A few weeks ago I was wandering around internet-land at some odd hour, when I came across a video of David Lynch featured on the Carson Daly Show. I was mildly surprised that I hadn’t seen it yet, since I work for the David Lynch Foundation and any time David does anything it pops up all over my cyber world–through emails, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. I soon realized the reason I hadn’t seen it yet, was that it was freshly released and had not yet infiltrated my online sphere of existence.
I watched it immediately and absolutely loved the video. I have heard David Lynch speak many-a-time and have met him on multiple occasions, including one time in India when we walked through a herd of sheep together (that’s another story…), but there was something about his words in this video that really struck me.
David kicks off the segment talking about happiness, “True happiness is not out there. True happiness lies within.” I think we all know from our own experience that nothing outside of us can ever bring true, lasting happiness. I’m sure we’ve all thought, “If only I had that new (insert your desired possession here).” But once we possess it, within a few minutes, or days or weeks, the newness and excitement of our new (car, ipod, dress, computer, etc.) has vanished.
David continues about true happiness, “This phrase doesn’t tell you where the within is, nor does it tell you how to get there.” He goes on to share his own experience of learning the simple Transcendental Meditation technique, which he describes as the key to open the door to the transcendent, which is the source of our own inner strength, creativity and true inner happiness.
I have always believed that the purpose of life is to enjoy and be happy, and this is exactly what my own Transcendental Meditation practice has given me. Over the years as I have practiced meditation every day morning and afternoon, I have felt a continual growth of unshakable inner happiness. To me, this is absolutely the most precious and important thing in life, which is why I loved this video so much. See the video here:
David concludes talking about his passion for sharing the TM technique with children, and how his foundation has provided instruction in meditation to over 100,000 students world-wide. I feel totally lucky to be working with the David Lynch Foundation to bring the experience of true inner happiness to children suffering from stress.