Holistic Philosophies and Happiness
or …
What is Holistic Happiness, and how do you get it?
Happiness in its very nature is holistic, but as usual, humans always find a way to screw that up, and what is left behind is a fragmented state of being, bordering more on stress, anxiety and depression than on happiness.
To be happy, each individual has to come up with his or her own holistic formula. Even so, holistic means whole, this specific “whole” can be constructed from vastly different matter. It is only if one seeks happiness in isolated endeavors that the human state of happiness brakes down.
Happiness cannot exist in an isolated state of being. Some may argue that there are advanced beings, somewhere sitting in a cave and meditating and are constantly in a state of bliss and happiness. That may be true, I got no idea, but all that means, that the person in question is already whole.
The isolation of his location has nothing to do with his state of happiness.
The intriguing proposition holistic happiness is delivering, is the following concept:
If you are whole/holistic, than you are happy; and if you are happy, you are whole.
Understanding this little miracle means that we do know, that we have moments of happiness and therefore wholeness, throughout our life.
Lets take that a step further and turn it into a strategy for “how to achieve happiness”.
Instead of seeking an illusive goal such as happiness, it may be easier to seek for the slightly less illusive goal of creating wholeness, of being whole or complete.
If that sounds puzzling to you, that’s OK … I am sure you will find it easier to solve a puzzle than to solve the perceived mystery of happiness.
The philosophy of wholeness is in part delivering the answer of how to solve this puzzle.
Simply ask yourself the question; “ Am I whole”, or in a more understandable question; “am I complete”. This simple question will, in most of us, bring up a lot of issues and more questions, which is a good thing. It will make you more aware of your own situation and will create new goals and motivation to complete your journey to wholeness, completeness, and therefore happiness.
People often describe “wholeness” as a feeling, even a type of emotion, which brings forward answers to what is missing.
Remember, no one can make you happy. People who love you may try to make you happy, and I am sure they make you feel good and contribute to your happiness, but they can’t by themselves make you happy. If you are not happy, if you are not whole or complete, than no one can make you complete, it has to come from yourself.
This is a good thing again. It makes sure you are not relying on other people, and you will not blame other people either. You certainly can’t blame anyone for not making you happy.
Now, look deep into yourself; is there something missing? How can you complete yourself?
Always keep looking into yourself; there will be something you feel you don’t have. It’s not an external source, like money, a new car or any other materialistic position. It is always something within you, something like an understanding, a meaning, awareness, and definitely an attitude.
Have you ever had an overwhelming feeling of happiness, brought about by a sudden flash of understanding, a new meaning of life, a feeling of total self confidence, and intense happiness, because you all of a sudden felt a heart warming compassion for something, and empathy?
These types of internal feelings will bring on wholeness.
Lets have a look at some of those big words that are so important for an attitude to find happiness:
Compassion, Integrity, Understanding, Awareness, Responsibility, Confidence, Self-esteem or self-worth, Tolerance, Unconditional Love; and heaps more. The point being, it is much easier to work on any of those qualities and attitudes, than to look somewhere for happiness.
How else can you complete yourself?
Before embracing above “big qualities”, it may be easier to discard all these little, unimportant states in our minds that stop us from experience true happiness, such as:
Blaming, judging, justifying instead of taking responsibility, dominating, righteous, greed, superior, regret, anger, hatred, jealousy, abusiveness, aggressiveness, ruthless, selfish, bitterness, boredom, vein, perfectionist, shame, guilt, fear, and even so, there are many more, lets never forget the final one in this list, self destructiveness; it’s more common as one would think.
By the way, in reality, there are no good or bad emotions; there are only emotions for an appropriate situation.
Even so, feeling guilty by example, will stop you from being happy, it is also a feeling to bring something important to your awareness; what are you feeling guilty about? Is there something you need to correct, or are you reacting to an out-dated personal value system?
If you are interested in the functional effects of emotions see > Emotional Choice
This topic would not be holistic, or complete if I wouldn’t mention external forces that can attribute or even be vital for your happiness.
The final step for completeness and to be truly holistic is not under your control, because it is an external factor that you have only a limited influence over.
What is it?
To find a loving partner; the yin to your yang; the female aspect to your male aspect, or the other way around.
A loving partner will be part of a holistic happiness philosophy, as long as you remember that it is the missing part in our plural driven world, one by itself cannot exist. Never confuse that with the expectation you may have that s/he should make you happy. The happiness is the welcome byproduct of a beautiful relationship.
Part of a goal for a good relationship can be to make the partner happy, as long as one is not relying on a partner to deliver happiness.
There are more external forces to help happiness. Money for example is often stated as a source for happiness, obviously is not. If it would be, there would be a lot of happy people who would also be very happy to share their happiness and therefore their wealth. Money, where it is needed can be comforting, maybe lifting self-esteem, fulfilling wishes and therefore will “enhance” happiness, rather than being the cause of happiness.
The same holds true for most other material objects, they may cause an enhancement of happiness. On the other hand, they may start a spiral of never-ending longing for more material objects, without ever obtaining true happiness.
Still looking for true holistic happiness?
Stop looking, start being!
© Dieter L. – Editor for – www.useNature.com – Holistic Health & Lifestyle
