By Adam Shiffman

Feeling good is really not so much about positive emotions; it's more about getting everything out of the way so we can find a place of neutrality within. This way positive emotions can rise in our awareness and then pass and we don't feel like we are missing anything when they pass.

Really, being a clear channel of perception brings us joy. Finding happiness is not so much about 'feeling good' as it is finding a neutral place where we are rooted and nothing bothers us. It's a place where we are connected to our own life and all of life around us; it's a place where conflict and obstacles fall away and we realize we are just happy to be alive.

Here's another way to look at it. When all of the unnecessary thinking and emotions are cleared out of the way on the inside, joy, compassion, love, and inspiration find us freely. We don't need to rely on them for anything, they are just there as part of our humanity. We don't have any expectation or reliance on positive emotions for our own sense of well-being.

This is why we struggle, because normally we are unduly influenced and subject to the limitations of our own thinking and negative emotions. When we are at odds with our own needs, wants, and desires, conflict becomes the norm, and then we are forced to use positive emotions to lift ourselves out of our energetic funk. The problem is that even positive emotions are not permanent, they are fleeting and spontaneous and rightly so.

Neutrality is not so much about never thinking, having emotions, or having any kind of response to our environment, it's about always having a strong place where we are rooted to our real Self. When we have strong roots, we can then branch out and grow. It is the light of reality and truth that helps us grow as human beings.

Once we find our own roots, we realize it feels good to be alive. This is where we realize that life is a gift. This is what we call being near. Near to the truth and far from the darkness of ignorance, heedlessness, and misinformation.