The Happiness Mantra:Happiness is …the astonishing light of your own being

“Ever since happiness heard your name; it has been running through the streets trying to find you./ I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness, the astounding light of your own being.” 

                                                                                                                                   Hafiz   

Pic re shared courtesy Nino Chakvetadze, www.facebook.com

The Happiness Mantra:Happiness is…letting go

“Letting go gives us freedom and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety or possessions – we cannot be free.” 

                                                                                                                   Thich Naht Hahn…….           

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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.’

Pic: I love Sufism, www.facebook.com

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.’

                                                                            www.happiness.org

Artist: Arthur John Elsley,

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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

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

Happiness is…the conquest of self

‘I am very happy because I have conquered myself

And not the world.

I am very happy,

Because I have loved the world,

And not myself.’

      Shri Chinmoy

Artist:   (Pic:Tao te Ching, www.facebook.com)

The Happiness Mantra: Decoding Unhappiness

 An unhappy person is one whose conscience, ideal, raison d’être 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

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

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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…

Pic re shared courtesy :  3 joko, Art People Gallery,  www.facebook.com