Atongla Rothrong
No one should ever ask themselves – Why am I unhappy? The question carries within it a virus that will destroy everything. If we ask this question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy.
Sometimes I find myself in precisely this situation. I have a lively, interesting set of friends, family, my work is going well, and there is every chance that, in the fullness of time, things will sort themselves out. I should resign myself to the situation. I should accept what life is offering me and not follow some lost cause example, not to look at anyone else, but remember the words of the wise and build a new life.
If I behave in the way people expect me to behave, I will become their slave. It requires enormous self-control not to succumb, because our natural tendency is to want or please, even if the person to be pleased is us. If I do that, I will lose not only my friends, my job, my future but also any respect I have for myself and for what I have said and written.
Let me rephrase it: why are people sad? That’s simple. They are the prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They have accumulated experiences, memories, things, other people’s ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams.
Many might say “You know what you want from life, whereas I don’t even know what I want to do.” But of course they know what they want to do. How many people do you know who say: “I’ve never done what I wanted” but then, that’s life. If they say they haven’t done what they wanted, then at some point of time they must have known what it was that they did want. As for life, it’s just a story that other people tell us about how we should behave in the world, even worse, are those people who say: “I’m happy because I am sacrificing my life for those I love”. Do you think that people who love us want to see us suffering for their sake? Do you think that love is a source of suffering? Yes, but it shouldn’t be.
In order for the true energy of love to penetrate your soul, your soul must be as if you had been just born. Why are people unhappy? Because they want to imprison that energy, which is impossible. Forgetting your personal history means leaving a channel clear, allowing that energy to manifest itself each day in whatever way it chooses, allowing yourself to be guided by it.
Yes! This is all very romantic but very difficult too, because that energy gets blocked by a number of things. Commitments, social situation……. and after a while, by despair, fear, loneliness and your attempts to control the uncontrollable. According to the tradition of the Steppes- in order to live fully, it is necessary to be in constant movement, only then can each day be different from the last.
