Wellbeing

Spirituality: the Barefoot Doctor on finding happiness within

The UK’s top tao guru on how to find happiness from within…

The UK’s top tao guru on how to find happiness from within…
We tend to put a lot of demands on ourselves at this time of year.

We think we’ll be happy once we’ve got everything sorted out – the finances, the home, the cleaning, the laundry, the ironing,what to wear for this event or that, and soon. We think we’ll be happy when we’ve attained social status, or become famous, or achieved our goals. We think we’ll be happy when we’ve retired to our place in the sun,or when we’ve finally worked out what’s bothering us.

And it’s true. For a moment at least,there’ll be a sense of triumph over adversity, a feeling of relief, a spark of pride in our achievements, or a sense of being important. But as you know, it really is only for a moment, and before you know it, that old existential unrest will be tugging at your shirtsleeves once again.

Because unless you’re fully in touch with the deepest ground of your being, the internal ‘background presence’ aspect of you that bears witness to your life unfolding,which remains constant through easy times and hard, nothing external, not even the greatest success, windfall, or romance, will bring you anything more than a fleeting relief from the underlying unrest.

The nature of your deepest self is happiness –the pure happiness of simply being. Existing on this planet and enjoying being part of life, simply because life is the greatest, most miraculous gift of all and taking part, regardless of circumstances, is the greatest experience. Everything else, the moments where you have everything in order, have achieved a goal, or are enjoying gratification of the senses, is just a passing entertainment.

Hopefully that all sounds good to you, in theory at least!

However, putting it into practice is where you’ll reap the true rewards of your own perpetual contentment.

Article by

Barefoot Doctor

Tao Master

Barefoot Doctor is a leading tao master and has written numerous books including the cult classic Handbook for the Urban Warrior. His latest book is called The Man Who Drove...

Discover more

Article by

Barefoot Doctor

Tao Master

Barefoot Doctor is a leading tao master and has written numerous books including the cult classic Handbook for the Urban Warrior. His latest book is called The Man Who Drove...

Discover more