Is This Happiness?

Many people believe that they should always be in a state of happiness, and think it is not right/something is wrong if they experience negative emotions, or even nothing.

I’ve experienced this so much in the past and would hate it when people would say “be happy! be happy! smile!” I always tried to reject certain emotions and expected a constant state of mind, and if I fell shy from that, I would feel guilty. But permanent happiness is simply unrealistic. It’s not even healthy. This is something I’ve come to terms with this past year and I’ve mentioned in my forthcoming book, that among all other emotions, happiness is fleeting. It is supposed to be greeted, experienced, then waved off. It’s the healthiest, most logical form of emotional processing.

The root of our struggle lies within constantly pressuring ourselves to be in one constant emotional state, then making ourselves feel guilty when we don’t reach it. Most people even panic when they have nothing to feel and are not controlled by such strong emotions. They are scared to be silent. To simply just be.

We don’t always have to be in any emotional state.

It takes a high sense of awareness to sit in the backseat of your emotions and observe them, detach from them and not let them control you. There is no other choice but to place ourselves in a mindful state, detaching from our feelings and observing them as they pass. To not feel uncomfortable when we feel nothing at all and understand that’s completely normal.

We merely reach an equilibrium, a peace with accepting these states, then returning to an emptiness.

A contentment in nothing.