Despite society’s focus upon self-indulgent joviality I have always strongly suspected that being happy is not all it is cracked up to be!
Indeed I have actually noticed that happiness of a certain type often acts as a dangerously distracting impulse that leads to certain calamity! In this article I reveal the pitfalls to being in a continual state of heightened emotional stasis.
However you view life one thing is for certain – it is all about growth, change, challenges, obstacles and resistance. From the earliest days of life through to the end days of old age the cellular structures within us are constantly changing and adapting. During our early years each one grows and separates at a fantastic rate. Over the first sixteen or so years of our existence our physical bodies radically change in appearance and very often in rather odd ways. Just imagine the tremendous amount of energy that is required and then expended by our physical body as this constant impulse to change seeks out expression. Then around the early twenties this rate of change slows, then stops and gradually reverses itself so that new cells are not created at the same rate as they were. Further more the intelligence, or consciousness that operates behind the scenes also changes. Instead of directing our inner natures towards changing physically a massive shift occurs as the impulses of our inner directive orientates us towards changes in our psychology. This, in turn, consequentially results in changes to our character.
Blockages to Change
In a normal healthy individual the process of growth and self-development is natural and fluid. However, occasionally the process of transformation that takes place within us is stunted. This can occur through illness, shock, fear – or indeed any sort of emotional disaster or calamity. If we fail to properly assimilate these setbacks into our psyches then we can get into trouble. No matter how difficult or tragic the circumstances we experience, and many young children experience some sort of trauma in their live, if we attempt to avoid trans-mutating their impact into a more manageable form then we run the risk of problems down the line. Each one of us who develop serious mental and physical issues in later years do so merely because the natural process of transformation (either cellular or psychological) that should have produced natural organic growth simply stops. Many years on down the line the consequences of this malfunction is that we display physical issues whose root cause could, if only we understood the process properly, have been averted.
The Challenge of Growth
The real skill to living life is to open up to its negative impact both upon and within ourselves. Every difficult challenge that we face does represent a small aspect of the road that we have to travel and the terrain we must experience. In trying to avoid any issue we simply miss the point behind who and what we are as human beings. The immense challenge of just getting through life in one piece is invariably compounded if we do not develop a wholly useful and self-supporting philosophy about ourselves. This is one that must be based upon very pragmatic ideals – which is where our modern day concept of life and its function can lead us into difficulties. The Distraction of Life In this ego-dominated world that we all live in we have all fallen prey to the mistaken idea that we are not balanced, healthy and useful members of society unless we present a pleasant, warm and happy persona to the world. The result of this celebrity challenge that so many of us openly endorse and conform to has been the creation of a society built upon false and overtly extrovert qualities. In order to sustain the facade of ‘happiness’ millions of people have bought into the picture perfect ideals of what constitutes a happy and successful human being by corporate media advertising. Today we are taught that happiness far from being an emotion we must all seek to unveil deep within ourselves through a close connection and reciprocal exchange with our creative selves but is instead something that comes in a can and can be sprayed on at will. When the makeup has been removed and we are forced to return back into the sanctuary of our inner worlds the feelings that can envelop us are strange and threatening. Indeed they can often be tinged with a strong sense of emptiness, isolation and low self-esteem. As painful as these thoughts and emotions are they do in fact provide a very important function in our lives for they are in fact a much closer measure of who we truly are and the nature of the authentic emotional resonances that flow within ourselves. It is in these moments of peace, tranquility and inner reflectiveness that we truly connect with who we are. In this state we can naturally re-activate the normal rhythm of growth, transformation and change that previous attempts to remain in a state of perpetual happiness and joy can distract us from. So, in short, the power of who we are as people, the real sense of being alive that we can experience does not exists within the temporal world of happiness and joy but instead can be found within the darkness and restriction of stuck energy and unresolved issues which we can work to resolve and free us to live more balanced and meaningful lives.