Our conquest for happiness is torn apart between our two selves. A part of us remembers things from the past and a part of us is involved in experiencing the current moment.

Whether we are happy in our life or we are happy about our life as what happened are two different questions.  The former is related to the current experience and the later to our memory.

We keep on toggling between experience and memory.

We keep on comparing the two. We go to a dinner.  We are having an excellent food, yet a part of us some where in our mind tells us: hey, last dinner was superb. We don’t have that fudge in desert tonight. And we feel unhappy, very slightly, in a very subtle manner, but we feel that way.

Why is our thinking pattern set in this manner is another mystery, yet at the same time, we have to work against many “by default” programmes that have been programmed in our minds.

We do not like to be uncomfortable, whether it is talking to strangers, or doing a double job or taking a responsibility on us. This is our by default mode of thought. Yet, we have to work against this mode.

We have to work against our comfort zones. We have to do things that make us uneasy, yet we have to do them. This becomes difficult and uneasy and some times painful and in this pain lies the secret of growth.

Ignoring the memory and being totally absorbed in the present requires much practice, patience, discipline and going against our default mode. It is painful and uneasy, yet it contains growth.

If we have learnt to be totally absorbed in our present, and stopped comparing things to the past, we have known the art of living in pure joy !