The 27th KnowComplaints Inspiration.

Greetings,

Years ago, I really felt like I was making a lot of progress, yet I wasn't experiencing the happiness I thought would come with my growth. I had heard happiness is what happens when you get your negative patterns out of the way, but I just felt in a void. The advice of my teacher was that I was probably a lot happier than I was noticing. This was another perfect step.

Our happiness is in all the little moments that go by each day, which we simply dismiss because they're not a problem. We are so used to navigating and being possessed by our complaining mind, that most of our attention is looking for what needs to be fixed, rather than what is already safe, loving, fun, enjoyable and wonderfully already in place.

If we would give as much airtime to a voice that always points out what there is to appreciate, adore, and admire, we might be pretty happy. We have our priorities mixed up. Instead of cultivating safety, optimism and appreciation, we allow our complaining minds to undermine the truth of our well-being.

We have to create a "happiness generating" voice and consciously speak it, but
first you have to get enough space from the complaining mind and its stories and feelings. When you do you will naturally be more present and free to look around and try a different conversation with yourself. The peace that comes from dismissing the critical mind now lets you relax and enjoy what is here. Not just the fun times and vacations, but even your demands, responsibilities, and the simple things of life.

Taking care of my mother whom has Alzheimer's and has had a stroke, has been so full of love and times to cherish, that I can't begin to describe them all. But this experience was only available to me because I have can move through the moments of insanity and discomfort without gripping on them, because I simply have embrace and live these concepts.

My attention is looking for the moments and things that affirm my gratitude, and not only do I find them, I expand them and re-live them. This is what we usually do with what we don't like or have, and these are our complaints. We dwell on them and extend them out in time, which is what we can do with our happy moments to create more of the same.

If you step out the door in the morning expecting beauty, I guarantee you it will be there. If you go out looking through negative attitudes, everything that is wrong with the world will jump right out in front of you. Your perspective and what you choose to re-enforce and stimulate creates your version of reality.

Let's sit around and complain about how great things are and tell stories about our good fortunes, and let's take all the styles of our complaining minds and put them to good use. Imagine if we could compulsively, habitually, and randomly pay attention to our abundance and wonderful possibilities, and your mind interrupted you constantly with expressions of joy and glee. It's time for us to start taking control of our experience.

So the next time someone does you a favor, really be with it. Appreciate what it means to you, and then even tell the story about it to someone later. I know it sounds ridiculous walking around enjoying everything with delight and amazement, but you have to try it. From the experience of having crossed over, to where I spend more time in a positive experience than in a negative one, the opposite seems absurd. How did I walk around spending my whole life complaining about the world and wasting my life?

There is a saying: " If you aren't happy with what you have, you won't be happy with what you get." That sounds defeating but it shows us where our problem lies. Happiness is an expectation you bring to each moment, as much as it is a feeling. It has to have a reason to be there, and that reason is how you frame things and what project out onto the world.

I see happiness as a combination of an optimistic and a grateful mind, that's willing to surrender to life's many dimensions of pain and pleasure, without much of an opinion about it all."

Please pay attention today. Take your daily rest and reflect on shifting your attention and then try to stay mindful of your intention throughout the day. Don't expect to feel happy now, but trust that the outcome of practice over time.

Wishes for peace and happiness to you,
Bryan

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