Happiness: how do we lose it, and how can we re-claim it?
The typical way we think about ourselves and our world (both consciously and subconsciously) is based on certain presuppositions, certain core beliefs about the nature of reality. These core beliefs are actually incompatible with perfect happiness. As long as we maintain these beliefs, we can never experience deep or lasting happiness, no matter how many affirmations and visualizations we do, and no matter how many possessions we acquire or how many accomplishments we achieve.
My book The Happy Mind explores an alternative way of thinking that can allow us to experience perfect happiness. This way of thinking is based on seven core principles. The first principle, which is the foundation for all of the others, is called the principle of one power. It turns out that the principle of one power is the opposite of the core principle underlying our everyday way of thinking. Our everyday way of thinking is based on what I call the principle of two powers (or the principle of many powers). Understanding the difference between the principle of one power and the principle of two powers is, I think, the key to shifting our way of thinking; the key to shifting our experience of ourselves and the world; the key to experiencing a deeper and more perfect happiness.
The principle of one power is simple—in fact, it is the very essence of simplicity. But to understand the full meaning of this principle and all of its implications can be challenging. It is challenging not because it is difficult, but because it contradicts nearly everything that we typically take for granted. And because we take our everyday beliefs for granted, we’re not even aware that they are “beliefs” at all, not even aware that we have a choice.
Happiness is a state of mind ...