The Art of Happiness – Dealing with the Enemy

Just like a person has many sides to their character and personality, any situation can be viewed from different angles.

There are always 2 sides to a coin, and even a broken watch tells the correct time twice a day.

No matter how bad a situation presents itself, no matter how difficult the people we may have to face, there are bound to be lessons we can learn, and positives we can take away. 

“In fact, the enemy is the necessary condition for practicing patience. Without an enemy’s action, there is no possibility for patience or tolerance to arise. Our friends do not ordinarily test us and provide the opportunity to cultivate patience; only our enemies do this. So, from this standpoint we should consider our enemies as a great teacher and revere them for giving us this previous opportunity to practice patience.”

I need my heart to be more open, my mind to be more receptive.

Not to be too quick to judge, not to let anger be too quick to appear.

The Art of Happiness – How To

“Generally speaking, one begins by identifying those factors which lead to happiness, and those factors which lead to suffering. Having done this, one gradually eliminates those factors which lead to suffering and cultivates those which lead to happiness.”

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Let’s see… Factors which lead to suffering? The Ego. Desires. Fear.

Factors which lead to happiness: Compassion. Love. Selflessness.

Now that we’ve identified them, the actual elimination and cultivation can begin.

And this is the story of Life.

The Art of Happiness – How We See Others

“Seeing others as basically compassionate instead of hostile and selfish helps us relax, trust and live at ease. It makes us happier.”

Reading this, my thoughts came to some people, and even students, whom I have found myself disliking at work.

I tried to come from the viewpoint of – we are all victims of the system. No one wants to be in such a system, yet it is where we all are. None of us started it, yet we are all in it. No one wants to be judged, yet we are all forced to pass judgement, formal or otherwise, on each other. Isn’t that enough to make one feel a stronger sense of compassion for everyone?

And if I could learn to see that others may not always mean what they say, and look at their intentions instead of their words at face value – I might start to realise that behind every seemingly harsh word and action, is also a being who yearns to be accepted, to be told that they are doing their job well, to be loved and to be understood. Isn’t that enough to generate a sense of compassion towards even those who appear mean and rude?

And if we could learn to see everyone in a better light, it would make us less troubled by them, their words and actions. It would, ultimately, make us happier, because we would really feel that the people around us are not hostile and selfish. We would then try to be nice and caring towards them, and they in turn would become more nice and caring towards us. It’s a positive cycle.

This is if we lived in an ideal world, of course. If we were all saints, we would be able to do so with the snap of a finger, and I would not be sitting here, typing thoughts like these out.

Till that time comes, I guess I’ll have to be content with trying. And trying. And trying 🙂

The Art of Happiness – Pleasure and Happiness

Instead of denying ourselves certain pleasures by saying “NO”, making ourselves feel that we are denying life, or pushing away good things, ask ourselves: Will this bring happiness?

Most likely, if it is a materialistic pursuit, such as getting  new car, a new laptop when we don’t need one,etc…  The answer will be no, and that will give us better ground on which not to pursue it, hence streamlining our desires, in turn leading to true happiness instead of momentary pleasures.

The Art of Happiness

A study into one of the most elusive aspects of life – Happiness.

We want to experience it, we are constantly searching for it, many do everything in their power to achieve it, but the number who can safely say that they have it are sparse and few.

As I read chapters of this book, covering topics like why Happiness is so important to us, what are the elements which lead to happiness, what can we do about inevitable suffering and obstacles which seem to prevent us from attaining happiness… I found myself confronting incidents and happenings from my daily life. Events and people which had prevented me from feeling happy, which had caused misery and sadness. The more I read, the more new insights and perspectives I gained about Life and Happiness. Of course, some of the points stated in the book, such as self-inflicted suffering arising from blaming our problems on others – are not uncommon. We have come across many of these points before. But the book is written in an engaging way, which makes us want to introspect and apply the discussed principles into our daily lives, to see if it works. Hence I could not wait till I finished the end of the book to write about it.

Are you Happy?

Am I?

Freedom in Exile

Couldn’t help but feel deeply for the people of Tibet after reading this account of events since 1949.

As of today, the government of Tibet in exile has yet to return to their homeland, and the Chinese authorities show no signs of wanting to grant Tibet independence. There are too many Chinese in Tibet, and too much at stake to take back. Tibetans are that close to becoming tourists in their own land, and Tibetan children are growing up not knowing their culture, language and history.

It’s ironically sad when politics gets in the way, and those who suffer the most are those who are least involved.