Farhi (now reading: Bringing Yoga to Life / Chapter 2 - Motivation: What Brings Us to This Moment?)

While some of our attempts to grasp happiness may be noble in themselves, we find that however successful we become in our career, however impressively we sculpt our physique, and whatever possessions we manage to procure, they can give us only temporary respite from our inner yearning ... When we realize that the entity that we call our “self ” is the clearinghouse for everything that will happen to us, we may wake up to the realization that attending to the inner hygiene of this self is the most important thing we could possibly do in this lifetime.

It's actually a long chapter about the real definition of happiness. If you feel you're not happy because of something, this chapter will really wake you up. And if you're the type of person who already feels happy generally in life -- like me! -- surprisingly, this chapter will make you feel that, "omg, what if I am not yet genuinely happy enough?!" -- hahaha! I guess it varies for every reader, but as for me, what really hit me are these 2 important lessons:

1) We should always find the root cause of our sadness -- in ANY aspect, whether big or small, like simply hating mondays -- otherwise our weekends and holidays will just be an "escape".

2) We should NOT find our happiness in our career, relationships, posessions, COMFORT FOODS, even in our capacity to be too flexible in Yoga Asanas -- because these are just temporary things.

What we should be looking at, is our self, our core, an entity that is calm when not surrounded by negative forces we grew up with, a place where we'll find belongingness, with or without anything/anyone. And this can be done with Yoga, when practiced correctly. According to Donna Farhi:

The practice of Yoga helps us connect with the part of ourselves that is always virgin and untouched: the place within us that can never be damaged.

I do not claim that I now completely know this thing, but at least I can say, "I think I understand it!".

Just out of the blue, I asked my husband - hey, do you remember 'inner peace', that thing that Kung Fu Panda needed to fight? And that thing the lady in Eat, Pray, Love used to be happy again? And that thing why monks are okay even if they don't talk to anyone?"

Lou: Yeah, what about it?

Me: I kinda understand that thing now! :)