YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY?

I have always been inspired by the Dalai Lama - his compassion, kindness, caring and teachings are an inspiration to everyone who listens. I saw the above quote and photo and I was struck by the words "do you want to be happy'.

The question is DO YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY? The answer of course is yes, but how to be happy that is the question.

The Dalai Lama says "Practice Compassion" but what does that really mean in day to day terms?

Those of you who have been kind enough to read my blogs will know that time and again I write about our MIND and how we are dictated by this busy mind of ours.  Is your MIND TOO BUSY? How many times have I heard this said - hundreds of times - ""I cannot sleep because my mind is too busy" - "I can't think straight because my mind is too busy" - "I just want some peace from my problems - my mind won't let me rest" etc, etc.

You may wonder why "practicing compassion" has anything to do with your problems and your busy mind - but it has a lot to do with it and this is why! The bottom line is that we are what we think - and we do what we think - and basically our mind tells  us what to do - Why? Because we are not in control of our minds - it controls us. If we develop COMPASSION & KINDNESS for everyone not only our close family and loved ones - you will begin the path of achieving great HAPPINESS

Every human being has the right to find HAPPINESS in their lives but sad to say, unfortunately all people SUFFER - we become ill; we get hurt both physically and mentally; we get depressed, we get stressed, at times we will experience tragedies; lose our friends and families; lose the pets we love; and eventually we will die - I know none of you will want to think about that, but all of us will successfully die! 

If we have lived a life that has brought joy and happiness to people and everyone and everything around you - you will have enjoyed a life of happiness and can die peacefully and with your mind at rest - if you have caused suffering, pain and misery it will be too late for you as you lie dying to change and do anything about it - THINK ABOUT THIS PLEASE - its never too late to change whilst you are healthy and have a good mind - if sadly, dementia or other similar ailments come into your life it will be too late -  so you must start the process of changing your life - do it NOW. Is it really too much to ask for HAPPINESS in your life?

As I said earlier, we are what we think and if we begin to change the way we think we can achieve a level of happiness that you probably can't imagine. They say the greatest love is that of a mother's love for her child. If you can start to imagine feeling that love for everyone even the neighbour who is so annoying or the Police Officer who has just given you a speeding ticket - you will begin to see life in a very different way.

Of course, its not easy - but stop to think about this - none of us are better than anyone else - maybe you think you are better than someone else or your beliefs are the only ones that matter and everyone else is wrong - maybe you are jealous of another family or person - possibly you hate someone - but these feelings and statements makes no actual sense - why? Simply because we are all the same and basically one organism - If there were no trees and plants we couldn't breathe - we wouldn't be on this earth. If there was no moon, sun, rain, atmosphere for us to breathe properly there wouldn't be any people - there wouldn't be any food grown - we wouldn't be able to eat anything and survive.

Everyone hurts and bleeds - everyone of us relies entirely on others - where would you be without other people from all over the world? There wouldn't be any food if people didn't plant the crops and harvest the fruit, grains, rice, wheat and so forth. Think of the people who collect the food and package it and all the people who enable this food to reach your plate. If people from all over the world weren't doing any of this you would be alive.

Do you think that an American family is any different to a Zulu family or an Ethiopian family or a Japanese family or a Muslim family or a Christian family or a Hindu family or an Eskimo family or any any other kind of family? Don't they want happiness, good health, good food, and roof over their head, the same as YOU?  Basically we ALL WANT HAPPINESS IN OUR LIVES and once you begin to build COMPASSION for all living creatures you will be on the path to achieving true happiness for yourself, your family and everyone you meet.

Remember the great human mantra - hate, jealousy, ignorance, overt desire, greed all bring SUFFERING

Compassion, kindness, caring, healing all bring HAPPINESS

There are many ways to help build your compassion - I recommend meditating and gently bringing your mind to a peaceful and quiet state which is such a relief - I have written a number of blogs on meditation if you would like to learn more - you will find that this is the first step to building compassion and kindness - and this will change your life and all those you meet for ever - bringing great happiness and joy into your life and others too.

Can't be bad - can it?

Thanks for reading

Peter