The Sensations We Seek: In Pursuit of True Happiness

True freedom, peace and joy are ultimately found within.

More than twenty years ago, a dear friend and my favorite healer at the time said “People are all just a few degrees off. They think they will be fulfilled with external pursuits, but really, our true well of happiness lies within.” Or something to that effect. The kingdom of heaven and so forth. And it’s true. We often focus on attaining what lives just outside the body, whether it’s through relationship, achievement, accolade, wealth, status, power, perfection, etc. Beneath the surface of that striving lies something far more tender and real: the impulse to feel particular emotions and sensations. To feel connected, safe, seen, heard, loved, special, alive, potent, masterful. To feel free, abundant, at peace . . . If that’s true, then the real aim of our external pursuits is rarely the person, position, object or accolade itself—it’s the sensation state we associate with it’s attainment.

Whether it's financial success, professional recognition, a certain physique, romantic partnership, the peak athletic experience or the perfect hair day, we’re conditioned to believe that fulfillment lives "out there." And what if what my friend said was true, what if we’ve been living with a compass that’s just a few degrees off? What if the deepest fulfillment isn't in having, but is in being—in aligning our inner experience with the very essence we’re trying to evoke thru the world of form?

A Historical Glimpse: External Gain as a Proxy for Inner Security

Across time, cultures have equated material success with spiritual favor or moral virtue. In early western spiritual-religious traditions, wealth was seen as evidence of divine approval (favor of the Gods). The American Dream still bolsters this ethos: hard work and financial success are synonymous with worthiness and respect. Capitalism has only magnified this, feeding us the belief that "more" equals "better"—more success, more followers, more possessions.

While some measure of material security is necessary and valuable, the overemphasis on form—the car, the house, the title, the body—often leaves us spiritually undernourished. Our ancestors may have revered gold, but many also revered silence, ceremony, and the sacred unseen. We’ve simply tipped too far in the direction of the tangible, forgetting that the material world is just one expression of a much vaster reality.

Spirituality is Physicality—Only Greater

There’s a misconception that spirituality and physicality are opposites. They’re inveterately intertwined. Our bodies are instruments of the divine. Sensation states—peace, joy, expansion, belonging—are felt in the body, not in the abstract. The error is not in wanting to feel good, connected, or safe; it’s outsourcing our sense of wellbeing to the external world, hoping form will generate feeling, is where we've been misled.

When we reclaim our ability to generate these states internally, everything changes. We remember that abundance is not something to earn, but something to embody. Freedom is not a place we reach, but a frequency we cultivate. And yes—it’s beautiful when those states are mirrored in the physical world. It’s just that we see the truth of reality: the origin is not external.

From Seeking to Sensing: Refocusing the Compass

The shift comes when we stop chasing and start sensing.

Instead of asking, What do I want to achieve? we might ask, What do I want to feel?Instead of What do I need to get? try, How can I access the state I’m longing for, right now?

That state might be:

Belonging - which we can access by co-regulating with another person, an animal and Spirit.

Freedom - found through mindful breathing, physical movement, and inner alignment.

Abundance - awakened with gratitude, generosity, and appreciation.

Love - evoked in service, compassion, and self-care

Living in Alignment: The True Self at the Center

When our striving shifts in service to the True Self—the inherently whole, unchanging, wise, and loving emanation connected to all of life—beyond ego, fear, and conditioning - we are naturally more present, vital, connected and resourced. We don’t need to prove anything to ourselves or others and we are free to be, to enjoy, to give and to give abundantly.

The most important shift isn’t what we pursue, but how we relate to the pursuit. When our center rests in the here and now—in gratitude, in enoughness, in service—then even our worldly ambitions become sacred expressions.

A few Favorite Books that Exemplify these Ideas

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Elucidates how the ego seeks identity in form; awakening comes from returning to Presence. This is maybe my numero uno books of all time : )

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer. Essentially posits that freedom comes from non-attachment to the external world and through staying centered in the witness self.

The Astonishing Power of Emotions by Esther and Jerry Hicks offers a practical guide to understanding your emotions as powerful indicators of alignment with your inner being, showing how to use them to deliberately create a more joyful and fulfilling life.

An Invitation Back to Being

You don’t need to wait for the next milestone to feel whole. You don’t need to earn your rest, or make x dollars to feel happy or prove your worth. In this very moment, you can soften into the here and now. You can breathe into this second. In this present moment, you can cultivate an inner resonance of abundance, love, connection—without acquiring a thing.

Ironically, as you raise your vibration, the world tends to meet you in abundance, love and connection. Reality has a funny habit of reflecting the frequency we inhabit. And, even if it doesn’t—you’ve already arrived. You are here.

Let your life be a devotion not to what you can collect, but to how fully you can feel. Let service, presence, and gratitude be your compass. The sensation you seek is already inside you—just waiting for you to remember.

If you'd like to learn more or if you'd like to schedule an intuitive healing session, I’m here for you in-person in Tucson AZ as an intuitive life coach offering acupuncture Chinese Medicine, reiki, and craniosacral therapy, specializing in deep healing and transformation. Virtually, I’m available online via Zoom, FaceTime and phone for intuitive and transformational life coach sessions and distance energy healing.

Xx

Britta

Licensed Acupuncturist, Online Life Coach, Intuitive, Healer, Energy Medicine Practitioner

📞 917-519-2432

📧 britta@intuitivehealthhealing.com

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