Quotes Tagged "the-happynesswala"

How would you do what you are doing if there was no reward, no goal, no measure of Success or Failure attached to it? How would you perform if you only focused on doing something for the joy of doing it? When you live Life, working only for joy, then neither Success nor Failure can hold you hostage. Of course, please demand a premium for your service or offering in the commercial market, but please don’t fall into the trap of valuing what you do only on economic or material parameters. When you enjoy the journey and realize that it is the only reward, you will never be keyed up over the outcomes. This is the way to a perennial state of Happiness, to Bliss!

A painful situation arrives in your Life simply because it was meant to. It is never because your “energies are negative” or that you are being “punished for past sins”. Your pain is here to teach you Life lessons. Which is why extraordinary pain is a sign of grace, of a great teacher arriving in your Life to transform you, to make you resilient, wise and happy!

Permanence is an illusion. Nothing lasts. When this awareness arrives in your Life, you awaken to Happiness – to embracing what is, to finding meaning and Purpose in what is and to be content with what is.

How can you be happy when you are sad? Good Question there. Happiness and sadness are not opposite states. Your intrinsic, natural, state is happiness. Sadness interferes with your being happy when you get what you don’t want or when you don’t get what you want. A break-up, a pink slip, a health challenge, death of a loved one – all these, and more, will naturally make you sad. To feel sad when sadness arises in you is neither abnormal nor avoidable. In fact, don’t even try to escape sadness. Hold it, observe it keenly. When you understand the futility of being sad, you will let go of your sadness – on your own. Sometimes, you may need help, from a friend, a parent, or a sibling, or a therapist. But unless you understand that your feeling sad endlessly is what is ruining your happiness, you will not bounce back. Happiness is, therefore, an intensely personal choice.

Just as you would build and use stamina to be a champion sportsperson, you need to deploy Resilience to face challenging Life situations. Resilience is like the Bluetooth feature on your smartphone. You need to activate it to use it. And you activate, you deploy, the Resilience from within you by anchoring in Faith – by trusting the process of Life. So, no matter what you are dealing with, don’t run away from Life; turn around and face your fears. Know that you have the staying power in you to get through Life. Know that if you have a problem, you will also have the means, the mechanism, to deal with the problem even if you can’t always solve it immediately!

Extraordinary pain in Life is not a sign of past sins catching up as some would want you to believe. It is, interestingly, a sign of extraordinary grace arriving in your Life. Pain is inevitable – you don’t get to choose it; if it was a choice then, well, all of humanity would like to avoid any pain. So, painful episodes just happen in Life, but they happen only for a reason. And that reason is always revealed in hindsight, upon deep reflection. If you think back, you will discover that any event that caused you pain, only left you stronger, wiser and happy. That’s the grace I am talking about. Pain, in essence, helps you evolve. It hurts you surely, but doesn’t harm you, and, unfailingly, leaves you blessed!

Purpose, Vision and Values are crucial to the journey of Life. Why are you doing what you are doing (Purpose), where are you headed (Vision) and what guiding principles (Values) will you never compromise on? When you are clear about these aspects of your Life then the result does not matter. Yes, there will be times you will get what you want, but that Success will sit lightly on you. And in the times when you don’t get what you want, Failure will not torment you, it will not weigh you down. Being unmoved by both Failure and Success is the only art you need to master to get through Life; this is what leads you to being happy despite the circumstances.

If you are not coming alive each day when you wake up, if you are dragging yourself to work every day just to earn a living, you are perhaps then intensely, seriously, unhappy with whatever you are doing. Instead of subjecting yourself to all this misery, on the altar of a deceptive sense of economic security, pause, reflect and re-examine your priorities. Ask yourself what will make you deliriously happy? And simply go do it! Then, as you will discover, doors will open…always!

There are three parts to your Life at any given moment. 1. The part where a complex problem situation is either totally or immediately unsolvable; so, over time, you intuitively learn to isolate this part while still dealing with it. 2. The part where all the existential drama happens – everyday grief, anxieties, stresses, suffering, worries, frustrations…stuff, often linked to the first part, that continuously keeps puncturing your happy state. 3. The center – your center. This is where you are in sync with the Universe’s, divine, energy; this center is your deeply personal oasis of happiness. Just as there’s complete calm at the epicentre of a cyclone, there is absolute stillness within you. You must find that stillness, that silence, you must find your center. Only then will you be unmoved by the other two parts of your Life. It’s from your center that your art flows and that’s where your Happiness lies!

We are all Life’s children because, to borrow from Khalil Gibran, we are a manifestation of Life’s longing for itself; we are only delivered through our parents into this Universe! So, Life’s reason for creating you presents itself again and again and again, in myriad forms, until you have identified, awakened to and embraced that reason. That’s why, there is almost always, inevitably, a connection between your earliest influences and aspirations and your Bliss, with what you eventually end up wanting to do in, and with, your Life!

True enlightenment arrives the moment you understand the difference between your wants and your needs. When you awaken to this understanding, you will realize that Life has always been providing for you, caring for you, giving you all that you need. This is how you stop wanting anything, anymore and start living with what you have, with what is. This is how you learn to be happy despite your circumstances.

When someone chooses not to understand you, despite your best efforts, you may want to examine whether they are not getting what you are saying or if they simply don’t want to understand you. If it is the latter, Life is so much simpler for both of you – there is no need to invest any more time and energy in striving for that understanding. The brutal truth that you often fail to confront is the fact that someone who is keen not to understand you, perhaps never will, no matter how hard you try!

Life, at the end of the day, is a simple mindgame. This means, essentially, that you learn to control your thoughts, that you learn to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering. Then, no matter what you are going through, you live a better, fuller, happy Life.

Failure is an event. A mere data point. You tried something. And it didn’t work out. But society makes it looks like a crime. The label of Failure that is pinned on you is far more burdensome than the act of failing itself. So, the simplest thing to do is to not let that label stick; peel it off and chuck it away! For the same reason, don’t take Success too seriously either. Life happens through you, not because of you! Your success is not your own doing; it is Life’s longing for expressing itself through you. And when you fail, it is Life’s way of teaching you more about itself, about the fact that Life, not you, is in control!

Understand a simple truth about Life: you have to go through what you have to go through! No amount of praying or wishing can change what you have to, and will, experience in Life. So, stop resisting anything that you dislike and are faced with. The role of a crisis is to make you stronger, wiser and, interestingly, happy. Look back at all that you have been through and you will find that you are better from your experiences. So, why be bitter about whatever’s happening to you now? Embrace your current reality, accept it as your new normal, and keep doing what you can possibly do each given day. Over time, you will find yourself soaked in equanimity, no matter how hard the going is!

Faith is not a ‘thing’ you have in an external God that you have been conditioned to worship. Faith is simply trusting the process of Life. You are because of Life, because you are alive. So, if you have been given this lifetime, in this human form, without your even asking to be born, trust that you will get all that you need and you will eventually reach where you must arrive. And until you see Life’s magic and beauty, until you realize that it is what it is, be Patient with the process of Life. Which is why, Faith and Patience are truly the most empowering keywords or philosophies in Life. When you have Faith and Patience, Life is beautiful, just the way it is!

Whatever it is, take it as it comes. This is surely never easy. But when you understand that you can’t win fighting Life, you will realize that this is the only option. So, going with the flow is not quite a spiritual or romantic, feel-good, concept as it is made out to be. It is an intelligent choice, driven by plain common sense, of doing what you possibly can in a given situation. When you awaken to this truth, you will be happy despite your circumstances.

What others think of you, or what they say or do to you, is their business; not yours! They have a right to their opinions. And you must just let them be. It is when you try to change their opinion of you that you grieve – and often suffer. Instead, be unmoved by their choices, their utterances, and just be true to yourself. You will then be fearless and unaffected by all that is happening around you.

Once you understand the power of meditation, you don’t even need to engage in it as a practice. You don’t need to then set aside a particular time of the day for meditation as an activity. In that state, you are that; you are meditative in everything that you do. There is a mindful, immersive quality to your Life then. Surely, debilitating emotions and disturbing thoughts will come calling, but your awareness, your mindfulness, helps you to not pick them up. You see them, you feel them, but you let them pass. This discerning ability to choose wisely is the biggest gift that meditation delivers. This is what helps you to be happy despite your circumstances.

Don’t wish that your Life is different from what it is now. This is how you invite suffering into your Life. What is happening to you has already arrived in your Life. You can’t wish it away, you can’t undo it, you can’t deny its presence. By asking why is something happening in your Life, you are resisting your current reality. That’s also why you are suffering. Instead, learn to be non-suffering by embracing what is. Being non-suffering is a personal choice, it holds the key to your Happiness!