Today I was watching a show about the Beautiful Kingdom of Bhutan; a place where they measure the success in terms of "Gross National Happiness," not in terms of "Gross National Product." Perhaps, starting an article for young people talking about a place that has only been open to the world since the late 1990s and that almost nobody can find in a map may sound old fashion and boring. But what isn't boring about this place is its happiness. When asking at random the Bhutanese range their happiness somewhere between 10 and 20 in a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the happiest they can be. Funny, huh? I wondered how many people around us could rate their happiness that high. We have grown so accustomed to measure our happiness based in what we have, forgetting who we are in the process, what defines as a person and what truly makes us happy. As I was watching the people of Bhutan, the simplicity of their life and their spiritual practices, I realized that a big component of this happiness, is the daily practice of meditation, the daily practice of cleaning their spiritual being.
But why, you may ask, meditation can bring us happiness? As I watch this people I realized that they are very good at one thing: letting go. Letting go of bad feelings, anger materialism, and stress. We, Americans are not very good at letting go, perhaps because we don't know how. Or perhaps because we don't recognize what needs to go.
We have grown accustomed to hanging on to things, either physical or spiritual. Emotions can break havoc in our wellbeing. Do you ever wonder why you still remember how a negative experience with a close friend keeps coming back to you even though it happened when you were in first grade? Or why every time your parent says those magic words; words, whatever they are, that invalidate you deeply even though they are said without evil intent but because your mind associates them with a negative experience in the past. We are not letting go. Those experiences have become part of us, like a dart stuck in a target, or shadow of fear and despair present in everything we do. How do we get rid of those feelings when they have become integral part of our being, our energetic space; our aura?
As I explained in the story of "Sam and The Giant Tree," the aura is a reflection of the condition of our body, our happiness; our emotions. If you are a healthy and happy individual your aura shows a clean vibration. If something is bothering you or somebody is in your space, it will show up in your aura.
Cleaning and grounding your aura as shown in the story of Sam is a way of letting go of stuck energy in your space, old memories and information that isn't currently valid and needs to go. Clearing up your energetic space can lead you to achieve that happiness which is what everyone aspires for in life. I dare you to try.