What I am about to share is the 'punchline' of a three-wishes story, where the person cannot decide on the ultimate wish ... so you can make up your own version that leads to the illuminating ending.
If I had only one wish that would be granted, I would wish to be happy no matter what happens.
Happiness has no cause; it just is. The good feeling we get from people, from success or from anywhere outside ourselves isn't true happiness. That feeling comes from gratification, from a selfish need to have our desires satisfied. And the reason it isn't true happiness is what happens when our desires aren't satisfied: we become irritated and discontent.
It is too easy to become dislocated when we try for an awakened spirit, when we practice moving away from desire and attachment. We run the risk of replacing fear and anxiety with apathy and boredom. I often have to remind myself that it is "easy to be a monk in a monastery" (at face value, a perverse judgement on a way of life I know nothing about). I use this phrase to describe being removed from outside annoyances, to be living at peace where others are trying to do the same. This carries with it the risk of not engaging with others or with life, and of finding dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest. In my experience, this feeling is easy to maintain as a pretence of contentment. But there is no happiness in it. So, I have to be engaged but not attached - involved but not desiring outcomes to suit my self-seeking.
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