True happiness is based on two things...

...For me, anyway. Everyone on the planet will claw their way up the face of this mountain called Life. Many people try to turn the mountain on it's side. They lose themselves in lust and greed and gluttony, leaving the part of themselves that counts open to spiritual vulnerability as they cruise through life on what they believe is even ground. The truth is that growth is exclusively a byproduct of trial, and not all trials are bad.

For those of you who believe in God, God is Love. As God made us in His image, the state of being alive is Love. This is a deductive argument (if you take the Christian standpoint--Im Pagan myself but as I've said before, I'm not afraid to use the word God. Religion is merely a filter through which people relate themselves to the Universe at large) for the fact that the Universe is inherently good. As brutal and merciless as life can be on the surface, running fresh through the veins of Existence is a beauty beyond anything we can comprehend as human beings.

We were in touch with the sweetest fruits of Existence as children. With this in mind, I've concluded that true happiness is based upon two things.

The first thing is the dismissal of adult distractions, particularly money. Yes, money is important. Each and every one of us should have a constant flow of monetary energy running through our lives, but that is all that money really amounts to. You can change your car oil yourself, or you can pay someone $40 to do it for you. Many individuals spend hours upon hours each day worrying about financial fitness. In reality, how often do we really need to think about money?

The other key to happiness applies to anyone who has ever struggled with addiction. Life was more real when we were children. We were not concerned with sex, nor the bomb, nor anything that might generally occupy the minds of adults.

Think back. At which point did you lose touch with your innocence?

I lost touch with mine the first time I got drunk. The night before my 21st birthday, I took my first shot of alcohol. I have spent the last twelve years chasing the high that I got that night. It hasn't happened. And it never will. What I've come to notice, however, is that further away I get from adult distractions (alcohol, scratch tickets, strip clubs, cigarettes, etc), all those things for which an ID was required prior to purchase, the more connection I feel to my childhood, and the happiness that came with it. In my case, this relates almost exclusively to the depth of my recovery from alcoholism.

There is a child in you somewhere that needs coddling.

Listen for the cry.

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