My little adventure of self discovery

[Richard K. Hughes]

Hey guys I wasn't entirely sure that which part of the forum to post this on so I just assumed it would be
within mindfulness and me, please don't get mad if its in the wrong part haha.

So the other week I hit a wall in my life and fell into a dark place once again even with my current practices that
I had learnt I could not control the thought patterns I was having so I decided to start a YouTube series called "The Key
to Happiness"and spontaneously booked a tripped to Jamaica. So I departed from Bournemouth in the UK (Where I'm
from) to meet some of the people in this developing country.

One of the first sites I saw was trucks full of police and soldiers with m16's patrolling the roads of Montego Bay and also
high activity in prostitution. The part of Jamaica you don't see is still very much at war with Crime Lords.

On my little adventure of self discovery I stumbled across many different and interesting characters this is
one them. Theirs multiple different videos with different perspectives from different people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsElEGgMsrk

And I'd also like to know what everybody in this community believes is the Key to Happiness?

[JonW]

Is this post for real??
If so, I'd definitely like to hear more.
Cheers,
Jon, Hove (just along the coast)

[Gareth]

The key to happiness?

My view is that there is no key. Happiness is there all along; it's just that sometimes it is occluded by other emotions and it's impossible to see. We don't have to 'do' anything in order to be happy. Happiness will emerge by itself when it's good and ready.

[Richard K. Hughes]

Hey there guys,

Firstly Yes John the post was for real, my apologies for the incredibly late reply I'll be more active from now on I've been incredibly busy. There are multiple video's on my channel that your more than welcome to view, you'll be able to see the various views of people from different backgrounds, its quite an interesting one.

For instance; a Jamaican gentleman who for his entire life has worked in a harbour which is very popular with wealthy yachtsman his views were very basic and I personally believe that it's because he has been sub consciously wired due to his exposure with the wealthy to believe that "having a company and setting yourself up right financially" is the key to happiness of course undoubtedly envy is a major factor in his beliefs.


Secondly, my apologies again hello there Gareth, so to begin with I respect your views Gareth, happiness is a funny one and I believe how you define happiness is a huge factor in actually understanding how to be truly happy.

Ofcourse material goods can act as a temporary key to developing happiness, but my view is that true happiness is about developing the self by that I mean understanding that firstly the mind is your tool, secondly living your life with a strong level of acceptance to the twists and turns that life throws at you and ofcourse following this acceptance a positive rationalization on the situation that has just occurred if possible.

I believe these developed traits heavily decrease emotionally impulsive and self destructive behavior, once you have accepted that and wired it into your belief system I believe happiness will occur more often due to you working with the waves of life rather than trying to fight through them consistently and burning yourself out.

I also believe that in the past even although circumstances and living conditions were undoubtedly more harsh than the majority of our conditions within modern age they did have a belief system when it came religion that helped them through these hard times and also helped them in well... Being happy, in this modern age the majority do not have a belief system so instead we are given a different path of rationalizing the negatives life throws at us.

An example:

Situation: In the past a Mother passes away leavings father, son and daughter.
How its rationalized: God works in mysterious ways this happens for a reason they lived a good life therefore they shall go to heaven.

Situation: In the current times a mother passes away leaving father, son and daughter.
How its rationalized: Our mother just died grievance no way to rationalize it in a positive way unless through acceptance which is incredibly hard if it is not accepted then a mental scar is developed I believe.

My point being that acceptance generated by religion was once a key to happiness.

There is no guidance in schools or in most working environments for mind coaching, part of the reason religion was in place I believe was to help guide the masses into developing mental acceptance against the hardships of life and to give people a "reason" to accept them as they come ofcourse this in turn demotes civil unrest and whatnot.

But to sum up my view I personally I think there is a "Key to Happiness" But I have accepted that it is most definitely through developing the self.