It is an answer an individual has to find for themselves. I can share that a lot of people live their lives like betting on a particular side of coin. They toss a coin up in the air and wait for the favourable outcome. When they have not tossed the coin, they are waiting to toss it. When they toss it in the air, they are waiting for it to fall. When the coin is about to land they are waiting for the favourable outcome. This entire process makes them miserable.
Here is my six point answer to help people find an answer.
1. The most important thing in life is life itself. The fact that you are experiencing it, is what matters the most. Learn and grow every day, and even compete to get the outcome you want but first learn to be ecstatic about the fact that you are alive. Life is more important than happiness or any emotion you can experience. You should be conscious to experience life and not asleep or in a state of coma.
2. Happiness is experienced by people when they get the outcome they wanted. Unhappiness is experienced when the outcome is not as per the expectation. The cause of happiness is the fulfilment of desire, and cause of unhappiness is the failure of a desire to become a reality. Therefore, the Meta cause of all happiness and unhappiness is the existence of desire.
3. Desire is not essential like breathing though it does feel like it is the most important thing. As I mentioned earlier the most important thing is life or what we experience as conscious beings. Am I asking humans to give up their desires, yes I am. Are humans afraid that they will fail without a desire to succeed, yes they are.
4. What happens when desire ends? The answer is you experience peace, freedom and awakening. When thoughts, desires and emotions are no longer needed for you to take action, you action becomes more powerful. A person without desire is not dead, and consciously takes action. The person is wise enough to know that results come from action, they do not come from desires or emotions. Another view to look at life is to observe your own actions and the impact they are having on your life and the world around you. If you are doing the best you can do, wherever you are, and with what you have then you have truly mastered the subject of life.
5. Being thoughtless and full consciousness is the highest state a human can achieve. It is the difference between a bud and a fully expressed flower. Most humans never experience the full blooming of life.
6. In the end all flowers dry up, fall to the ground and die. The humans meet the same fate. Live as long as you can and do not develop self-sabotaging habits, because the most important thing in life is life itself.
I do not want you to believe any word in this article. However, I do what you to get in touch with the consciousness inside you and let it serve as your guiding light. People are way too much influenced by books, movies and peers. Observe and know yourself as your life is unique. Try living a life without any desires. Breath deep, eat right, stay healthy, learn, work hard, laugh a lot and be kind to others without any reason or expectation of outcome. Go desire-less and even give up the desire to give up desire. Stay fully conscious in the present moment.
(This is third part of the series where the author will answer the 101 questions related to life, personal development, success, money, health that concern people at large in their pursuit of finding happiness and contentment)
About the author
Sidhartha Sharma is an author of 5 bestselling books like Love your Mondays and Retire Young, The Millionaire Entrepreneur, 60 Keys to Success with NLP, Mom I Got the Job and Thank God It’s Monday .
He is a 3 times TedX speaker, digital expert and a professional leadership coach. He writes and talks extensively on the topics of life, health, money, technology and economy. Over the last decade, he has spoken to over a million people across the globe and his work has been featured by many business magazines and newspapers. You can follow him on his FB page- https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSiddharthaSharma/