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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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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.
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