It’s also the only rational response to life on this little planet spinning through a vast universe. Choosing to be happy through practicing nonresistance and dropping unhappiness is the surest way to awakening. Good areas for practicing nonresistance and dropping unhappiness include your relationships and your work. Then, whenever someone says or does something you don’t like, you can treat this the same way you’ve treated your fear of dogs: no resistance. You can work with this, learning to relax and have a new and enjoyable relationship with dogs. Imagine, for instance, that a childhood experience instilled a fear of dogs in you. Refuse to close your spiritual heart, no matter what happens. Anytime you notice any part of yourself growing unhappy, just drop all resistance. You give this right answer by practicing total nonresistance. The question is, “Do I want to be happy?” The right answer is, “Yes.” Life itself will liberate you if you ask the right question and give the right answer. Nonresistance and Unconditional Happinessĭaily life is your highest spiritual path, and your choice to enjoy this life is the greatest spiritual teacher. Observe and allow the negative thoughts and feelings to emerge, and let your blockages and disturbances become the very fuel for your enlightenment as your act of releasing them propels you upward into clarity, peace, and joy. You can actually learn to “fall upward” into ever more delightful levels of enlightenment. When life inevitably hits your stored negative stuff (your Samskaras), let go of the negativity right then, because it will be harder later. It simply means refusing to fight with life. So you try to arrange life so that it doesn’t trigger your sense of being disturbed, and in doing this, you make life itself into a threat.įreedom from fear is possible, and thus freedom from falling is possible. But you fail to realize that with this mental ruse, you actually make the world a scary place because you define reality according to your own inner problems: What doesn’t disturb you is okay, what disturbs you isn’t okay. You fear life because of its inherent uncertainty, so you use your mind to create a false world of static stability. You fall because you fear life and therefore resist it.