1.May the Universe bless the space between us. 2.Compassion as a radical 21st Century Movement 3.Is there any Purpose or Meaning in our Lives? 4.Mahatma Gandhi: Speaking from the heart. 5 The Happiness Mantra 6.The Magic of Motherhood
Sunday 15 June 2014
Saturday 14 June 2014
The Happiness Mantra:Vulnerability brings love and joy
Vulnerability
brings love and joy and a sense of belonging in its wake: ‘Follow your
heart, follow your bliss. You have nothing to lose except your vulnerability.’
Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy and
authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more
meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path…’ Brene Brown
Pic re
shared courtesy: Nino Chakvetadze, www.facebook.com
The Happiness Mantra:Vulnerability is the core of all feeling
Brene Brown
gave a wonderful ‘TED Talk’ in December 2010 on why vulnerability is critical
to our happiness. She says far too many of us suffer from feelings of
unworthiness, shame and fear. So she asked herself a question: ‘How do the
whole hearted live?’ What are their priorities? She found three dominant values: The courage
to be imperfect, the compassion to be kind to ourselves and others and the
authenticity to make connections where there are no guarantees. Brown says we need to embrace our
vulnerability and see that it is necessary and beautiful. What we don’t need is
a thick skin to numb emotion. We can’t
be sensitive to some things and insensitive to others. We can’t control
uncertainty. To be vulnerable is to be tender, to stop pretending to be this or
that. To have the courage to say: ‘I am enough.’
Friday 13 June 2014
The Happiness Mantra:Gratitude is pure intelligence…
‘Gratitude
is pure intelligence. When we are grateful for our challenges, they disappear.
When we are grateful for our intentions, they start to appear. And when we are
grateful for our blessings, it greatly magnifies their grandeur.’ On the flip
side of gratitude is the ability to give freely unlike Tagore’s beggar. ‘Giving creates an imbalance in our favor and
gives us a chance to connect to another human being. When we’re not
able to give, we’re in a self imposed prison.’
Artist: Arthur John Elsley,
Thursday 12 June 2014
Wednesday 11 June 2014
The Happiness Mantra: Happiness is harmony
“Happiness
is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Pic re
shared courtesy: www.whoa.com
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Monday 9 June 2014
The Happiness Mantra: Decoding Unhappiness
An unhappy person is one whose conscience,
ideal, raison d’ĂȘtre and life is outside of himself. He’s focused on a paradise
somewhere else…absent from himself. And because he is absent, he lives either
in the idyllic past or fantasizes about a glorious future. If you think about it, the past is
just a story. It has no existence. It’s over and done with. You can reinvent
the past or future by changing the story. To be truly happy we have to be
present to our imperfect selves - here, now… and in Alan Watts’ words; ‘completely
engaged in what (we) are doing in the
here and now…living spontaneously like a plant…(discovering that) deep
down (we) are existence itself and… the universe is a celebration.’
Pic re shared courtesy: www.happiness.org
Sunday 8 June 2014
The Happiness Mantra: Is the ‘pursuit of happiness’ possible?
Dr. Victor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist
who survived the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp by being
compassionate and caring even in that extreme situation. When things got
unbearable, he turned his mind to his family and what it would be like when he
finally got out. His wife was incarcerated in another camp at Auschwitz where
she died but Frank didn’t know this until he was free. Speaking of happiness
and success he says: ‘…Happiness, (like success) cannot be pursued; it
must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal
dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a byproduct of one’s surrender
to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same
holds for success: You have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you
to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out
to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run –
in the long run, I say! – success will follow you precisely because you had
forgotten to think about it.’
Victor Frankl; Man’s search for
Meaning
Artist: Alia
Qunhua, Pic re shared courtesy: http://www.tatucya.com
The Happiness Mantra: To give or not to give
Tagore tells a beautiful story
about the King of kings going out to meet his humble subjects
in Gitanjali. The king
spots a beggar and stuns him by
asking for alms; “ I had gone a-begging from door to door in
the village path, when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a
gorgeous dream and I wondered who was this King of all kings/ My hopes rose
high and methought my evil days were at an end, and I stood waiting for alms to
be given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust/ The chariot
stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile.
I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst
hold out thy right hand and say: ‘What hast thou to give to me?/ Ah, what a
kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar and beg! I was confused and
stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain
of corn and gave it to thee/ But how great was my surprise when at the day’s
end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little grain of gold among
the poor heap! I bitterly wept and wished that I had the heart to give thee my
all-----”( v. 50) All of us want be at the
Pic re
shared courtesy: thequiltsofindia.wordpress.com
The Happiness Mantra
Everyone,
everywhere, wants to be happy. So, what makes you happy? A flourishing career? A comfortable lifestyle? A loving family? Challenging, rewarding work? Perhaps
you need someone or something to love (A person, a pet, a tree, an instrument,
a mean machine…) It’s possible you need something to do or die trying to
achieve, something to hope for and believe in when the world crumbles around
you. Perhaps you’re ambitious and need name, fame, wealth, status…or else
you’re one of the rare few who have found a treasure by turning inwards towards
the spirit…
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