Question

Where does fulfillment come from?

Answer
By Jennie Lee | Published: December 25, 2017 | Last updated: August 26, 2020

Fulfillment comes from connecting to the love in your heart and living it continuously and consciously, no matter what anyone else is doing around you. Fulfillment definitely does not come from following all your desires, in a wild mania of self-centered gratification. Since we are all connected at the deepest level of being, anything we do that harms another, harms us, too. So, when it comes to true happiness, only that which is for the highest good of all, will satisfy the soul.

(In fact, Forget Happy, 'Be Content' Instead.)

From the perspective of yoga philosophy, true fulfillment comes when we reunite our individual consciousness with the great Divine Consciousness from which we originated. This is the ultimate goal of all yoga practice. And according to The Yoga Sutras, anything less than that will come up short in terms of feeling totally fulfilled. Any pleasures we indulge in materially only gives us a short hit of happiness because as soon as we have achieved what we wanted, we are right onto the next thing.

(Here are 5 Reasons Why You Can Stop Searching for Happiness Today.)

With a heart devoted to love and union, whether we reach the full realization of samadhi (divine union of consciousness) in this lifetime or not, we will certainly feel fulfilled by our efforts. Thoughts and actions that align us with the qualities of the soul, such as peacefulness, truthfulness, compassion and purity, bring our human lives into balance and pave the way to ultimate fulfillment. Day by day, we can choose the path of love and trust that it will take us to the greatest happiness our hearts can hold.

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Written by Jennie Lee | Author of Breathing Love and True Yoga. Certified Yoga Therapist with 20 years experience.

Jennie Lee
Jennie Lee is an author and Certified Yoga Therapist with 20 years experience teaching Classical Yoga & Meditation. Author of Breathing Love: Meditation in Action and True Yoga: Practicing with the Yoga Sutras for Happiness and Spiritual Fulfillment, she is a compassionate coach for students who want to apply the deeper teachings of yoga to their goals and challenges on and off the mat. Her writing has been featured in Huffington Post, Mind Body Green, Yoga Therapy Today and more. She coaches on the island of O'ahu, and by phone or Skype internationally.

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