I was with Tila in his room at the meditation centre when he picked up a key lying on the coffee table. “Let me tell you a small story about this key. This key opens an important cupboard at the meditation centre, and one day I couldn’t find it. I looked everywhere, in drawers, under sofas, in the bathroom, on the kitchen counters, and even looked in the garden! It was nowhere to be found, and I urgently needed the key to take something out of the cupboard in time for a class. I was about to give up when I felt the key in my pocket. I had looked everywhere, except on the very clothes I was wearing! I felt so silly that I had looked far and wide, and yet had forgotten to look near myself.”
Feeling my pockets, I said, “I have had similar experiences as well! Especially when I have looked for my pen all over the place, only to find it in my pocket!”
Tila continued, “My experience with the lost key is similar to the experience many people have with happiness. People look for the secret to happiness in things outside themselves, without realising the answer often lies close to them, within their own minds. Today, with a swipe of a finger on a screen, we can discover what’s happening on the other side of the world, thanks to the internet. We receive huge amounts of information from the outside world, to the point that we actually have ‘information overload’. And yet, we know almost nothing about ourselves as we have forgotten to look inwards. If we do not look at ourselves, then we will fail to recognise the role we play in our own unhappiness.”
With a bit of guilt, I said, “Yes, I am almost always peering into my phone. I literally hop from one bit of information to the next. Often it’s not even important things.”
“Yes, with modern technology, we are looking more and more outward, rather than looking at our inner selves. Now, to look inwards, of course I don’t mean you need a medical scan of your head to reveal what is inside it! Rather, it’s about learning to look at the ‘thinking’ happening in your mind. The way you think can have a massive impact on your happiness. As we go forward on our journey to find happiness, you will learn to observe your thinking. I must warn you that this is not as easy as swiping your phone for information on the internet. But eventually, after a bit of practice, looking inwards will become effortless for you.”
I looked at the key in Tila’s hand, ”So the key to happiness is in one’s mind.”
Tila held up the key, ”Yes indeed, you can unlock the secret to happiness with it.”