Consciousness and Happiness
By Juliana Costa
Consciousness is all there is! And this is not only my statement, but also Tony Nader’s, the neurologist, who in his quest to understand the Human Being, found himself studying Consciousness, and deepened to the point that there is no doubt about the relationship between consciousness and happiness.
Consciousness, even when not awakened, built, and developed, is a human quality entirely at our disposal. If it is worked upon, it frees us from being rebel builders of suffering, because it frees us from the misrepresented idea that happiness is something to be achieved through tremendous efforts.
It directs us to be obedient builders of unlimited happiness, keeping us faithful to ourselves by providing the opportunity to understand that happiness is at the beginning of our existence, and should not be considered as a target to be reached. This is because happiness leads us to self-integration, to virtuosity, and essentiality. So this is the only way we can find it and be happy in fact.
To do that, we need to strive for a conscious life through education. We can do so through the practice of meditation, the study of consciousness based on Natural Laws, and the understanding of self-knowledge.
Doing so will help us to live a mindful life, provide constant vigilance, and direct us to steady perception. This is very important because when we are attentive, we can observe happiness in everything. When we are vigilant we can recognize it within ourselves. And finally, when we are perceptive enough, we tend not to lose sight of it, or even get lost in it. As previously said, happiness must be our north.
This way, seeking always to awaken, build, and develop Consciousness, in Human Beings and society, there will be a tendency to move away from everything that is dispensable and try to move us away from the happiness we deserve so much.
That’s because Consciousness is a resource for those who succeed in having fewer problems in their lives, and it is there, and only there, where happiness takes place, where suffering no longer exists.
In a society, for instance, where consciousness is not yet fostered to a significant degree, there is no compliance with the law. So, there is no order, neither individual nor social. If there is no order, there is only confusion, conflict, and chaos. Thus, how should there even be the possibility of living happily? There isn’t! After all, happy living must be simultaneously dynamic and balanced. A deed that only Consciousness provides.
As long as we do not understand this, we will continue with a distorted view of happiness, thinking, for example, that it is not something spiritual. Happiness implies being what we are in essence, something that brings the desired peace as a result for us. This is not related to sensory pleasures but to extrasensory pleasures. Not to knowledge, but to self-knowledge. Not to misvirtue but to virtues. Therefore, not to power, but to fullness.
Knowing this, there is no point in continuing to feed society with the illusion of incessant search and urgent encounter of happiness outside, where it cannot and can never be found.
In this sense, the researcher and professor of Psychology and Well-being, Todd Kashdan, warns us of the fact that as Human Beings succumb to social pressure to be happy at any cost and build their lives aiming first to become happy, they end up becoming less happy.
This unrestrained search gives us indications of its failure daily when we realize that we always keep looking at what is beyond here, believing that happiness is waiting for us, somewhere ahead.
It is a mistake! Happiness is not something findable, even if it only manifests itself where there is no chaos. Happiness is not in confusion, is not in doubt, is not in criticism, is not in revenge, is not in suffering, is not in penance, nor will it ever be. Attentive, vigilant, and perceptive people can testify to this.
Happiness is also not only in fun times but rather during distraction. The less we have this real notion, the greater the chances we have to be unhappy. Unhappiness provokes chain reactions because this reverberates like chaos and does not guide anyone to fullness.
Reflecting upon this perspective, we can bump into the idea that the solution to living happily is done through isolation, right? That’s another mistake! Happiness is always shared, it overflows and it transcends all limits of coexistence that we can still cultivate. It is not the result of civility, it is not a product of the circumstances of our life, it is not dispensable and has no shortcuts.
For Suzie and James Pawelski, writers of the book Happy Together, what leads us to good coexistence and happiness is the fact that we should not focus only on what goes wrong in relationships, but rather excel in creating the habit of balance. That is, being grateful for what goes well, which makes a lot of sense when we understand that happiness is not a means, but a principle that can and should be used as a way of action for those who already want to be happy.
To this end, it is necessary to develop Consciousness. Just as illiterate people go through a book and do not understand it, incomprehensive people live in direct contact with happiness but do not understand it, and tend to live a long cult to dispensable things. Thus originating and developing within themselves disappointment, pain, and suffering.
Let us then awaken our Consciousness to the point of being restless about happiness, or rather, let us be our scientists of happiness, as Mark Williamson, leader of the Action for Happiness initiative, alludes. So, once and for all, we will find it, because for all other beings happiness is to exist, but for Human Beings it is to be aware of existence itself.
Mini-Biography Juliana Costa
Conscientiologist, Educator with experience at all levels of Basic Education in Brazil, and Specialist in Teaching and Self-knowledge, Consciousness and Education, Neuropsychology, and Psychopedagogy. Master’s student in Clinical and Counseling Psychology with a focus on Job Satisfaction, Decent Work, Big Five Personality Factors (Big Five), and Mental Health. Teacher of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in face-to-face and distance learning modes. Coordinator of the Support, Accessibility, and Inclusion Center at a Brazilian College. Speaker with international experience in Denmark, Australia, the United States, Mexico, Portugal, and Brazil. Writer of several articles and book chapters, as well as the series “Approaches to Consciousness in its Pragmatism”. Consultant in Education Sciences in several public and private companies.
