What makes you happy? Most people could come up with a long list of answers to this question.  Ironically, it’s all the things that make us happy that make us unhappy as well; either because we have them but the happiness wears off, or we find out there’s something/someone else that we might like better, or we have them but lose them, or we find that they don’t make us as happy as we thought they would… It’s a never-ending cycle of whack-a-mole that leaves most people with short periods of happiness, with longer periods of frustration, disappointment, and “wanting” in between. In this episode, Thom offers up an alternative approach to happiness, one that’s infinitely more reliable and which allows us to enjoy the delights and variety of life without leaving us at the mercy of external circumstances.  Episode Highlights: [00:45] Two Kinds of Happiness [02:43] Man's Ever-changing Happiness in the Upanishad [04:45] Object-referral Happiness [06:59] The Challenge of Being Happy [09:03] Control Freaks of Happiness [10:48] When Happiness Becomes a Obsession [12:46] Self-referral Happiness [15:07] Where Thoughts Come From [17:33] Energy in Thoughts [19:42] Making Sense of Our Thoughts [21:28] Finding Calm Through Vedic Meditation [23:31] The Magic of Repeating Sounds in Meditation [25:57] The Joy of Vedic Meditation [28:03] Going Beyond Ordinary Happiness [30:31] Making Inner Happiness Your Foundation [32:45] Balancing Inner and Outer Happiness [34:53] Liberation from Chasing Happiness Useful Links [email protected]  https://thomknoles.com/ https://www.instagram.com/thethomknoles https://www.facebook.com/thethomknoles https://www.youtube.com/c/thomknoles https://thomknoles.com/ask-thom-anything/ Find out more about Thom's upcoming Rounding Retreat in Sedona in May 2024, https://thomknoles.com/sedona