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Photographer: Eyal Eckhaus ( www.artistila.com )
Taken as part of a photoshoot series for Sivanada yoga center Tel-Aviv

Be honest with this question - are you happy? Not right now, but in general. Are you happy, do you love life, or are you just waiting for this thing to happen and only then you’ll probably be happy? Even if your answer to this huge question is yes, and even if your answer is no, can you now try to explain why?
What is happiness? One might say that he/she is happy when they are in love, or when they triumph over obstacles, or when they successfully move forward in their career, or when they simply buy something nice, eat something good, solve a problem, or any other variation. But is this really happiness? an explanation for happiness that can be written in a bullet list of “happiness factors” isn’t a real lasting happiness, but only a short experience for a moment, a glimpse to an everlasting desired bliss. When this moment is gone then so is this so called “happiness”.
Let’s assume that you manage to overcome all your current problems. Will you be happy? Sure, you’ll have some time to calm yourself from the difficulties you came across and even enjoy it, but at some point you’ll get back to the race for finding this thing that with it I’ll be happy”…

The spiral of searching happiness
Many people find these short experiences of happiness when they reach a goal, when they achieve what they wanted, but after they got it they feel that it’s not what they thought, what they imagined. They therefore quickly set another goal in hope that this one will bring the answer, which of course won’t solve anything and will only continue the spiral of search and disappointment. The longer you enter the spiral the more frustrated and empty you will feel, resulting in one of two common options:

1. You put more energy to this never ending race.
2. You stop believing that you can be happy.

The two points above are the two extremes of the same undesired behavior. How can we change that?

The key for happiness
How do you find happiness? How to be happy?
The first step is to understand that as long as your think that you’ll be happy if you achieve or get something, your happiness actually depends on an external factor. i.e.: something needs to happen for you to be happy. Think about the moments that you feel good with yourself, when you are really in control, when you are free. In these moments that you feel that you can do anything, it is YOU that is in charge, no one else. In order to really be happy you need first of all to remove this external dependency of your happiness. The way to do that is by understanding one basic key: Happiness Comes From Within.
Do continue to do all those things that improve your life and make them more comfortable, there is nothing wrong from enjoying life’s pleasures. However, understand that these are not the answers for you to be happy, it will not give you happiness. Happiness must come from within. It’s like a strong trunk of tree that you can grow inside and is independent of the outside. The more you reach the point where the outside events have little effect on you and on your inner stable trunk of happiness, the easier it will be to maintain your happiness.
If this sounds a bit abstract to you, then you can use the following technique that may also explain further the idea.

Planting the seed of happiness
Just as every tree begins from a small seed, you have to plant the seed of happiness inside. This seed will grow to be the trunk of happiness that will be independent of the exterior environment. A powerful technique that facilitates the seed planting is meditation (read Meditation: and Overview). Meditation is a wonderful technique that you can use. It provides so many wonderful benefits that it’s really a shame not to use. When you meditate, imagine something fantastic that makes you happy. It can be an imaginary place with magical creatures or simply lying on the beach with no worries. Concentrate on this feeling and remember it. The advanced meditation practitioners can immediately simply focus on a positive feeling (happiness, love, joy). Then, from time to time when you are fully awake, remember the positive sensation you had the last time you meditated and concentrate few minutes on this feeling. The more you practice this exercise, strengthen your positive feeling during meditation and then remember it and concentrate on this memory, the stronger it will grow. After a while of practicing this exercise, try to evoke the positive sensation at different times – even when something bad happens. When you succeed in doing that – YOU’RE THERE! It is like watering the seed of happiness you’ve planted inside. You will see that you feel better, stronger. Instead of asking how to be happy, you will simply be happy to be!
In addition to this extremely powerful technique, maintaining a certain balance in life may enormously help your well being. This includes good health habits, a good night sleep (read Curing Insomnia...) , and proper nutrition. Along with this balance, nourishing your wonderful soul will also provide huge benefits, which are in fact the tree branches that will grow from your trunk of happiness. Some use prayer, others like to be surrounded with colors wherever they look, others reach nirvana from listening to their favorite music. Anything that will make you feel good, that will make you smile and be happy, can further support bearing the fruits from your tree of happiness.
Finally, you’ll find something amazing: the more you really feel happy inside, you’ll radiate it and attract wonderful things from the universe. 

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