Happiness is not the goal

What if happiness isn’t a goal but our natural baseline waiting beneath the noise? We open the door to that quieter center by looking at desire as a compass—what we truly want to feel—and then practicing small, practical shifts that bring peace into ordinary moments. Through A Course in Miracles and embodied tools from yoga, we explore how to soften the inner critic, listen to the inner teacher, and invite miracles, defined simply as shifts in perception.

I share how the lesson these thoughts don’t mean anything becomes a lifeline when anxious loops try to run the day. We walk through a clear arc—awareness first, healing second—and name willingness as the subtle muscle that changes everything. Instead of demanding instant calm, willingness says I’m open to a kinder view, and that tiny opening lets love do its work. We talk about how contraction in the body signals misalignment, and how simple choices—one honest breath, grounding attention, a small movement practice—restore safety to the nervous system so the mind can soften.

You’ll also hear why integration beats self-eraser mode. The inner critic once kept us safe; we thank it and invite it to rest, turning resistance into resource. Nature offers the model: seeds unfold without self-doubt. When we remove barriers to love’s presence, our coding for joy, clarity, and contribution begins to lead. From parenting moments to creative work, real-life stories show how gentle shifts bring surprising ease, more fun, and a steadier trust in guidance that’s already within.

If you’re craving less reactivity and more calm, this conversation is your map back to center—clear, compassionate, and immediately usable. Listen, breathe, and practice the next right kindness toward yourself. If it resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so others can find their way back to love too.

Transcript

Defining Desire And True Happiness

Building The Return To Center Portal

Revisiting A Course In Miracles

These Thoughts Don’t Mean Anything

From Awareness To Healing

Miracles As Shifts In Perception

Practicing Willingness In Daily Life

You Are Coded For Joy

Integrating The Inner Critic

Closing Blessing And Soft Launch

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Greetings, Namaste. Welcome to a Return to Center, a place where we explore universal principles, bring them down to earth in a practical way, learning how to embody more and more love. I'm Marie Russell, and for over two decades, I've guided spiritually sincere women and some very soulful men back to center. Through the practices of Ashtanga Yoga on and off the mat, through the teachings of A Course in Miracles, and through the wisdom gained from a life well lived. Together, we explore what it means to live with love as your vantage point, your default, to hear the small still voice even when fear feels loud, and to trust your original intelligence, especially in the moments that stretch you. It's through the testing that we receive the refinement, the experience, the clarity, the grounded knowing that becomes our testimony. This is my humble offering, a space of remembrance, a rhythm of integration. It's about honoring what's already here within, beyond the noise, where only love is real. This is a return to center. Greetings, greetings, welcome back to a return to center. I am delighted that you've chosen to give this podcast and this content some time in your life. I think that the more that I talk to women and open my heart and allow the conversation to unfold, it always goes to a place of desire. And when I talk about desire, I mean what is it that you really want to feel? What is it that you really want to experience in your life, in your relationships, in your work, in your home, in your day-to-day interactions? And what I find most of us really desire, but aren't necessarily able to articulate or really dig in is that we want to be happy. We want to be at peace. We want more ease in our life. We want more positive experiences. We want less triggers, less discomfort, less, in a sense, predictability. And that is so interesting because here's some context. I was here in my little office, in my little podcast room, designing this back end of a return to center. And this is going to be an online portal with all of this good stuff. And some of it is stuff I've done in the past, and some of it is content that I'm creating right now as we go. And something new in this portal is the 365 lessons in a course in miracles. And I'm doing them as we go. So my goal is to have the first 30 completed before we start to open up a return to center and let people know that we have this sanctuary where you can come and you can tap into something. There's different elements. You can do a meditation, you can listen to a lecture, you can access a tool, you could do a little yoga. I mean, there's just so much in there. But as I'm recording the 365 lessons, it's so like eye-opening to come back to this material. I've been studying the Course in Miracles for 20 years now, and I've moved through the 365 lessons, not 20 times, because you know, it takes time sometimes to get through one lesson. So instead of 365 days, I might take a year and a half, something like that. And as I'm moving through these first 20, 30 lessons, it's just so healing to return to the practicality of the lessons. So one of them that came to me yesterday in a conversation was these thoughts don't mean anything. And as I was talking to this friend, it was so clear that both of us, and I think if there's two or more, then there are more, right? That are trying to sort out what to do with these thoughts that come that distract us from the things that we want, from the things that we desire. And why we are so invested in listening to them? Like it's almost like they just happen and here we go. And what do I mean by that? I mean the thoughts of am I going to make a mistake? Am I going to miss something? Is someone going to be upset with me? I'm not good enough in this area. I wish I would have done this differently. If we were to return to center and pick up one of these lessons, and let's say the lesson is these thoughts don't mean anything, and to then apply that in the moment when you realize, because as it was with this friend, and as it is in my own life, it's the awareness is there. I am aware that I've shifted off center. I am aware that I am ruminating in my negative programming and my negative thoughts. The awareness is there. But the second phase of this coaching model that is the center of excellence model that I'm trained in is healing. So awareness comes first, which is amazing because if we're not aware, then we don't necessarily heal it at the level of cause. And the level of cause here is the thinking mind that is in critical mindset. It's in the inner critic, it's not in the inner teacher. And because I am familiar with this inner critic, because my body is accustomed to this inner critic, it can be very difficult in the moment to choose another train of thought. And that's where a return to center can be so powerful because here we are opening up a lesson and going, these thoughts don't mean anything. And it is the integration of the spiritual wisdom that you already know, whether consciously or subconsciously, you are bright, you are capable, you have wisdom. You've had experiences in life that have shaped you, that have changed you, that have brought you closer to the divine, that have taken you further away from the divine. My point is that you have wisdom. And what we desire, I believe, more than anything, is to apply that in our day-to-day lives. One of the lines from A Course of Miracles that I love so much is that miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. So when miracles are not occurring, something has gone wrong, something has shifted. And a miracle is defined as a shift in perception. So how to change your mind when you actually do change your mind, that is defined as a miracle, a change in perception, a shift. So if miracles occur naturally as expressions of love, and if they are not occurring, something has gone wrong, then it gives me this spaciousness to actually look at how to attract more miracles into my life, more shifts of perception, and that happens naturally when I have loving thought. And not only loving thought towards others, and here's the real kicker it's loving thought towards self. I think if we're really honest with ourselves, we're not very kind to ourselves. There, if you're really honest with yourself, there are moments and stretches of the day where you're in critical, you are not being kind, you are frustrated, your energy feels off, and therefore you're not able to manifest miracles. Miracles are not occurring naturally as expressions of love. But here's something really important to remember as it is with desire, if the willingness is there, and that is the muscle you're training, your attitudinal muscle, your awareness muscle. When you see that your feedback in your world is not what you want it to be, like I can see this sometimes in my work, there will be this self-doubt creep in, or in my relationship to my children, they will say something, or something will have happened at school and they'll share it with me, and I'll notice a contraction in my body. These are the moments when you have developed your sense of awareness to request willingness. If the feedback is constriction, discomfort, annoyance, something is shifted off the state of love. What brings me back to love is willingness. So in that moment, it's a pull up the navel, it's I'm willing to see this differently. And then trust that you will see it differently, and that divine guidance is yours. It's literally inside you, it's literally waiting for your attention. This information, this level of inner guidance and intuition requires our desire. We must desire that information to lead us, to guide us in our lives. Otherwise, it would be against universal principle for it to impose itself in our world because it believes in our autonomy and it believes ultimately in our perfection and in our innocence. So when we are willing, when we desire, when we strengthen that muscle in our mind, miracles occur naturally. And this has happened so many times in my life. And just in this last week, I just want to say that whether you think you are doing well or not, you're doing well. Just by the desire for more light, for more joy, for more peacefulness, for more fun in your life, just that desire and that intention is literally like throwing seeds out in front of you. And some of those are gonna dig in and grow flowers. And it happens, it's just so funny. Even in the weirdest moments, even when I feel like I just can't do it. Like I just can't. Something will happen and it will remind me that I've I've laid down the seats. And here it is, happening naturally as an expression of love. And I can be assured that those things will continue as long as I continue to be in the light and in the love. And that's what's so fun about this work, too, is that once you just put a little bit of willingness in this direction, you get so much feedback and your eyes are open. You can see the intelligence of the universe working in your life. And I know that that might sound a little lofty, like what does the universe want to do with my life? But the truth of it is we are all in this thing together, and you are just as valuable as anybody else. And our only problem that we truly, really, really have is our belief in our separation from divine consciousness, from universal consciousness. And when we are willing to start to learn more about universal principles and how to apply them in our day-to-day lives and the mundane things that we do every day, things get a little shinier. There's a little bit more sparkle, there's a little bit more light, more love, more peacefulness, and especially more fun. My yoga teacher, Larry Schultz, used to say that adults are not having that much fun these days. And you come into the yoga room, you breathe, you move around, you jump up, you jump through, you have some fun. You come in feeling one way, you leave feeling another. And why this is relevant in this conversation is that our natural state of being is assured, is aware, is confident, is content, is peaceful. If we liken this to nature, you know, flowers are not in competition with each other. They bloom. An avocado seed turns into a tree. It is the opposition that stalls that process or stops that process. But it is coded to become an avocado tree. The seeds become flowers. That that is their coding, that is what is occurring. So if we are in line, if we are quieting and stilling the mind, if we are constantly turning it to the light, to the divine, to loving consciousness, then naturally our greatest potentials are going to occur. So this practice is removing the barriers to love's presence in our life, to reminding ourselves that it is actually natural to be happy, to be free. That is the yoga prayer. May all beings everywhere be happy and free. And that freedom from suffering comes from deciding and changing your mind and stilling the critical voice, integrating the critical voice. The critical voice is that part of us that has been protecting us, that has been surviving, that has become our protection. And when we learn how to integrate it, how to bring it into the fold, amazing things happen. So that is what I'd like to leave you with this week. It is natural to be happy, to be confident, to know that all things are working out for you, that everything that is happening in quote to you is happening, in fact, for you, for you to learn, for you to grow, that life here is a school and we're here to learn. And when we make mistakes, which we will because we are human, the only thing that is required is a correction instead of a guilt trip. So be aware of your willingness to love and accept yourself, to love and accept the places where you've missed the mark, where you have made mistakes. Be willing to learn the lessons that Spirit has in store for you. Be willing to train your body to feel safe in the happiness, to feel safe in dreaming big dreams. And I wish you a very beautiful week. And I'm excited about a return to center. We are nearly ready to open up the portal and we're gonna do a mini soft launch. And those of you who've been listening to this podcast and following online, I appreciate you. I am here to serve. I want to be a part of the healing of all of our sweet little souls in remembering that we are extensions of the light and that our life is really about awakening to that innocence within and offering tools and practices and simply this space to work through, to process so that we can be happy and free. Aye, for now. Thank you, thank you for your ear today. Thank you for your heart space. Thank you for being open. Thank you for returning to center with me. The space is here for the moments you forget and the moments you remember, for the breath beneath the push, for the truth that doesn't shout. If what you heard today met you where you are, I invite you to take your time and let it settle. And when you're ready, share it, sit with it, or simply return to it. Because the center isn't a place we find once, it's a rhythm we remember. Until next time, stay true, stay open, share with your friends, family, and remember, only love is real. Anyway. Namaste.