Is Being Happy The Most Important Thing In Life?


This answer from Bill Cordingley originally appeared on Quora.

I used to think happiness was the most important thing in life. I thought we were here to be happy. And I believed that for decades.

But then I hit a point on my spiritual path where I realized I was mistaken.

One problem I saw was that if I’m trying or hoping to be happy all the time, I have an insidious habit of resisting doing anything that I believe won’t help me feel happy.

And because of that I missed out on a lot of experiences.

So what’s more important than happiness?

(In reality there is no “more” or “less” important. But that’s getting quite meta so forget I said that.)

For most people, in my view, what serves us far, far more than being happy is to be present.

Present in whatever we are doing.

Present in whatever we are feeling.

Present in whatever we are thinking.

Because by being present we make ourselves available to experience whatever is happening — experience our lives — to a much greater degree. And that makes life far more interesting.

With presence we tend to “live” much more, with less denial and resistance.

And so our experiences are more available to live. Also they’re more fun, more painful, more everything.

One last thought: By being more present we step into the place (here and now) where we truly have access to our power, our ability to guide and to change and improve our lives.

We don’t have that very much at all when we’re lost in our thoughts or working really hard to avoid pain, or thinking we should be doing this or that, or regretting the past or worrying about the future, etc.

How do we get more present?

Take a few deep and slow breaths from your gut, with your muscles (stomach and shoulders, etc.) as relaxed as possible.

Do that several times and as you do you’ll bring yourself more and more into the present.

In this state you’ll feel more like “all is well.” You’ll feel a lightness about you. You’ll feel more complete, like “There’s nothing I need to do now.” And more.

If I say so myself, this is super-valuable for anyone, not just those of us on a spiritual quest, for the reasons I mentioned above. It’s been amazing for me.

May this be very useful to you!www.lastdon.org

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