Inner Happiness

I have just returned from a retreat experience in the Bahamas; I am totally struck again by how all of the things we are seeking from life, from possessions, from relationships, from work, already reside within us.When I experience joy, happiness, love, etc. it is because I allow that experience within myself and not because of any object, person or event outside of me. For a moment in time I give myself permission to be happy, It is not the beach, the retreat, the people I’m with or the surroundings I’m in that creates the happiness, it is simply that for a moment I have determined that I can allow the experience of happiness, I decide that I am worthy of it. In fact we are always worthy of it.Children naturally express this inherent joy until they are taught they are unworthy of it; we have all been exposed to a mass hypnosis that we are unworthy of feeling this happiness all the time.When we allow inner happiness our actions begin to reflect that happiness and we are naturally virtuous, we naturally want to behave in ways that serve us and others. The competition for happiness ends and as a result we tend to want to spread the wealth. Even better, as we begin to embody this happiness it tends to get reflected back to us on all sides.