You cannot find happiness - replace fear and desire with excitement

You cannot find happiness.

I am not sure if you find this statement rather cliched or upsetting, but I know it for sure. We can spend an enormous amount of emotional and physical energy trying to find happiness, but we will never find it. The truth is you are either happy or you are not. You cannot really find it because it is never to be found in anything outside yourself. It may appear that something or some people bring us happiness, but the fact is that we feel happy when we feel happy. The situations or things may only provide us with the state of fearlessness and desire-less-ness where we become aware of our happiness.

One may wonder if we cannot find happiness, what is it that we struggle for so much in our lives - what are we pursuing, then? I think the answer comes from children - we ought to just pursue wonder! To explore and to find out more about things, to see this world from different angles and be amused, to experiment and see what leads to what. Why? Just for the fun of it.

But, we get caught up in the side effects of this pursuit. When we explore, we get caught on the destination. When we change perspectives, we become judgmental.  When we experiment, we get caught on control.   Thoughts about destination bring about anxiety. Thoughts about right or wrong bring deep moral conflicts. Trying to grasp control brings suffering.  

When we do things because we are afraid of some negative experience, when we are trying to avoid something, we burn out rather quickly. When we do something with passion, with a vision, where we are fueled by excitement, we avoid suffering even in the face of great pain and adversities.  Pain and suffering are different.  Excitement should not be confused for desire.  Desire heavily depends on the outcome.  Excitement is experimental. 

Children are the masters of excitement. They don't do things because they want to reach a goal - they just want to see what happens!  What happens when you throw a glass on to a television? The intention is not to break the television - just to see what happens.

When you find yourself bored with your work when you find that your work is not meaningful when you start believing that there is something better that you gotta do, first try to find excitement in your work.  Evaluate if you are motivated by fear or desire or excitement.  If you are constantly worried about why you have to do what you are doing, you are probably motivated by fear. If you are getting anxious about the outcome, you are perhaps motivated by desire.  If you are just enjoying your work, then, you are simply motivated by enthusiasm.  

I certainly believe that we ought to pursue greater things, but it is also important to ensure that it is not clogged with fear or greed. Pursue something because it excites you. Amusement is very different from excitement. Amusement has a positive connotation - it implies that it makes you feel entertained. It is again heavily based on the outcome. A joke can fall flat and a musician can torture you - there is no amusement in there anymore.  Excitement is independent of outcome. Excitement is more process oriented.  It is more of curiosity - to know what is going to happen.  Tighten some bolts, loosen some others - see what happens.