When you are unable to find happiness or inner peace in your life, you might want to take some time for introspection and to contemplate why. If you have your basic needs met and you and your family are healthy, comfortable and safe, but you are still finding that depression or lack of motivation are taking away from your ability to be content, something is obviously off. A lot of the things written in this article are known to most of us – we have heard them all before – but sometimes we forget and need a reminder to re-calibrate.

Buddhist teachings offer a lot of insight on finding a path to enlightenment with the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. However, first, you have to detox your soul from the three poisons: hate, greed, and ignorance.

Nyanatiloka Mahathera, the Theravadin teacher, said, “For all evil things, and all evil destiny, are really rooted in greed, hate, and ignorance; and of these three things, ignorance, or delusion, is the chief root and the primary cause of all evil and misery in the world. If there is no more ignorance, there will be no more greed and hatred, no more rebirth, no more suffering.” Ignorance is also described as delusion or blindness, when you believe in facts that are simply limiting you and that go against the fundamental nature of reality, ignorance in not realizing that nothing is permanent and attaching yourself to the false truths.

When you separate yourselves from everything and judge anything that is different than what you perceive yourself as, that is when you hold hate and anger in your heart and it manifests as hate and anger in your life. This includes jealousy and divisive thinking.

Greed, or desire, is the second noble truth that only leads to suffering. More, more, more! More money, more success, bigger house, better car. It stresses me out just writing that. I can understand wanting more time with family, wanting more friends, and wanting more laughter, but anything material seems to only add more stress. And for what? Are the things you are seeking going to truly fill a void, feed your soul, and make you genuinely happy?

Think about these three poisons and dig deep down in your consciousness. Are you holding on to any anger? Anger because you want, anger because you don’t have, or anger because of the past? Are you truly taking the time to examine what you believe is true? Will having another baby save your marriage? Will that promotion finally make you feel successful? Are you always looking for self-glorification instead of self-love? Take the time to answer these questions and try to understand yourself and the root of your unhappiness.

In the end, no one has the power to break you or save you but yourself. You hold the keys to your inner peace and calmness. It does exist – you just need to find the path to it.

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
Buddha