Happiness is Innate

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right?

I’ve just seen an article headlined thus:-

Happiness is a realistic goal, but you have to plan for it

I have to admit right at the outset, that here is a statement that is one of the flying buttresses of the Outside-In perspective. It doesn’t just underpin that view of “REALITY” – it avers, in no uncertain terms, some of the true myths of such an illusion.
So here is my response, folks ...

Happiness is INNATE

It is within us; it is part of our Nature. We are not born UNHAPPY. It is up there with a whole raft of other stuff we are born with and that are part of our Nature – like Courage, Confidence, and Charisma.
We are born with them too; they are innate; part of our nature –

So making Happiness a goal seems to be something of a fruitless quest for me, when I come along – perspectively brimful with the Inside-Out nature of reality!
“Planned Happiness” – whatever is THAT? Why would I, indeed any of us, ever need to make Happiness a goal when we can choose to be Happy any time we like and, more particularly -
Right Here Right Now?

“I’ll be happy WHEN” seems a rather futile exercise that implies that we have to go through a whole load of UN-Happy in order to get there.
What for - Punishment? Perhaps we don’t deserve it? What sort of a Life is THAT?
“Oh I’ve got to EARN it, and nothing is worth it in Life if we don’t earn it the HARD way!” 

Who said so?
“THEY did.”
And, who told THEM?

Happiness is INNATE

Problemo

The problem with Life, and how and what we get led to believe, is that all the INNATE stuff we were born with tends to get overlaid with negatives. You can’t do this – Don’t do that – Be Careful – Be cautious and watch out for – Don’t be a show-off – You’re young and what can you know about – etc.

Older and Wiser – tend to ride hand in hand. Why? Because we are told so by the Olders.
Have you noticed that we are never ever told so by the Wisers. 

So perhaps, Old and Wise don’t go together after all – perhaps that is another one of those real myths we’ve heard about.

I know, from experience, that I’ve learnt a lot from people younger than me and especially from children. So I have arrived at the view that WISDOM is also INNATE – Learning and Knowledge, however, is NOT Wisdom. They are what we have acquired into our intellect.

Planning and Postulates

And perhaps now a final look at the postulate that set me off on this perspective-related Rant - Happiness is a realistic goal, but you have to plan for it – with some postulates of my own:

Planning populates our conscious-cognitive Being.
Planning is a strategy to obtain an Outcome.

Here there is No problemo – provided we Understand the Nature of the outcome.

I want to get better at my favourite sport, for example. So I PLAN to do some training, perhaps go to the gym to increase my fitness levels, join in with some others at practising our sport. This is a PLAN with the OUTCOME that I get better at – and therefore get more enjoyment from – my favourite sport.
Now, because it is my favourite sport, I guess you could say I LOVE playing. When I am playing, or practising, I am enjoying it – I am HAPPY.

Easy and simple so far?

SO what happens if I am NOT HAPPY with my progress of my PLAN – or my performance in the moment? Suddenly, both my practise and performance – my PLAYING – are not a pleasure any more.
I am putting my HAPPY as a consequence of HOW I am PLAYING. If I don’t play well, in my judgement, then I’m not HAPPY. I might look a little further and even be UNHAPPY with my PLAN as well.

YET – what might happen if instead of putting my HAPPY as a consequence of HOW I am PLAYING, I flip them around and put HOW I PLAY as a consequence of my HAPPY.

Here, NOW, I’m starting to get on the right track – for I know that when I am HAPPY I PLAY really well and there is nothing I enjoy more, through each and every moment.

And this is a reflection of the Inside-Out nature of Reality.

Inside I am Happy – and since our Happiness is Innate, I Understand I can always be Happy.
Outside I am Playing. And HOW I’m Playing cannot affect my Happy – unless I THINK it does AND I believe my Thinking.
Then I have flipped my perception of Reality back to Outside-In.
And once I notice I’m not Happy and realise that it is just my Thinking, then I can flip back to Inside-Out.

So why do our perceptions and perspectives keep flipping, like this?
It is, essentially, down to our Human frailty. And the level of our frailty bears a direct relationship with our level of groundedness.

More grounded = Less frail               
More frail = Less grounded

Conclusion

So, I’d invite you to open up to the Understanding that anything that is in our Nature, that we are born with, that is Innate, is always with us AND we don’t need to go looking for it.

We DO need to realise that – because of our Frailty – we will tend to hide ALL our Innate qualities and attributes from view – not from the view of others so much as from the view of OURSELVES!
We will believe our Thinking, and all those myths and beliefs that THEY told to us.

We have all got Courage, Charisma and Confidence in huge measure – once we get out of the way of our Thinking.

And with Grounded being at the other end of the scale to Frailty, we know that we all have the power, and the right to choose, to be Happy.

Happiness is INNATE