My Happy Place: Response to The Happiness Steem Challenge by @freedomtribe

Hello Kind Mindful Steemians!

THANK YOU 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 @freedomtribe for a wonderful job helping children in #Venezuela - Great Wok! And isn't it amazing to be part of the effort by participating in @freedomtribe The Happiness Steem Challenge.

If you search Happiest Person in any search engine it will bring Matthieu Ricard - a 69 years old monk. This was based on neuro-scientific experiments - for more details Click HERE. I know people can argue about this and many other questions such as: 'What is happiness? It seems like an odd question, but is it? Do we know how to define happiness? Do we think happiness is the same thing to us as it is to others? What’s the point of it all? Does it even make a difference in our lives?’ - fundamental questions posed by Positive Psychology Program but I'm sure many of us have come across these in our head many times, right? We can spend many hours trying to argue about this but we still won't be able to settle the debate. But do we really need to define it? We know when we are happy, don't we? So let's leave this philosophical question for another time. And let's get back to the main question posed by @freedomtribe:"TELL US ABOUT YOUR HAPPY PLACE: Do you go there often? Can you go there alone or do you need the help of others? Can or do you share your happy place? What stops you from going there every day?"

For me there are Two levels of happiness:

1. Physical level of Happiness and
2. Inner Happiness.

Let's call them pHappiness and iHappiness. The happiness we experience through our six sense doors (i.e. eyes, ears, nose, etc.) is what I meant by pHappiness or Happiness at physical level. So, when these sense doors come in contact with the delightful sense objects (e.g. vision, sounds etc.) they create pHappiness. In that sense, my pHappy place is Home, places where I can be with nature such as lakes, broads, rivers, sea beaches and so on. I tend to be pHappy in most places with friends and families. So I would say I'm in the pHappy place most of the time and generally with family or friends.

But I'm now going to focus mainly on iHappiness. Happiness beyond those sense sphere is what I call iHappiness. For convenience I will drop "i" from here onward so will refer inner happy/happiness as just happy/happiness.

My Happy Place
My happy place is right inside me - readily available and easily accessible. As Leo Tolstoy puts it 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You'. Not that I have come across the God yet (well I might not have recognised him/her :)) but I totally chime with it. When 'seeking' stops happiness follows you like shadow - I think Rumi said that. And for 'seeking' to stop we need to get in touch with the stillness within. So, for me meditation is the road to happiness. My happy place is when I am one with the breath. As I meditate and become one with breath the sense world fades away.

When I'm ONE with breath, there is no more expectation (from self and others) and there is no more seeking; past and the future disappear. All you have is you, the breath and the moment – it all converge to ONE. When I’m absolutely present in the moment there is no duality. The NOW is so entrenched, so vast and so content that nothing else is needed – You are complete and the unconditioned LOVE.

And the happiness of ONENESS with breath can be such a profound experience that every other experience in the sense world pales in comparison. And I was quite intrigued by some of the experiences shared by our meditators folks during our 7th #SGM (#SteemitGroupMeditation): @consciousangel7 ‘I just feel the pulsation’, @yangyanje and @porters’s tears of joy, @riverflows, @porters's 'stream' @vincentnijman somewhat out of body experience (may be just a toad …ha…ha…), @yangyanje liquidifying body and so on.

Being with breath and having made the breath my best friend my perception of happiness is profoundly changed. So, my happy place is my breath, absolute attention to the breath. So, I meditate and become the breath during my one hour meditation once or twice a day. While constant awareness of the breath is the way to go, to reach to the depth and becoming one with breath do need some time (at least for me and at least for now).

I go to my happy place (or meditate) regularly. Mostly I go there alone or with my wife. I also go there twice a week with my lovely #mindful steemians (during #SGM) and once a week with my friends and families (as I run regular weekly meditation group in our local community) and with my work colleagues. I love sharing this happy place, in fact I am very passionate about sharing this happy place – which is one of the main reasons for my joining #steemit.

We cordially invite you to Mindful Life community, which resides in the @naturalmedicine server HERE. Kind and mindful steemians will be waiting to warmly welcome you. Our #SGM (#SteemitGroupMeditation) in our virtual Meditation Hall are on:

• Wednesdays 8:30 to 9:30 pm London time
  (8:30-8:40 pm check in & brief guidance, 8:40-9:10pm guided meditation and 9:10 to 9:30pm Q & A plus chitchat)

• Saturdays 6 to 7:30pm London time
  (6-6:10pm check in & brief guidance, 6:10-7:10pm guided meditation and 7:10 to 7:30pm Q & A plus chitchat).

But you are welcome to join just guided meditation session if time prevents you from joining the whole 1 to 1.5 hours.

JOIN US – we love to share our happy place.

Before finishing the post I would like to leave you with this wonderful TEDx talk about what the brilliant scientist, the Buddha, discovered 25 centuries ago - Vipassana Meditation and Body Sensation: Eilona Ariel at TEDxJaffa 2013 and profound quote from the #Buddha:

Freedom from lust is happiness in the world,
the going beyond all sensual desires.
But the crushing out of the conceit "I am"--
this is the highest happiness.~ Buddha
Source: Text / Audio

Promotion and Reward
This section will contain any promotion or rewards I may be offering. So watch this space. To win SBI, Steem and SP delegation please check my previous post: 5 SBI give away for reesteems 👍🏼! And deadline to Win 6SP Plus delegation of up to 150SP extended to end of May

With Peace Love & Joy 🕉❤️😊
Let’s grow together in wisdom through #meditation 🧘🏼‍♂️🧘🏼‍♀️