I explained at the beginning of this book that we pursue things because we
believe they’ll make us happy when we get them.
The same applies to the
money we want: we don’t want the money itself, but we do want the security
and freedom it will give us, because we believe that this will make us happy.
But if you were the only person on the planet and you had unlimited access to
money, how useful would this be? How about being able to afford any
holiday or crazy adventure you wanted, but having extremely poor health?
What about being able to
buy all that you ever wanted, but being neglected
by the entire world? Or even being given an unlimited supply of money while
working in the worst job ever, 20 hours a day?
Even your ideal partner has no control over your lasting happiness. They can
only affect your relative happiness, which can vanish
in seconds if external
conditions change – if your partner acts in a way that you perceive as hurtful,
for example.
The advertising industry is skilled at toying with your happiness because it
preys on the knowledge that all of us want to be happy. ‘Buy this and you’ll
be happy,’ it says. You buy it, and then six months down the line they release
a new version. You then realize that the previous product failed to give you
long-lasting happiness, so you buy the new
one in the hope that it will
instead. The cycle repeats.
What if you could feel happy all the time? Isn’t this the ultimate goal? It
would mean that you’re happy with what you’ve got
at any moment
– for the
rest of your life. We could then say that lasting happiness is what true success
looks like.
This is what true happiness is. It’s lasting and it occurs when you remain at
the highest frequency, despite everything that’s happening at the surface level
of your life. I believe that this is the place we all want to be at; where people
and events are unable to change our emotional state from our natural state of
love and joy.
To sustain happiness, you must work towards self-mastery. It’s an inward
journey that requires substantial spiritual growth.
Choosing empowering
thoughts over limiting ones should become your natural way of thinking. You
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