Achieving Inner Happiness Is Life's Highest Gift

In three of the wealthiest countries in the world – the U.S., Great Britain and China – the number of children and adults with depression continues to increase right along with financial success. Unhappiness is obviously linked to something other than economics.

Thinking back over my life, I realized that there was definitely a level of relief when as a single mother of three I was able to cover the bills and have a little wiggle room. As I progressed past the day-to-day survival mode and was able to realize a greater degree of success in my life, I realized there was never a long-term satisfaction attached to achieving a particular possession or level of financial gain. There was only a sense of relief and a short-lived “high.” This was followed almost immediately by the thought that there was something else I had to accomplish before I could find lasting happiness.

I knew that following society’s markers of success – wealth, fame and a fairy-tale existence – was not a true path to lasting happiness. This left the question: what is?

In my wildest imaginings I couldn’t have foreseen that the journey I was about to embark on would result in the answer. It began in a time of desperation during my late husband’s extended illness. I was determined to help my husband make his last life journey in a way that was more spiritually enlightened and loving. I knew it was possible to do this, even though I had never heard of or read about how to approach it.

I tried for years to fulfill this heart desire by myself but was totally unsuccessful. Then I did what millions of others have done in such trying circumstances. I turned within, seeking a connection with the eternal and sublime energy that is within each of us and everything in the universe, which we call God.

There I found the sanctuary of unconditional love, support, guidance, peace, joy and happiness that is the heart’s desire of every human being. My life and our experience were transformed in a way that exceeded my dreams and desires. After my husband’s death and a period of mourning, I felt a sustained sense of happiness, peace and contentment for the first time in my life.

I knew this was the answer to the lasting happiness my heart and soul had been seeking. I chronicled the process in my book “The Heart Knows the Way—How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit Within.”

This level of calm, peace and happiness continues—regardless of circumstances. It has been confirmed time and again but never more dramatically than the night a car crashed into a wall of my house. While the event, and its aftermath was definitely extraordinary, my inner peace remained intact during the entire situation. I dubbed it The Hole in the Wall That Became a Holy Experience.

Taking this inner journey unlocks the flow of good into our lives in a way that is for our highest and best good, as well as that of the world. The wonderful truth is that we and we alone hold the key to opening that door. It is a path that every human being is meant to take, and our souls know the path, the pace and the timing of the journey.

I believe that by connecting with the sublime and eternal energy within us, we actualize happiness on an inner level, which is the highest gift life has to offer. I also believe this is the natural antidote for depression and many of the ills of our world.
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Copyright 2007 by Fern Stewart Welch

The author’s book THE HEART KNOWS THE WAY—How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit Within is available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers, as well as through major bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders.