Today I got the message that I am.  This time it was from the rain. Each drop contained a piece of me. Tiny raindrops fought to stay on branches but still laughed as they were falling to the ground. I let the rain wash over me, become a river and pour me out into the ocean. 

See everything within yourself. See every untruth, every denial, rationalization and condemnation. Leave no stone unturned.

See every fixation, obsession, attachment, dependence. See the structure of how you think things must be. See every suffering you endure. See everything you shy away from. See everything that gives you a sting of unwelcome emotion.

See how you blame the world for the sting. See the ways you fight it.  See how you blame yourself and how you condemn your being.

There is nothing you need to do or fix. Only see the truth of yourself and that truth will set you free. 

A person is born. 

A person wants to be happy.

A person thinks it can only be truly happy if x, y or z is in place.

A person feels worried, depressed or angry if x, y or z is not in place.

A person feels happy if x, y or z is in place–for a while. Often it turns out that x, y and z didn’t actually bring the happiness it was supposed to bring.

Now we are at ground zero, so to speak. From here a lot of things can happen.

A. The person feels empty and depressed after it realizes that the promised happiness didn’t last or that it wasn’t as good as imagined.

B. The person tries to find a way of coping with the fact that happiness is fickle. This is where denial, indulgence or addiction happens.

C. The person starts doing a lot of things (changes diet, exercises, meditates, bungy jumps, travels, prays etc etc etc) to find happiness in a new way. Hint: not much will change. Sometimes this seeking never ends.

D. The person realizes that happiness is not attached to objects. From here real change is possible.

Now, objects are a broad topic. Examples of objects are: physical things, the body, the world, relationships, health, feelings, thoughts, memories, experiences. In short everything that is not the Self.

What the Self is, is an even broader topic.

Let’s just say that it’s the essence of your existence. The reflection of it in the mind, known to all, is the sense of I, the feeling of being.

Objects will never satisfy you completely. Ever. No matter what all articles about happiness will tell you. Sure you will find some relief in following the advice of some of them. But most of all it will leave you confused and in endless search. Because it’s never quite “it.” Even religion can end up being a confusion.

Here’s the deal: You are what you seek.

You are the love, the happiness and the freedom. You need to do absolutely nothing. You don’t need to change one bit. You are perfect the way you are. 

Only most of us don’t look at ourselves that way. That’s because your identification with your body, the cultural training we have received since birth,  is so strong. It causes you to think you are the body and that you are separate from the world, which is an entity outside of you, supposed to satisfy your desires, i.e. make you happy.

You have been trained to look outside for happiness. And you have sort of been trained to think that you are bad, or at least not good enough.

It is so simple. You are what you want. Ok, I can hear some protest here. “No! I DON’T want myself. I want to add something to myself, that’s the whole point!” Well, you may not want the person because the person is a burden. But, I promise, you want what you are because that is freedom. You are freedom. You have been trained to confuse the Self  with the body. 

From day one on Earth we are taught to identify with our body, our feelings, thoughts and memories. We are told that is what we are. Sadly, that is also where suffering begins. That is where our desire for the world or ourselves to be different begins.

If we believe that happiness is supposed to come through our body we think there is something wrong with our body.

If we believe that happiness is supposed to come from the world we think there is something wrong with the world.

If we believe that happiness is supposed to come from our relationships, we think there is something wrong with other people. 

And on it goes.

The truth is, the body, the mind, the world, etc. will never be the way we want, exactly when we want. Ever. We can keep trying for that until the day we die.

Or we can see that what we want is already here. Beyond our ideas of what we think life is supposed to give. Beyond our ideas of what it is we think we want. Beyond our ideas of what we think we are. 

You are it. Right now, you are what you want. No addition necessary. Learn to trust and, little by little, your glory will be revealed.