There is a simple and foolproof mathematical formula for happiness.
Nice clickbait, eh? Maybe we get a few likes, but need to be careful about that expectation. Why? Explained below.
Are you tired with constant onslaught of the options for bettering your mood, supplements, courses, trauma removal, exercise, this and that modality, often seemingly contradicting and complex. How to even remember all that, right?
Well keep it simple. Go back to basics. To the primary.
Remember fractions? That first trauma of mathematics, after you were happy moving from fingers counting all the way to 100 or more and then they hit you with this abstraction. Well, this is the only thing you will need. Easy to understand, to remember, but only when constantly invoked, and put in practice, the formula works.
Fraction of happiness. First, you know, what is above that line we call the numerator. What is below, denominator.
First stands for what you have. Not just money. All you have, tangible or felt, in health, relationships, number of teeth and kids. All.
Second for what you want to have. Better, more, ( or less if we revert and think about negative values, but proportions still matter ). The result of this is a measure of your happiness. How to increase it? The default we do is to try and boost the numerator. And, unfortunately, paralel to this we increase the denominator, not just equally, but usually more. Consequence? You know it.
Fine, do it where you can. Plant your trees, build your houses. You do not have to become a naked ascetic. But be wise and see what works. Most of all, look at everything as relationship, not quantity. Relationships are with your wife, but also with your food, with what plant medicine gives you that night, with your place in bank queue, with your place in life, most of all with yourself. With everything, really. At any given time, when there is rejection, complaint, demand, rebellion against what is, the denominator increases, and it all piles up.
This is simple, this is inescapable. We will try to fool ourselves and try opposite countless times, “but it is just a small effort, I deserve more, if I ll just try harder, if I only get myself to be less lazy, my boyfriend to raise that toilet seat, my girlfriend to loose her temper less, my sandwich to have a layer of better cheese on it, anything really that I think is separating my reality from perfection, then I will be happier. Bullshit.
The magic recipe is : noticing desire, acknowledging, letting go and curing with gratitude. I am grateful to have a sandwich to enjoy, girlfriend to wash dishes after and yellow teeth with no toothache. And when toothache comes, I will be grateful for no cancer. Does it mean to abandon striving, washing teeth and all effort? Not at all, but not as means to an end, but as service to the world, work as ritual. In the meantime, try settling for less, ultimate heresy. Your ultimate potential and abundance is right here.
Once again, learning needs repetitions : opportunity for that will manifest thousand times daily. Anytime there is frustration and dissapointment in your encounter with reality, it is you, not reality that looses. Remember only that, notice the default and choose different, you will need no other integration. Be a Jedi, and win this time.