Many people understand happiness as a constantly rising emotional state, thus constantly chasing joy and avoiding pain. But emotions themselves are fluid; happiness will come, sadness will come, excitement will come, and disappointment will also come. No emotion can stay forever. What truly matters is not to be forever happy, but to have the ability to contain all emotions. When happiness appears, do not hold on; when pain appears, do not drive it away. You know they will come, and you also know they will eventually leave. A river does not change course because of a single wave, and the ocean does not lose its vastness because of a gust of wind. Emotions are waves, but consciousness is the sea; emotions are weather, but life is the sky. So what is truly precious in life is not happiness, but a stable and expansive state of being: allowing happiness, allowing sadness, allowing gains and losses, yet not being carried away by them.