Change Your perception ( 12 )

In Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's book (what a great name, it's even got zen in the middle of it)  Flow(published by Rider 1992) he says, he discovered, after twenty five years of research, a vital fact about happiness.
On page two of the aforementioned book, it is claimed that happiness does not depend on outside events, but on how we interpret them.
People who learn to control inner experiences will be able to control the quality of their lives.
He goes on to say that, to paraphrase,  people who are happy in their jobs and actually look forward to going to work, gave the tasks at work total awareness. And it was this total awareness, whereas the action of the work involved without ulterior motives, was the key to the feeling of happiness.
A Zen Master could have said the same thing.

If you lose yourself while involved in an activity, there is no sense of' 'I'. There is no sense of of perceiver and perceived; there is only the task itself .This is another way of discarding the ego.

I suggest that some activity that really appeals to you should be done by you on a regular basis.
The activity should make you so involved that you experience the feeling of complete oneness with the task you are doing.
What the activity is could be anything. It could be drawing,  painting, singing, composing,  knitting , gardening , stamp collecting or whatever you want.

When you engage yourself in whatever you are doing, just be totally aware of what you are doing.In other words, lose yourself in that activity, and entertain no thoughts of anything else.
Your whole life should be lived this way, but until it is,  you can have a taste of it by doing something you love doing.

The strange part is that by giving your all into something, you lose your all, but gain something far greater.

Perhaps you say that you can't think of anything that you could do. If so, think back to your childhood and ask yourself what you loved doing then.

Maybe it was drawing or painting, singing or riding a bike.Well, why not return to that pleasure and take one activity up again . It doesn't matter if your first efforts are not good.If you keep practicing with full awareness,you will find that your results will improve.
It's a lot better than watching that hypnotist in your room- the T.V