All of us have the capacity to be happy. We have seeds of compassion, understanding, and love in us. We all have many good seeds of happiness and joy. Yet we also have the habit of running in us. This restless energy of dissatisfaction and struggle separates us from the present moment and from ourselves.
In part, we’re running toward something. We think happiness isn’t possible in the here and now, so we try to run ahead into the future. We think if we can just get enough power, fame, wealth, or admiration from others, then we’ll finally be happy. We hope that if we run toward these things faster and harder, we will get to happiness.
At the same time that we’re running toward one thing, we’re running away from something else. Every one of us has suffering, despair, anger, and loneliness inside of us. If we don’t know how to be with these strong emotions, we want to get as far away from them
