What is it that you think you are missing? What is it that you think you don’t have and that you must? What is this elusive happiness that you seek? It is right at your fingertips. It seems to tease you. It beckons you at every corner. It lets itself be seen yet not overtaken. So long as you strive for happiness in the world, it will elude you. Or it may visit you for a while, just enough so you will mourn for it when it dances away. Happiness from the outside lasts only so long.

You have had spurts of happiness occasioned by some event or kindness from the outside, the same way you have had disappointments or grief. They visit you, lay their eggs as it were, and then leave you to clean up.

The world out there is the harbinger of happiness, but the happiness it gives is short-lived. Everything in the world keeps changing, and therefore it cannot be held on to. Events in the world are slippery. And you have been a stickler of joy from the world.

Permanent happiness lies within you. You cannot depend upon the world for it. Go to the deep well within to drink. Dip in. Dip in enough, and you are saturated. This well, despite your perception, never runs dry. Happiness from the world is like a mock-up. The geyser of happiness lies within you.

Events in the world are not the making of you. Nor are they your undoing. How the world treats you is one thing. How you treat yourself is another. You are not meant to be the ship in the storm. You are not rudderless. You can sail straight ahead.

The ultimate way to happiness is to give it. That is the doorway. Thinking about yourself and what you want becomes petty, and you are for Greatness. To find yourself, you leave yourself. You leave yourself in the sense that you let go. Let go of the search. Let go of the desperation. Find joy in not thinking so much about yourself and what you see as lack. Start giving more, and joy will fall at your feet. When you are not looking, joy will surround you on all sides.

When you focus on something, a project of some kind, you forget yourself. When you come back to your thoughts about yourself, you recognize that you were happy. You were happy when you weren’t thinking about yourself.

That’s why it’s so good to think about Me and what you can do for Me. It gets your attention off the sore toe of life. It gets your attention back on to the Vastness, which is your natural habitat.

Focus on anything but yourself.

Fine focus on anything but yourself will take you to Vastness. Sew a dress or rebuild a car, and your attention is off yourself. Desire to serve Me, and your attention is on Vastness. Focus on Me, and the world gets into greater focus, beloveds, and you will find greater joy in it.

Let your goals escape you for a while. Be God-centered. Strive on My behalf, and you will have the world’s interest at heart. Strive for yourself, and you may succeed, but then what? Success does not bring you enough joy and not for long enough.

Let the inner joy within you come to the surface. Let it. Allow it. You do not have to have it. Let go of your need for it. When you do, happiness will well up within you. The more you don’t have to have it, the more of it you will recognize.

What a new thought, that you are not dependent upon happiness. What a revelation that you are independent of it. You can be happy, as it were, without happiness. You can be happier with happiness pouring out of you than you can be with happiness pouring into you, so be the pourer of happiness.