The Exhaustion of Trying to be Happy
The Power of the Eight Worldly Winds
This week I have been feeling into the exhaustion that comes from trying to be happy. So much effort is put towards trying to get our health just right, our finances on track, our relationships in a state of harmony. And yet, once one area of life seems “good”, another area of life catches fire. Like living in a sand clock, those “perfect” circumstances can’t be pinned down in the unpredictable, changing landscape we find ourselves in.
Trying to fix our life takes a tremendous amount of energy and causes a “clench” within our system, leading to a further state of disease. So the irony is: striving for happiness leads us further away from the peace our heart yearns for.
So what do we do?
The Buddha named this search for happiness “the eight worldly winds”. The winds represent how our mind gets blown off centre by reaching out into the world for happiness. Interestingly, “winds” is also a term that is used in Chinese medicine to describe emotional energy that moves through the body and negatively impacts the organ systems.
The eight worldly winds are:
Hope for pleasure, fear of pain
Hope for gain, fear of loss
Hope for praise, fear of blame
Hope for fame, fear of insignificance.
It’s not that we don’t allow ourselves pleasure, gain, praise and fame. Of course we will want to enjoy these aspects of life. But to every light there is a shadow, to every “yang” there is also “yin”. When we strive to only experience the left side of the list, we will inevitably be disappointed.
I often reflect on this teaching when I am caught in my own mental loop and ask: What wind am I being caught in the most now? Where does that show up in my body?
And then also ask: What is my soul’s true hope? What do I actually long for that is beyond the categories of this list?
The winds are always operating in our mind, so they won’t ever go away. BUT when we can recognize these energies as a wind, it can help redirect our energy to something more reliable, which is ultimately that part of ourselves that is always waiting in the home of the present moment.
We will be discussing the eight worldly winds in more detail at our five spirits training. We would love for you to join us! The next one begins early November, and we offer it yearly around the same time.
