A few weeks ago, I read an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald about happiness and also listened to a talk by the abbess of the Nan Tien Buddhist temple near Wollongong. These have merged together in my mind as they covered a lot of the same ground. I'm going to summarise the points that seemed important to me, and also include my own take on some of the ideas.
A mental approach
* If you're happy, and your emotions are generally well balanced, you enjoy life more, other people enjoy your company more, and you're more productive.
* Happiness is only in the mind.
* In your life, there's a lot of things that happen to you. Some of these improve your life and some of them negatively effect you. There's a lot of chance involved that you can't control.
* Therefore, if you want to be happy, you can't rely on external events to make you happy.
* However, your mind is your own, and it is the organ through which you interpret everything.
* Since you are in control of your mind, you are in control of your interpretation of the events that happen to you.
* Therefore, by actively shaping your own interpretation and view of the events that happen to you in your life, you can choose to achieve happiness.
Completing goals
Completing goals makes you feel good.. for a little while. But there is always more to achieve. This means that you spend almost all your time trying to achieve, and the actual time after achieving is in fact very short before you need to rush on to the next task. Therefore, you've got to enjoy the path, not just the goal. Thus, see the mental approach above.
Ways that don't work
* Achieving happiness through possessing things never works. No matter how much you have, you always get used to that amount, and want more. This means you're always seeking, and the achievement is almost an anti-climax.
* No use comparing yourself with others to feel superior. Even if you are the "best" in your circle of acquaintances, it won't be long before you find someone who is "better". They'll always be people who are richer, faster, smarter or better than you in a particular area, so this approach will only lead to disappointment.
Other Thoughts
Since happiness is only in the mind, the reality of your situation is completely irrelevant. If you feel like you are in control of your life, you think you are achieving your goals and you think you are doing well, then you are.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Ramona L. Anderson:
People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.Yours is a nice blog.
This is just another reason why I like your website. I like your style of writing you tell your stories without out sending us to 5 other sites to complete the story. Feel free to check out my site travel tourist guide when you got time
I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me. Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success in your business. I would love some feedback on my site business directory when you got time.
tera
gold
rs
rs gold
tera gold
cheap wow gold
Cheap WOW Gold
Buy WOW Gold
Buy Gold for WOW
Cheapest WOW Gold
Cheap Gold for WOW
RS Gold
Tera Gold
cheap tera gold
buy tera gold
wow gold
Cheap WOW Gold
Buy WOW Gold
WOW Gold EU
Cheap WOW Gold Eu
Buy WOW Gold EU
World Of Warcraft Gold
tera
gold
rs
rs gold
tera
My own simply Diablo III Goldcomplaint is probably the ebook could have been a little longer to permit much more fine detail about a few of the plans forms. I might have enjoyed to obtain go throughCheap Guild Wars 2 Gold a bit more upon object blueprints specifically.
Post a Comment