Exploring Happiness

Happiness is something that we all seek. A common question you may ask is ‘what is the secret to happiness?’. The answer lies deep within us. Cultivating a positive mindset and connecting with your heart is the first step to inviting more joy into your life.

Unhappiness often arises when we are not living our lives entirely in the present. Feelings of discontent, discomfort and restlessness can manifest when you allow your mind to run out of control, perhaps ruminating over matters from the past, or projecting too far forwards to the future. These are two areas of our life over which we have little to no control.

Happiness can also be elusive when we associate it with the possession of material things. This is another common indicator that we are living in the future. How many times have you thought: ‘everything will be OK after I buy this one last thing? Or, I don’t have enough time to meditate or enjoy a hobby because I have a lot to do and my mind is always too busy?

True happiness comes from within yourself. You may find it through meditation, pursuing a creative hobby, singing out loud, or dancing with abandon to your favourite music. Once you connect with what is real; what is now, then you become more open to the idea of finding pleasure in the simplest of things which are already a part of your daily life.

It is very important to acknowledge that happiness is never constant. It will rise and fall depending on a myriad of internal and external factors that you cannot control. You can only try to navigate them to your best ability, and then return to the present moment and the practices that bring joy to your life.

We sat down with Kamalaya’s co-founder John Stewart to ask what happiness means to him, and to discover which practices he uses to invite more joy into his daily life.

John Stewart is the Chairman & Founder of Kamalaya Koh Samui and Kamalaya Connect.

John was introduced to Asian philosophy and spirituality at the age of 15. Intrigued and eager to experience more than his comfortable western existence could offer, he left home at age 16. After seven years in North America and Europe, he arrived in the jungles of northern India, somewhat doubtful and anxious about what lay ahead. His yogi master greeted him with a slap in the face and a question; “what took you so long?” With that greeting, all anxiety and doubt slipped from John’s mind.

John spent his first year in India living in a cave beside a Himalayan river. During this year and the following 15, he embraced a traditional yogi lifestyle that taught him the values of truth, simplicity, love and ‘sanatana’ (eternal) dharma, and developed qualities of patience and discipline. While in India, he helped building schools and hospitals in Indian communities and set up small local businesses in Kathmandu. John’s instinctive ability to recognize authenticity, which was honed during the time with his master, was the foundation for the initial stage of John’s post-ashram life. After he left the ashram in 1993, he became a successful art dealer and settled for some years in Kathmandu.

A regular visitor to Thailand since 1977, John returned to Thailand in 2000 with health problems. He was drawn by the healing nature of Koh Samui and stayed four months to rest and regain his health with the help of local herbs and his, by then, wife Karina. It was during this visit that he found the site for Kamalaya. The land, a densely forested landscape studded with ancient granite boulders, immediately captivated him. Walking the tropical jungle terrain reminded him of his years in northern India, a memory that became even more vivid and significant when he came upon a cave that was once used as a place of meditation and spiritual retreat for a lineage of Buddhist monks. Serendipity had provided the place for him and Karina to build their dream. Today, the cave is at the heart of Kamalaya, embraced in the centre of its accommodations and facilities.

John’s defining view of business as a medium of cultural exchange, worthy only of projects that ‘make a difference’, is central to Kamalaya’s creation. Kamalaya unfolds from a learned truth – that happiness comes from giving – and combines John’s wish to both communicate spiritual teachings in a way that is easily understood, and share with others the healing power of nature and the joy of community.