After years of meditation I think I understand how to be happy – be happy for no reason.

If happiness is due to external circumstances, there will always be a threat to that happiness – the external stimulus will go away or change. As it’s the nature of the universe to change, there’s a very great (if not 100 percent) chance happiness will be threatened.

In Spanish, there are two verbs for “to be” – “ser” is the verb for a permanent state of being and “estar” is the verb for a transient state of being.

You are a female (ser) and today you feel ill (estar).

To move happiness from “estar” to “ser” is removing happiness from an external, transient state to a permanent state.

The transient state doesn’t go away – there’s still lots of “estar” to experience. But “ser” will be intact.

Sun Happiness and Moon Happiness

The sun is the conscious self. It’s like the “ser” permanent state “to be.” The moon is the reactive self. It’s like the “estar” or transient state “to be.”

Much happiness can stem from “estar” – you eat an ice cream cone on a hot day and feel happy. Your loved one notices you’re tired and does the laundry.

But if you buy an ice cream cone on a hot day and the ice cream falls off the cone into a sewer, your “estar” happiness is over. But your “ser” happiness does not need to follow the melted butter pecan ice cream into the sewer.

I don’t think sun happiness is delusional – moon experiences continue to exist. Pretending you aren’t upset that your ice cream now swims with toilet waste denies the moon experience. The moon is sad but the sun can still be happy that it’s alive and possibly happier still that is has another $2 for more ice cream (or $5 if Jeni’s Ice Cream).

Right now I think being happy is to have sun (ser) happiness while moon (estar) experiences flow through the system. Sun happiness is the pipe and moon happiness is the water that flows through it.