Eternal Sunshine in a world gone mad

It's all a head game.

So just what's going on in this crazy world- and what exactly are we doing here? Well none of us know the answer to that of course, so we might as well make something up that makes us feel good. ;) So here's my perspective - the idea is to develop and cultivate techniques and a philosophy of life to get into the right state of mind so that you can experience sunshine in every moment by simply ‘being’,  treating each experience as a celebration of life.

But how do you do that?

Cultivate a positive personal philosophy on life & meditate on it

So if we can agree that happiness is entirely a state of mind, all we have to do is work out how to get into that good state right? Easy. Well not really, as we know. But - for me, developing a life philosophy and embracing it by meditating on it daily helps me to maintain a fairly consistent positive state. I view it as a "personal improvement program”, modified as new challenges arise or particular issues need addressed. 

Clearly the following positions are my perspective and I am in no way suggesting you should feel this way nor am I promoting these particular beliefs. This is just a philosophy I've picked from reading varied sources, and what works for me so I provide it as an example. Whatever works for you is what you should utilize - but for this to work though, I do think you need some concrete ideas.

·         perception is Everything; nothing is real; it's all a matter of perception and what you make it; there is no truth except the current moment

·         everything is neutral, neither good nor bad;  YOU paint them one way or  the other . events do not disturb you, your beliefs/perceptions of them disturb you

o        Having an afflictive emotion?

§         change your perception/belief

§         remove yourself from the situation

§         take action to resolve the underlying cause if that makes sense and is possible.. but remember, your perception made it “bad” so its true nature should be revealed.  AND.. perceptions should still be modified so that afflictive emotions do not arise.

·         Remove ALL rules. Create a list of preferences that you Really want/need.. the fewer the better. Communicate your preferences to relevant parties. Never expect/require anyone to do your preference, but  if they do thank them for it.  Over time they will do it more and more often.

·         feeling down/stressed/anxiety? just remember. YOU are doing it all to yourself. YOU perceive some situation as bad.

·         It is ONLY because you (ego) tell yourself that you need something (basic needs aside) that you actually do; only because you developed (or accepted from your environment) a Rule or Belief about some event/trigger that it causes you to feel a particular way

·         If the Real “soul” is revealed, No one actually cares whether or not you achieve goals, acquire things, look a certain way, etc.. it is only because your ego is telling you they care that it causes you pain..  If others project such visions onto you, it is their ego. YOU are doing it to yourself or you are succumbing to their ego

·         choose to create your own reality; you are in full control – modify your perceptions to maintain a positive state. SLOW DOWN (particularly relevant for me), breathe, ask yourself how you're feeling.

·         the ULTIMATE source of happiness is simply 'being'. Cultivate mindfulness/awareness/consciousness and you will realize that.  Focus on breath, each step you take, each object you look at, where each item of food or drink came from and what it will do for your body. Appreciate it. Think how lucky you are to have the opportunity to experience life and be thankful for each and every interaction.

Embrace your passions

Meditation is a great way to get into a great state of mind, but perhaps an easier, or at least complementary technique is to discover your passions and engage in them as often as you can.  There's arguably no easier way to maintain consciousness and stay in the current moment.  There's heaps of books on this - Flow, etc. but it's pretty common sense. 

For me personally, this includes experiencing music in many forms - ranging from listening but most passionately playing instruments, in particular guitar but drums are are up there too. Then there's painting, climbing, running, and most recently yoga (namely bikram), amongst many others I won't bore you with.  But these are just examples, whatever makes you feel amazing - as though there's nothing else you'd rather be doing right now.. and oft causes hours to fly by in minutes - you found it. Figure out how you can do this every waking moment - and you've nailed it - welcome to eternal sunshine.... ;)