Page 31 - The Truth Landscape Format 2020 with next section introductions-compressed

That happiness comes from within and not from exterior events or other people, becomes clear when we discover that certain situations that had once brought
great happiness no longer create the same effect. Time and time again, each of us is given opportunities to learn and remember that it is not outer things that
bring happiness, but the attachment of our inner thoughts and feelings with those things. Our inner thoughts and feelings are the basis of both our happiness
and our unhappiness.

Because happiness comes from within, even when things don't appear to be going perfectly well outwardly, it is still possible to experience sincere
happiness. It is our inner feeling that creates happiness, along with how we interpret the events of life. When you start to realise that lasting happiness is not
“attached” to other people, material things or events, you are freed from the mental ties that bound you to the mistaken belief that your happiness or
unhappiness was out of your control.

Are You Already Happy?

One of my favourite films from my childhood was the Wizard of Oz. Remember the college diploma the Wizard of Oz gave to the scarecrow and the medal of
honour that made the lion recognize his own true courage? Perhaps all we need is a diploma of happiness to declare that : “Congratulations, you are now
officially a happy person!”. Did you ever stop to think that you might already be happy and not know it?

You can be happy while enjoying whatever you are experiencing – in full flow and growing while being who you are, however you are, and wherever you are.
Some people may even find happiness in being somewhat of a killjoy. There is even a word to describe it – “Schadenfreude”: meaning 'pleasure taken from
someone else's misfortune’.

What would it feel like to simply accept and believe that you are already, automatically, authentically, deeply and profoundly happy, and to know that you will
always be happy, regardless of what does or doesn't happen in your life?

Sometimes happiness can boil down to whether we think we are happy, so please don't confuse your overall happiness with things that may or may not be
causing you concern or anxiety. Every day, life will have its ups and downs. With this awareness, let the waves of your life ebb and flow, and seek to maintain
a happy heart through it all.

When you start with the assumption that you will be happy regardless, you'll have taken a powerful step to being happy. By accepting that you're already happy,
you'll be relieving yourself of a great burden - that of always seeking and desiring to find happiness in other people, places and things. You'll breath a sigh with
relief, as you become relaxed in your own natural state of happiness.

Being too needy for happiness can have the same effect on your happiness that being needy about money can have on your finances and being too needy in
relationships - it weakens your sense of self-empowerment and lowers your self-worth If you use all your energy seeking happiness, it may elude you and the
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very act of desperately seeking it may keep you from being happy. The more you constantly ask yourself if you are happy, the less happy you may become.