No Excuse Happiness

"There's not much to say about being." Eckhart Tolle. This morning i was greeted with this quote. He went on to explain that being just simply is. As i was in the shower (where i do some of my most profound thinking) the idea of just being kept circulating and it's true there isn't a lot to say about what it is but there is a whole lot to say about what it isn't.

Have you ever had that feeling of supreme, no reason, shit-eating grin happiness? All of a sudden you find yourself in this inexplicable state of joy. The moment before you have the thought "i am happy" is when you are being. Once you start thinking (no matter if it is a "good" or "bad" thought) you are no longer being. Being is that place of silence where everything exists. In my last blog i wrote about the silence under the noise. When i was no longer hooked on translating words or trying to understand another world opened up to me. I called it silence but Mr Tolle might call it being (though i think he may use the term silence as well.)

Being is that place where time stands still, where noises stop, where expansion exists. Most everyone has experienced this at one time or another maybe watching a sunset, playing a football game or while painting (moi.) The question is not so much what is being but for most the question is "how do i quit thinking and just start being?" There are a million answers from "sit in meditation under a tree until you reach enlightenment" to "undergo deep pyscho-analysis," to "drink a bottle of Jim Beam." But the simplest answer i know is pure acceptance of what is. No resistance to Life. Not even if Life (i.e. you) is thinking in this very moment. Acceptance of what is gets you to the present, to being, faster than any methodology, spiritual path or drugs. That being said acceptance is mighty hard for most people. Why? Because we have these puny little minds telling us what we should be doing, how we should be living our lives and every reason right now is wrong. It isn't. Life is NEVER wrong. It may take you (your puny mind) a while (or even your entire life) to figure out. But just reflect. How many times have you thought something was terrible (a job loss, a drunk drive ticket, the death of a loved one, a broken arm) only to look back on the event sometime later and say, "Wow if I hadn't broken my arm, i never would have quit my job and gone back to school." What you thought was so terrible really wasn't. And this doesn't mean there aren't terrible things out there, the death of a friend or family member, an illness; these are challenging things but the one thing Life always does--it continues to create. As long as we breathe, we can create. We can participate in Life.

And that gets me back to the being which is really about acceptance. There isn't a "right" way to live your life, yet most people keep thinking that if they do this or that, or when this or that happens then they will be happy. Maybe temporarily but deep profound happiness, no excuse happiness, no thought happiness comes from being. Try asking someone to describe his ideal life and watch just how many people describe his own life and if you are really brave try asking yourself.