HTBH 011: Happiness and Awareness

In order to find true inner-peace and happiness, we first need to have some awareness. This awareness is composed of two parts: 1) the awareness that something needs to change and 2) awareness of your thoughts and inner-dialog.

Early in my life I achieved my childhood dream of becoming a zookeeper and had the awareness that life was going to be an endless journey of unmet desires.

Being aware that there is a problem is the first step to making a change.

Vipassana mediation is about being aware of what you're thinking when you're thinking it. It's very powerful to become the "witness" of our thoughts, or as the saying goes, "Knowing the knower." This allows us to detach from those thoughts, that as the witness we don't have to be a part of the argument and be okay regardless of how the situation works out.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
– Albert Einstein

In becoming aware, it's important to realize we may need outside help in dealing with our emotions, feelings, fears, etc.

Eventually most of us (if we're lucky) come to the realization that material or external things are not going to fulfill us completely. Emily shares about sitting in her dream home and realizing how miserable she was. But just being aware sometimes is not enough; we have to be desperate and courageous enough to make a significant change.

The drama and stories we create around events in our mind are often not how they actually happened. It helps writing down our thoughts, fears, and emotions. Getting them on paper enables us to see them for what they really are; just events that happened and the universe going about its business.

Emily shares what she's been reading in the book Heaven is For Real. We discuss the concept of prayer, heaven, and how beliefs are mental and knowing is physical.

Topics in this episode:

• Vipassana Meditation and the book Mindfulness in Plain English
• Heaven is For Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
• The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

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The post HTBH 011: Happiness and Awareness appeared first on Jared Akers.