{"id":32607,"date":"2021-07-01T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T13:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/?p=32607"},"modified":"2021-07-01T13:51:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T13:51:48","slug":"searching-for-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/2021\/07\/01\/searching-for-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for happiness."},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-contents=\"true\">\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"9hqbs\" data-offset-key=\"ai9ls-0-0\">\n<h3 class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"ai9ls-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"ai9ls-0-0\">Explaining how to be happy is not very useful.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p>And a bit na\u00efve, too.<\/p>\n<p>In a way and somehow it can be done, because we can research and explore and learn about it for sure, but all of that still doesn\u2019t provide us with a method.<\/p>\n<p>Because it\u2019s not how WE work.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like trying to create a method for falling in love, by interviewing people.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018How did you do it?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Well, first you go to the supermarket to get some cucumbers, late in the afternoon. And then, while contemplating buying a bunch of yellow pears, you run into an unknown person with a red hat and a scruffy dog and you drop your fruit to the floor, while getting lost in their eyes with your mouth wide open.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Nah.<\/p>\n<p>Natural things are just natural.<\/p>\n<p>They happen because they happen, or they are already there and we simply don\u2019t notice them.<\/p>\n<p>Like happiness.<\/p>\n<p>The State of No Mind.<\/p>\n<p>The childlike high, the subtle buzz of joy.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no technique to get you to where you started life.<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t force your heart to sing.<\/p>\n<p>So how come happiness is such an elusive thing?<\/p>\n<p>Why is it so damn hard to find?<\/p>\n<p>Because we keep looking for it.<\/p>\n<p>We treat it like something we have to add to what\u2019s already there.<\/p>\n<p>Like a trophy.<\/p>\n<p>An Instagram destination.<\/p>\n<p>A thing.<\/p>\n<p>But happiness is more like The Big Absence.<\/p>\n<p>The absence of worries, restrictions, suffering, judgment and doubts.<\/p>\n<p>Happiness is basic awareness, stripped from mental activity.<\/p>\n<p>The place where stories don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>The blue sky of now.<\/p>\n<p>Happiness is being in love with life.<\/p>\n<p>So you can stop trying so hard.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>(Photo by @liferondeau, for Unsplash)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explaining how to be happy is not very useful. And a bit na\u00efve, too. In a way and somehow it can be done, because we can research and explore and learn about it for sure, but all of that still doesn\u2019t provide us with a method. Because it\u2019s not how WE work. It\u2019s like trying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[97,117,100,105,116,113,107,103],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32611,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32607\/revisions\/32611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}