Mike Dooley recently said in one of his inspirational talks that we have a “natural inclination to thrive.” It’s sort of what we mean when we say that all we want is to be happy. It’s self-realization, making yourself into what you came into the world for, finding your purpose. Thriving encompasses the freedom to do what you enjoy doing and are good at, what comes to you easily, earning a good standard of living in a supportive work environment, having good emotional support from loved ones and friends, and being appreciated for who you are.
In a competitive and profit-oriented world this is often a struggle because monetization above all else, and winning at the detriment of someone else, is not usually or naturally what makes most of us tick, although many do seem to get high on winning, at least they think they do.
Suffering is an unnecessary aspect of the human experience. It is not only unwise and uncomfortable, it’s also literally hazardous to your health because it causes so much stress. But we baked it into our current worldview, first through religious beliefs of the inevitability of good and bad, and later on through the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest. It stuck, we still believe it, and go through all sorts of mental contortions to justify this belief (Learning to be a good loser, rookie and freshmen initiation rituals, killing animals for food, the death penalty, are all such examples that we couldn’t possibly justify from our loving hearts, but try to reason from our “rational minds,” even though each of these involves some degree of cruely and pain).
“ ‘Feeling good’ is the soul’s way of shouting ‘This is who I am,’ writes Neale Donald Walsch. Tune more often into what makes you feel good to create more of those experiences in your life, and tune out the mental babble of your supposed rational mind to justify doing what makes you stressed. Easier said than done, granted, but a belief system changes with you.