Happiness Effort

Is happiness found
through concentrated effort
and lazar sharp endeavor?

Like waves
of the ocean tide,
it will perpetually
keep coming,
quite naturally,
as steady and impending
as your next breath.
As each breath exhales,
and each tide recedes,
the next one insistently
appears, altogether afresh
on hallowed repeat.

The Source of happiness
is already present.
It does not require finding.
Rest and let it happen,
washing over and through you.
Slurp it in. Receptivity to it
matters more than
exertion or enticement.

Careful: do not attempt
to manipulate providence.
Destiny will have none of that.
Interference clogs the system.
Staunchly avoid willpower,
the mischief-maker that
obliterates or obscures
your inherent good.

Happiness, like home,
is a mobile idea,
without location,
which can always accompany us,
when we dwell there, unresisting.

Why search the horizon
for what is right here?
Why look so far off,
when it means
you won’t notice
what is at your feet?

You pursue that rainbow,
but never get there.
That dog chases its tail
and never grabs it.

Why exhaust yourself
by trying in vain,
when you can just relax
and accept what is
perpetually available
by design?

That tight fist of yours
needs to merely
unclasp and open
to be ready
to attain.
Stop hunting.
Stop contriving.
Stop manufacturing.
Unfasten instead,
unfurling and unfolding
in this moment’s sunlight.
Invite the light in.
Feel it filling
your consciousness.

Don’t chase a butterfly
that is already quietly
resting before you.
Notice the languorous way,
it unhurriedly flaps its wings,
completely at peace and content.

There is no need to force joy.
Each of us is created
with it already fully installed.

by Polly Castor
7/21/2021