Does Living Consciously and Loving Consciously = Happiness?

Stop. Take a deep breath.

Use all your senses to really feel for a couple of seconds, to be completely aware of your surroundings, totally alert to Life in this very second.

Ahhhh. Okay.

Here we are, you, me, all of us together, close to 7 billion of us and counting, on a pretty damn extraordinary journey.

Life on planet earth.

All participating in this very same adventure-at this very same moment. Crazy when you stop to really think about it, no?

An infinity of circumstances, a kaleidoscope of destinies...

Yet all are made up of the very same stories and dramas. Our human repertoire of emotions lived and re-lived in a million different ways.

All of us equipped by nature with the same human tools. All of us with body, mind, and spirit. And yet, every single one of us living our own lives under different circumstances, even within the same family.

But no matter what our personal situation is, there is one thing we all have in common, well, actually two things.

Two things we all search for far and wide.

For thousands of years we have pursued "happiness" and "love" in all its forms and meanings. We have sought it everywhere, leaving no stone unturned; wars have been waged in the name of love, religions established to help us find happiness (in the next life, if not this one), philosophies have tried to explain the source and meaning of love and happiness.

How do we find real happiness, and how do we find true love?

These great questions continue to be our 'holy grail,' a driving personal goal, a deep inner desire...and somehow they also continue to be questions with not so easy an answer.

Or maybe, like my dad has been telling me since as far back as I can remember..."life is simple, very simple, just not always easy...and life is beautiful. You just have to learn how to live it."

Maybe the answer is in that you don't ever actually "find" loveand happiness. You make it.

Consciously creating our own Love & Happiness seems to be the most reasonable of answers.

The most direct and empowering. It puts the responsibility 100% on our own shoulders. You don't have to believe in any particular religion or adhere to any set of rules. You are the master of your own soul, of your own life, creator and producer of your own situations.

Now, I'm not going to dive into a deep philosophical debate on "destiny" or "fate", I'm not even going to mention "karma",('cept this once*)-that would make for a much longer chat.

So when I say we are the "creators of our own situations" I am speaking about the situations in which we have a choice to make. The events in our lives that are "out of our control" I'm going to classify as destiny, fate & karma (ok, twice mentioned**).

Conscious Living = Conscious Loving = Happiness.

Wikipedia defines 'consciousness' as: "a subjective experience, "awareness" as the ability to experience "feeling" wakefulness, the understanding of the concept "self" or the executive control system of the mind."

By definition then, Conscious Living would imply that we are aware, awake, and deeply feeling our lives; understanding ourselves fully and in command of our minds and emotions.

Conscious Loving would imply the same thing; expressing our love and receiving love from others in the most aware, awake and present possible manner.

So far so good.

It seems then, that our big life questions are answered from the inside out.

Maybe we've been doing this all wrong, all this questing and searching for something as if it were outside of us, as if it would hit us smack in the forehead someday. As if the universe would up and gift us a nicely wrapped bundle of love and happiness! All this looking... looking like chickens with our heads cut off!

Does living in a 'conscious' manner create happiness then? Does it bring Love?

I wish I could simply say "yes, for sure, absolutely!" Of course I can't, because I personally don't have the answers to the big questions in life. And I certainly can't answer such big questions for anybody else, just for myself. And only YOU can answer what can bring you love and happiness. Yes-the Guru is within you!

But there ARE certain road maps to help you get closer to the answer.

These road maps are as old as the questions themselves. In fact, they are much like what my dad always says, "very simple, just not always easy." So for the sake of simplicity I'm going to list the 3 most important concepts; the '3 Pillars of a Happy Life'.

The First Step: Know Thyself.

If we are the producers of our own personal life drama then surely the focus should be on 'internal questing.' Basing our outer lives on our inner experience, not the other way around.

Our life mission should consist of a continuous inquiry into who we are at the very core of our being. In order to know what makes us tick, what makes us feel, what makes us cry with joy and what brings meaning to our souls.

The more we know ourselves, the more in touch we are with the divine essence in ourselves, the more understanding and mastery we will have over our minds and emotions.

The more we know ourselves, the more we can make decisions which are in alignment with what makes us happy, with what makes us feel good inside, fulfilled, alive.

The Second Step: Feel deeply.

Feeling deeply is to feel alive, it is the river of human experience. It is being in the moment with your experience.

It is your birthright and the gift of this earthly experience to feel with all your senses. It is what makes you grow and what makes you truly present.

Feeling means being aware of your emotions and the physical sensations that are attached to these emotions. It means to allow yourself to explore the sensations of both body and soul.

The Third Step: Be True to Yourself.

Being true to oneself is an action of courage, a big step towards 'consciously creating.' It is following the inner compass that guides you towards a truer self.

It is listening to your inner voice and your feelings and following through with standing up for yourself and following your own path in this life.

...

For some reason, society in its current incarnation isn't organized in such a way as to encourage and enhance the explorations of these three major steps toward living a conscious life, loving a conscious love and being truly happy.

With so much noise and bombast happening outside, sometimes it's good to head inside and get back to basics.

To say-these things matter.

These three things.

Know Thyself, Feel Your Feelings, Be True to Yourself.

Life is beautiful. Life is simple. But you have to learn how to live it.