Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about trying to attain permanent happiness. I'll start with a bold statement. There is no experience that will lead to permanent happiness. I'll say it again and this time really let these words and the understanding of these words sink in.

There is no experience, no experience that will lead to permanent happiness. Now once we understand this, and by the way, you don't have to take this at face value. You could explore this in your own life. But it's a truth that contemplative practitioners, meditation practitioners, and people who have lived life continue to come back to. And once we do understand it, it shifts how we pursue fulfillment.

And some would say it's even when the big work begins of our personal growth. Yes, certain life changes can have lasting improvements to our overall wellbeing, sometimes in really massive ways. But to think that some future arrangement of conditions will permanently satiate our thirst for fulfillment is, it's folly. It's a hollow pursuit and our incessant grasping for the conditions that will finally make that possible. Well, that actually works against us in the end because we create so much extra tension along the way, constantly feeling unsatisfied.

I recognize also that permanent happiness is a tall order. And an easy pushback to this could be, well Cory, I'm not looking for permanent happiness, if that's even possible. I'm just looking for life to be good enough to be able to roll with the punches, experience a bit more joy. Awesome. I fully support that.

And, and to that sentiment, I'll say two things. The first is I see many people say this, but tend to act differently. That is our relationship to life and future moments reflect more of an underlying assumption still that once I get there, then I'll have happiness. Just kind of keep our heads down, working really hard to that future moment, even though we know we, I don't want permanent happiness. There's this feeling of like, once I get there, then I'll have it.

So I think that's worth reflecting on. The second thing is that you can absolutely live a really good life playing the game of more pleasure and less pain and arranging your life conditions to improve that ratio. This is what, I think you could argue, most people aim to do. And there are endless examples of people who feel satisfied with this path. However, there are also many people who become disillusioned by these highs and lows and start to look toward a different, more lasting form of fulfillment.

And to pursue that path is a slightly different game. It requires going inward instead of outward, seeking to understand how the mind works and how its relationship to experience create suffering or happiness. And then systematically training the mind to change its relationship to experience in service of less suffering and more fulfillment. This is indeed a path and it's one that you're on through mindfulness and meditation. So I hope this gives you something to think about in the context of the work that you're doing.

And also just as a reflection of when you think about happiness. Is it something in this distant moment that you're working toward? And once things come together in this way, even though you've seen so many of those scenarios before play out and be hollow, is there still this feeling of once I get there. And what would it be like to soften around that, drop into this moment and see, is it possible to find a little bit more contentment right here, right now? That's a significant path. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.