[At yesterday’s ILC meeting, we wound up with a somewhat open-ended drumming session centered on the question of happiness. I said, “Guys?” and got the following.]
Happiness as in joy? Or Happiness as in “going with the flow”? They can be but aren’t necessarily the same.
Tranquility is living in minimal friction with what seems external. But living without friction is not automatically the best thing. It may be, it may not be. But if not tranquility, what?
Acceptance, not quite the same thing. It amounts to living in faith that everything that comes to you is for the best, regardless what you may think of it.
Acceptance, not bucking the system, is productive. Trying to get what you want may be productive, but may not be. If you are on a counterproductive path and don’t know it, how will you correct course except by receiving something you may not want, may not like, may not believe is for your benefit?
It would be easy to raise logical objections to this, but more helpful to yourself to tentatively accept it and see what you learn.