What You Do Is What You Get- A Way Out Of Suffering

I’m reading a few of Cheri Huber’s books at the moment, and in her book What Your Practice Is What You Have she brings up a very important concept that contributes to our faulty thinking, and causes us a lot of pain.

I’m sure you are even doing it.

It’s what most of us do.

Have you ever had the thought, that if you work hard then you will be happy?

How about if you lose weight you will be happy?

Or even if you finish that job, or write that paper, or paint the house, or get that job, you will feel accomplished?

Well the disconnect is that you won’t feel that way by doing those things. And that’s what leads us to immeasurable amounts of suffering.

And here’s why.

One process does not lead to the other.

We get what we focus on. We get what we do repeatedly.

So, if you think about working, in the future you will get more of thinking about working.

If you’re thinking about losing weight, in the future you will get more of thinking about losing weight.

If you’re thinking about practicing the piano, in the future you will get more of thinking about practicing the piano.

Losing weight will not make you feel happy. Losing weight is one process, feeling happy is another process.

Even if you do play the piano or lose weight, it won’t make you happy, you will still be thinking about working because that’s what you repeatedly focused on.

In order to feel happy, you must focus on feeling happy. It has nothing to do with losing weight, mastering that piano piece, working hard.

You could spend years working hard and think that eventually you will feel satisfied and feel happy. But unless you sit down and take some time to consciously practice feeling happy, it will elude you.

Practicing feeling happy will more likely allow you to see that you have lost weight, you have worked hard, and feel satisfied with whatever you have done.

Remember, one process does not lead to the other. Happiness is happiness. It is different from what you think you do to achieve it.