“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”
Omar Khayyam
Where Paths Diverge:
We can clarify the difference between these 2 general approaches in this way…
The pursuit of happiness often involves changing which thoughts are believed (positive thinking) and successfully arranging life to better meet your wants and needs (making money, being successful, building and maintaining healthy relationships, etc.)
The cultivation of a healthy Mind includes letting thoughts adopt their proper place (seeing them as tools rather than truths), improving your ability to fully experience the full range of human emotions and experiences without shutting down or suppressing them, and in general living life with more conscious awareness of your moment to moment experiences.
To say it even more directly:
The pursuit of happiness means becoming progressively more successful at limiting/reducing unpleasant experiences while simultaneously increasing/having more pleasant experiences.
The cultivation of a healthy Mind means becoming more intimate with the whole range of human experiences and coming more alive in the process.
You can pursue both:
This is not an either-or situation, you can pursue both in life and in-fact I encourage it. The distinction becomes important in what your goal is today.
If you are pursuing happiness (to the exclusion of all other emotions) then today you are likely going to want to “stay in your box”, “do what feels safe or easy”, and otherwise change your environment to suit your preferences.
If you are pursuing healing and a healthy Mind (including but not limited to happiness) then today you are likely going to want to “step outside your comfort zone”, “share what feels real to you with others even if it feels scary”, and otherwise allow yourself to fully be open to experiencing whatever is happening. (What is happening includes your desire to change it if that desire is there)
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