Three Reasons We are Unhappy

1. Impermanence

We try desperately to live a life of light and love, but the truth is; nothing seems to last these days, as if we are sitting around waiting for that other shoe to drop. Ask any empty nester; the kids are gone before they can say, “Whoa, where did the happy years go? Now what?”

Careers are becoming slippery slopes as well, with mergers and acquisitions playing around with real lives in the face of global competition. Everything is changing rapidly, and at times, it becomes overwhelming. We are changing; those around us are changing; the world is changing, and it seems there is little we can rely on these days; we can’t even rely on our bathroom mirror – surely it must be lying to us as well.

Looking to our doctors for solace doesn’t help much either, they keep warning us about . . . things, and we must remain ever more vigilant every year. And the drugs they prescribe do more damage than our diseases! Worry, worry, worry. When will it ever end? Even when we are happy, we wonder how long the happiness will last, because we know that everything around us is in fact changing, and the changes are rarely for the better.

Thank God, for TV, the occasional love affair, celebrity gossip, or a new challenge that takes our minds off all of this, but these, alas, change as well, as if a gremlin lived deep inside magically making us weary of any diversion we discover. And that little persistent niggle just won’t go away, that feeling we face all the time in our moments of reflection, usually late at night, when we are all alone.

2. “Me.”

And all of this is happening to a “me.” That’s the real problem. We have constructed an ego in our minds that has taken over our entire spiritual being. Going to church helps a little, or spiritual exercises – it takes our mind off things for a while, but not for long. The “me” in us will soon raise its ugly head and begin worrying again, if not about dying; about it’s after life. And “me” will surely enslave itself to some ritual or belief to insure its immortality.

This “me” becomes the most important thing in our lives, leaving little energy left over to genuinely care about others. We might feign helping others, if it helps insure our own ticket to heaven, but when pushes come to shoves, it’s a Herculean feat to authentically love our noisy neighbors! Just underneath the surface of our holiness lie the creepy seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, anger, envy, and pride) all connected to our “me’s.” And if we can’t admit this, then we are surely caught in the seventh! “Me” wants things, craves things, and finds ways to get them.

3. Discontent

A combination of a “me” that craves for things, as well as the reality of a changing world where it’s difficult to hang on to the things that our “me” does happen to achieve, results in our constant discontent. We put on a good face and insist we are happy, but in those private moments, when we are honest with ourselves, we aren’t happy. We can’t even sleep! Nights are not easy for us, because then we are alone with our “me’s.”

So discontent is there for us; it’s undeniable, and it’s a real deal. But there is hope! There is a way out. And the way out is on the other side of “me.”

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center. His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers.

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