Overcoming modern day ennui and unhappiness

In the modern world we are in, we are constantly blaming someone or the other for our misery. It could be parents, society, past, governments etc. Rarely do we turn the gaze inwards. Yoga teaches that the source of all emotions is from within, you are the master steward of your emotions. There is nobody or no event from the outside world which can make you unhappy if you are determined to be happy. Likewise, no event or person can make you happy if you are determined to be unhappy.

As an example, let us look at the source of much misery. Our vapid understanding of time. All of us can understand that we live in the present, the duration of which we cannot define. Seconds, hours, days, years and generations are all referred to us as the present, in different contexts. However, the moment an event has already occurred, it has moved to the past. Nobody can influence the past. It does not matter if the past was a second before or decades earlier. The past is lost. The future is yet to happen. Nobody can ever know 100% if an event will surely happen. Heck, we do not even know if we will be alive a minute later. If we do not know our own future, how can we be 100% sure of the external world?

If we completely live in the present, we cannot be unhappy. The problem happens when the uncontrolled mind either decides to dwell the past, that has ceased to exist or ruminate over a future, that has not happened.

It typically begins this way. Our unruly mind dredges up the past and drags it to the present. It keeps reliving the past and makes us suffer the pain again and again as if the present was on autoloop. This is a repeat of the movie Groundhog Day, but the culprit is the mind making itself suffer repeatedly. These masochistic tendencies deplete the ebullience of youth and makes the mind very despondent.?

The other option is to think and worry about a future that has not happened. We fret over each consequence and create an imaginary trauma in the mind. We strangely assume that that we will be around to experience the event, though there is no guarantee that the event will happen or if you will be alive. There are some things we dare not question. Live will become unlovable otherwise.

The problem with living in the past and living in the present is that we really cannot influence the events in any meaningful way. The future is yet to happen and the past is over. When the mind cannot influence events in a meaningful way, it falls into the valley of despair. This is the pessimism that takes us to the valley of despair in the short term and the nadir in the long term. We often forget that the deeper we climb into an abyss, one day we will need to retrace and climb all the way up again. So, one should avoid falling too deep into the vortex of sorrow.

It is not that the past refuses to let us go. It is that we refuse to let the past go and keep invoking it to become the present at every possible opportunity. We embrace the pillar of the past and then wonder why nothing seems to change in our lives. To allow the winds of the future to waft by you, you have to let go of the past and allow the uncertainty of the future to take over. If you know that all negativity and positivity emerge from the heart inside, you will not be afraid. The world outside is devoid of meaning. The meaning emerges from you. To be honest, there is nothing objective over something as pain. Most of us hate it, but masochists love it. Even pain can be interpreted in different ways. Not everyone runs away from pain. This is why I repeat that emotions emerge from the mind, not from the world outside.

So, what is the way out of this deadly trap of our fixation with the past and future? It is simple. Live in the present. This is what Zen philosophy says, and this is what Yoga is all about. Do not allow the mind to wander aimlessly. Think of the senses like five horses controlling a chariot which is the body. The Atman is the person travelling in the chariot, the mind represents the reins, and the intellect is the charioteer. Without the path of yoga or self-realization, the mind has no idea of direction. It seems no meaning, purpose or path forward. The charioteer then gives control of the reins to the horses and asks them to go wherever they please. We know what will happen. The horses will always run towards the next shiny object and often run in different directions, leaving the chariot stranded. This sums up the condition of modern western society today. A mad rush behind money, pomp, wealth and prestige - precisely the shiny things I was referring to.

After all this mad rush, even if a person does achieve all the trinkets of life, they are still unhappy. They were unhappy during the chase and probably even more unhappy after the chase is over. It was the thrill of the chase that mattered and not the goal. The prize is typically as bland, tasteless and meaningless as most things were before the race began.

One cannot look for external rewards to become happy. Happiness always springs from the Self. The consciousness is eternally happy. Ananda (supreme bliss) is the nature of the innermost self. The question for happiness was always the quest for inner happiness and self-discovery. The fool misjudges and this misidentification of internal and external worlds is the source of all unhappiness.

There is a practical way to deal with unwholesome thoughts. When any thought which is from the past arises in the mind, do not judge it. Just let it disappear as quickly as it arose. The more you judge, the more you will dwell on it. Thereby your mind gives the transitory thought a permanency and legitimacy it does not deserve. Stop attaching labels of good and evil to thoughts.

A child can argue that they do not have the flexibility to pick and choose what their present and future. However, there is no escape for an adult. They can recreate their life from scratch any time. Hence, the present and future is completely under their control. There is no use complaining about the present because the desired change can happen instantaneously. All they need to do is walk away.

To a person who is a beginner in yoga, the sublimation of thoughts is easier said than done. They should try the substitution method. The mind is capable of infinite thoughts. By thinking of another pleasant thought to substitute the unpleasant thought, the unsavory thought disappears as soon as it appears. It goes back to the void inside the mind it emerged from. The more auspicious thoughts one has; the more a person feels happy, inspired and enthusiastic. The adjective for auspiciousness in Sanskrit is Shiva. The more one thinks of Shiva as embodied inside the self, the closer a person is to self-realization and living in the present.?This is the reason why most Indians used to say Shiva, Shiva all the time. Every time a person says Shiva, they are supposed to think of a positive thought.

It is a different matter that Indians also remember Shiva as the Adi Yogi, the first teacher of yoga. Where is Shiva located? Deep within the self as the highest form of the Atman. A reminder that all the knowledge we seek and understand ultimately emerges from the inside.