No problem

In one of my favorite guided meditations by Sam Harris from the Waking Up app, he poses the following questions: “what if there were no problems to solve right now? How would it feel?”

If you spend a few moments thinking about these two questions, it’s possible to find yourself invoking the feeling of being happy and calm despite whatever problems you may be dealing with at the moment.

The fact that it’s possible to change how you feel in the midst of current circumstances is profound — it means that you don’t necessarily have to wait for circumstances to change to feel better.

None of this is meant to suggest that we should ignore the very real, tangible, and important problems that are present in the world.

We can and should still care about these things.

But the insight — the point that I’m trying to make — is that you are allowed to be happy while doing your best to address whatever challenges and problems come your way in life.