HAPPINESS THAT EXISTS BEYOND THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

pexels-photo-3871690.jpeg

This is one of my favorite passages in “Unflappable” by Ragini Michaels.

— Anytime you navigate two levels of reality (in our case, human and divine) at the same time, it is magic. Like any good magic, your mind can't fathom how it's done. But when the rabbit pops out of the hat, you're amazed by it anyway.

Your mind may get a little confused by this notion, but give it a try anyway. This different brand of happiness knows no opposite because it embraces all opposites equally—happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain, gain and loss, connection and separation, birth, and death. It's bigger than any set of polarities, and it accepts everything as part of the harmony of all things.

This happiness exists in the realm beyond thoughts and ideas; it lives outside the territory of the mind—beyond the world of conceptual thought. And this place is, literally, just a blink away from your mind's eye.

You already know this place in times of quiet when you're just being (like when you're sunbathing, lying on the massage table, or soaking in the tub) or during noisy, fast, and dangerous times when you must be present for your safety (like when you're white-water rafting, skiing, surfing a big wave, or mountain climbing). In these scenarios, your mind naturally becomes quiet—and that different brand of happiness arises. This is why we like these kinds of activities. When the mind is still—even for just a tiny bit of time—you connect directly with your life experience (that's you minus your story).

Have you ever stood at the ocean's edge in the middle of a winter storm, mesmerized by its power and beauty? Have you sensed a majestic harmony, even though waves are crashing all around, and huge piles of heavy driftwood are shifting, rearranging the contour of the shore? Just being with the power of nature feels good, and a sense of happiness and peace arises.

This happiness is not the mind's idea of happiness—getting what you want and not getting what you don't want. Instead, it's just being with what is unfolding. Deepak Chopra once said that happiness arises when you don't resist the continual flow of events. What you may not realize is that includes embracing your resistance to not resisting. It's such an odd thing to do ... until you do it.

Mystics perceive each moment of life for just what it is—pleasurable, painful, or neutral. This perspective can be yours when you know how to live with paradox and how to navigate opposites, which simply means using your mystic's eye.

Your imagination is the key to suspending your disbelief and finding the Land of Unresolvable Dilemma. Without it, you may never find the inner peace that knows no disturbance and the happiness that knows no opposite.

If your skeptic has appeared, as mine always does, you may feel cynical. Hang in there. When you give your imagination an inch, it will happily take you a mile. Follow your inner knowing that there is a different brand of happiness—and imagine you're hot on its trail.

Imagination helps your brain move out of old patterns into this new view of your world, preparing you for travel through the Six-Step Process…