A Listening Mind

I had been seeking the true meaning of happiness. Some people describe it as a pleasing moment of being one with nature's landscape- of a mountain overlooking the vast horizon, of calm lake, of a green forest with pleasing whistles of the birds. Some referred it as a long-awaited event: of lovers who had not seen each other for a long time, for winning a victory, for giving birth to a child, for achieving a goal.

At some point, the mind is relaxed from all the stress of thinking about the past and worrying about the future. There is a temporal stopping of inner confusions. The moment is occupied with the sensation of the present and freed from all the doubts and expectations. That's how I see it. I realized the moment I tried analyzing it... that very profound peace was gone and my mind goes back to work again.

Changing the way we see the world does not indicate optimism or some unnatural joys to offset negativity. So long as we are slaves to the discontentment and frustration that arise from the confusion that rules our minds, it will just be useless to say "I'm happy!" over and over again.

The search for happiness is not just about looking at life through rose-colored glasses or depriving oneself to look at the pain and imprefections of the world. Nor is happiness a feeling of intense to be indefinitely prolonged at all costs and time.

To the end, we must acquire a better understanding of how the mind works- for in its truest sense, suffering is closely associated to a misconception of the nature of reality.