FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 14 - ACCEPT NOTHINGNESS

Hi Friends,

I am back. I am incorrigible! I keep coming back. It is my life's mission to take this message on the possibility of tasting FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS to as many people as possible. From the responses I get and the viewership across the globe, I get a sense that many of you are connecting with my proposition. 

It is also my keen desire to help all those who may be suffering from un-caused depression, anxiety, emptiness, meaninglessness or despair, that is often diagnosed as 'clinical depression'. I wish to hold out my own example as someone who has been through all that and today does not need medication or mood altering drugs to stay happy. So, read on.

Some of you would have tried the initial exercise that I described about feeling different parts of your body, and then feeling your entire body internally. You will discover an energy flow within yourself. Witness that energy quietly. Apart from doing this exercise when you are free from distraction and noise, I also suggested that you gradually cultivate the habit of doing this also during brief intervals that you get amid a busy life. You can do this while waiting in a queue, waiting at the boarding gate at the airport, or while stuck in a traffic jam.

Have you noticed how we feel satisfied when we keep our schedules fully packed? We might complain that we are too busy, that there is no free time. But, secretly, we are comfortable that way. Imagine yourself suddenly confronted with a situation that you have nothing to do for a full day! Let's say all your planned programs for a Saturday get canceled. Also, imagine that the friends you could possibly connect with are also busy elsewhere. So you have nothing to do! Now, that could be a terrible situation to be in, at least for most of us.

Now here is what you can do. ACCEPT the situation that you have nothing to do. Your mind will be fidgety, looking for a way out of this loneliness. Do not fight your mind. Just observe it. Take a decision that today you will do NOTHING. Be with the nothingness. 

There are a few things you can do when you are doing nothing. Wherever you are, look around. You will notice many things. Can you notice the empty spaces around everything? Or, more specifically, do you notice the space, the emptiness, that has allowed all things to be? Do not try to objectively reason out this "nothingness". Your mind will love doing it, and once again you will get trapped. Whereas if you have the courage to just peacefully face the nothingness, and also witness your uncomfortable mind, without fighting it, in a while you might discover a peace you have not felt before. This is where sensitivity is important. Sensitive persons, who are able to hold this position for some length of time, may be able to feel that peace and joy spring from within. 

Those who have been too engrossed in the external, material world, with their possessions, positions, position-power, or essentially all ego driven attachments, may miss these subtle messages from within.

Which is why I have suggested right at the beginning that you question your attachment to all these 'things'. Fathom yourself bereft of all these things. You need not give them up completely. Just question and notice how you are clinging to them. Having moved up the spiritual journey, now enjoy them from a new vantage point, from a higher vision.

Once you develop this ability to notice the emptiness around you, and see things in the backdrop of this nothingness, the beauty of the same things will increase manifold. The same mountains or trees that you were seeing earlier, will now appear alive and rich!

Here is a picture that I took in 2012 of Lake Michigan, USA from my room in the Kellogg School of management at the Northwestern University, where I had been for a course.  

I was spellbound by the sheer beauty of the scene outside. Notice the beauty of the trees with all leaves shed, against the vast openness and the expanse of the sea! You actually develop a new vision. Not only that, you can listen to music too from a different level. You start seeing things and listening to music and other sounds, like birds chirping or water flowing, from the level of being. 

Keep reading. Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

Readers looking to buy the book, "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" in the US and other geographies outside India, please bear with me for a while. I will give you the Amazon.com link soon.

chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
Twitter: @deepak33c
http://fundamentalhappiness.blogspot.com

Views are personal

FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 13 - WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2013

World Mental Health Day, October 10, 2013

Tomorrow is World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme is "mental health and older adults". A lot of discussions and debates are going to take place. There are serious mental health issues, like dementia, that concern the aged. Other serious conditions like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia could afflict the young as well as the aged. 

The more common mental situations like depression and anxiety are reaching alarming proportions. The statistic on the incidence of depression is itself depressing. And, India is rated as one of the most 'unhappy' countries.

As you read the reports, the focus inevitably is on the causes of depression: lifestyles, work pressure and even dietary habits and genes! Eventually depression is seen as a manifestation of  altered 'brain chemistry' that needs to be set right through medication. The pharma industry is ever eager to be ready with the supply of anti-depressants and tranquilizers.  

As a person who has been through all this, and has come out on the other side, FUNDAMENTALLY HAPPY, it pains me to see how all attempts at tackling depression are always stuck at the level of the brain, and  hence, the mind, and not at the level of spirit, where the solution lies. 

• That ordinary uncaused depression or anxiety is not a mental disease but a sign of spiritual growth is completely missed out.

• That the way out is to seek further growth by embarking on a non-religious spiritual journey towards what I call FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS is also overlooked.

• That suffering from anxiety and depression could be an excellent opportunity to grow is often ignored. 

• That you could move towards a blissful existence, by honestly acknowledging and feeling your suffering, is not understood. It does not dwell in the psychiatrist's domain of thought.

• That this journey needs authenticity and a bit of courage, beyond which it is simple and straightforward, is also not recognized.

It is going to be my persistent effort to propagate these ideas through this blog. All my posts, starting from the first one on 23rd July, 2013 until Series 12 dated 25th September, 2013 are devoted to these ways of bringing real HAPPINESS to your lives. 

My book, "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?: FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS" got launched on 4th October, 2013 at Crossword Book Store, Kemp's Corner, Mumbai. The book was launched by Ad Guru Prahlad Kakar and Actor Rajat Kapoor. Here are some pictures:

The book is available at Crossword, Landmark and Media Mart stores in India. You can also buy it online from the links provided on the top right corner of this page. If you are in the US or other geographies, you will soon be able to buy it from Amazon.com. I will convey it to you through this blog when that channel is ready.

Series 13

Now let us start from where we finished Series 12. 

I have discussed in detail how focusing on different parts of your body, on your breathing, and generally focusing inwards, at the same time accepting and noticing whatever pain you may feel, is one of the ways of dissolving your depression or anxiety. Also, as I have been stressing, your orientation has to be that of submission, of surrender. 

I have also explained how you can extend this exercise to any time of the day when you have nothing to do, even if it is for 15 minutes or so, while waiting for transport, while in a queue, or while traveling. Basically, these are exercises to be with yourself. And, we usually do the opposite: we do everything possible to ensure that we do not spend time with ourselves. We keep busy, run after things, activities, pursuits... the result is that we are running away from ourselves.

Now, let us learn another extension of the same exercise: develop the practice of always keeping a certain degree of attention within yourself, even while doing anything else. Do not confuse this with being distracted. Rather, it is possible to do whatever you are doing with full attention, and at the same time, be conscious of your being. With time, you will realize that you have developed the ability of focusing on every act from being, instead of excessively using your mind. When you are having your cup of tea or coffee at your workplace, fully enjoy it. Do not mix it with work. Relish every sip. Also, be aware of yourself. This way you can enjoy your drink from being. Listen to music, obviously with your ears, but also from being. This will add a richness to your life that you may have not have tasted before. You are now well on your journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS.

Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
twitter: @Deepak33C

Views are personal