Problems, Innate Happiness and You

Last Updated: December 16, 2022

Awareness of Innate Happiness = No Problems

Introduction

Problems. Who hasn’t got them? Who hasn’t had them in them in the past. Who isn’t expecting more of them to appear soon? Problems – it’s almost as if they’re built into the very fabric of life. Have a conversation with someone, anyone, and later or sooner they’ll be telling you about their latest, er, problem that needs ‘solving’.

Inspirational quote about problems - woman sat next to lake: "I love places that make you realize how tiny you and your problems are"

So we solve our problems – or they cease to occupy our mind – one at a time. Or we get overwhelmed by them. Or they find a way to defeat us.

So problems shape us, problems grow us, and sometimes it looks like they define us.

So, we have a life dedicated to the solving of problems.

Individually and collectively.

And why this fascination with problems, then, and solutions? WHY? Because when we have no more problems, then…

(Why we’ll finally be happy, of course! Or so we think.)

 

What Are Problems, Really?

Problems aren’t what we think they are.

At all.

Not people to meet, projects to complete, places to go. Nor fortunes to make, friendships to foster, favours to return. Neither relationships to heal, reasons to find, rabbits to pull out of hats.

And certainly not stuff to do, awareness to raise, and words to write.

None of these things are problems. They’re just the things that are here, now, in front of us. A serving of life. Affecting one, or some, or all.

  • Problems aren’t problems, then – but situations with solutions we can’t see
  • Problems aren’t problems, then – but invitations to take a turn in a different direction
  • Problems aren’t problems, then – but opportunities to find a higher perspective
  • Problems aren’t problems, then – but feelings to become wholly more curious about
  • Problems aren’t problems, then – they’re simply reminders that you’re looking in the wrong place for the answers

Problems aren’t what we think they are, they’re contained in what we think.

Whilst the only answer we’re ever really looking for is found “within”.

And this is true whether you think your problem’s about developing a new career, ending an old relationship, or finding a new way of being in the world.

Or whether it’s about making peace with your (imagined) past, or accepting the present, or being less anxious about the (imagined) future.

Whether it’s about fulfilling your potential, living your life purposefully, or making a positive difference in this world.

Whether it’s solving the crisis in the Middle East (again!), or it’s making Brexit ‘work’, or your problem goes by the name of “Donald(opens new link on sister site, SteveMNash.com).

(Or whether it’s as trivial as finding the right words in a blog post, putting them in the right order, so they achieve the right effect…)

Whatever the ‘whether’, it all reduces to this: wanting to feel ‘happy’ (individually, or collectively). A wanting to feel at ease, relaxed. To not be tense, not be anxious, to not be forever striving. To be ‘happy’.

(That’s how it looks to me, anyway.)

 

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Happiness Versus “Innate Happiness”

So, seeing this, now we change our focus, a little – away from problems and towards so-called ‘happiness’.

Yes, that will help us.

And then we get to work on what happiness looks like, what it feels like too.

Then we mistakenly make happiness about feeling good. Always smiling, never anxious, always relaxed.

We mistakenly think happiness is about getting what we want, comparing well to others, or never being wrong.

We mistakenly think happiness is about achievements. Or experiences. Or success. Just one more achievement, one more experience, one more success. Just the next goal reached. THEN I’ll be happy.

Or if it’s not ‘achievements’, then it’s how we feel – the feelings and thoughts that come and go inside of us.

And now we mistakenly think happiness comes from being able to control our inner world, from having only peaceful thoughts and feelings, from being able to express love not fear.

And all from something we made up, called ‘happiness’.

And all because we misunderstood our relationship with problems.

And all because we misunderstood our relationship with thoughts and feelings.

And all because we’ve forgotten about the wellness within, innate health, innate happiness, or what I call the “Happiness NOW” (opens new link on sister site, SteveMNash.com).

 

Problems, Innate Happiness and You

Yes, the real problem is that you’ve forgotten that you’re okay, as is, right now; you’ve forgotten your innate wisdom; you’ve forgotten your innate health and happiness.

And EVERY ‘doing’ gets easier once you remember this.

Every thought about the past loses its power of you once you remember.

Every unpleasant feeling in your body can become a friend and a guide to you.

Nothing is different, but everything changes for you.

Once you remember.

Innate happiness and you, then – a marriage made in heaven, no less. The natural order of things. And Who You Truly Are.

All problems do, then, is become an invitation for you to remember the ‘happiness within’ again.

All a sense of unhappiness is, then, is another invitation for you to remember that you really are okay.

Life, then, uniquely designed to give you exactly what you need, whether you realise this wonderful fact or not.

All via a delicious mix of problems, awareness of innate happiness and you.

 

How to Be Happy in a Sad, Mad World

I wrote a book - about happiness - based on blog posts like the one you've just read. It's called Happiness NOW! – How to Be Happy in a Sad, Mad World, and it contains 7 simple questions, the answers to which help point you back to the "happiness within". Are you ready for Happiness NOW?...