Think about the last time you felt genuinely happy. Maybe it was a slow morning, a meal that you shared with someone you love, or a small milestone at work.But ask yourself about that moment, were you fully present, or were you already scrolling through social media on your phone, planning the next thing, half-living the joy while your mind drifted somewhere else?Well, most of us do the second thing without ever realising it.We tend to treat happiness as something to enjoy passively and difficulty as the only thing worth real attention. We wait until we feel stressed, anxious, or low before we decide it’s time to “work on ourselves.”Osho has shed light on this idea through his words of wisdom, talking when awareness actually matters most.
Photo: @OshoDharma/ X
Quote of the day
When you are flowing with joy, blissfulness, that is the moment to be aware, but people do exactly the opposite. When they are happy who cares about awareness? And when they are in anguish, then certainly they start thinking it is time to be aware and get out of anguish. But nobody has ever been able to get out from anguish directly
Osho
What does the quote mean?
While his words might be mistaken, Osho is not telling us to stop feeling happy. He’s asking us to stay present while we are happy.He tells us to be aware. By which he means watching yourself without getting lost in it. When you’re joyful and also aware, the joy deepens and stays slow and constant. When you’re joyful but unconscious, the high fades fast and often swings into a low.He means that catching oneself in a moment of ecstasy is far easier than trying to find clarity in moments of disappointment.
Why is it opposite for both types of emotions?
We’re wired to treat comfort as the goal and discomfort as the alarm bell. So happiness feels like a reward to enjoy and not a moment to observe, and contrarily, pain demands attention. This is partly why so many people only turn to reflection or help once things fall apart.
How does this play a role in daily life?
The pattern can be seen everywhere. We scroll through good evenings, walk past compliments, and skip the pause that would let a happy moment actually sink in. Then a hard week hits, and we suddenly want to fix our entire inner life overnight. Osho means to say that we missed the easy door and ignored it as just something usual.
