Happiness And Gratefulness
Isn’t it strange? We’ve all experienced gratefulness. We understand how increasingly nice it feels. Certainly it must be a simpler way to happiness than running round trying to make the outer world fit a checklist?
Isn’t it strange? We’ve all experienced gratefulness. We understand how increasingly nice it feels. Certainly it must be a simpler way to happiness than running round trying to make the outer world fit a checklist?
What is success? Massive quantities of energy go into following the life of the individuals who are “successful”, and nevertheless for most of us the sort of success of, say, a Brendan Fevola1 or a Paris Hilton2, is simply not what we’d need for ourselves. Success for us may signify getting that job, hitting our perfect weight, finding that boyfriend – or being the boyfriend everybody wants to find, increasing our monetary property to a specific point, regardless of whether that be longed-for comfort or serious wealth … Or that favourite of mine: the free will and happiness that comes from being fully at comfort with yourself. So what’s your own personal mountain, the one you want to climb and get pleasure from the view from?
A number of different people ask me this question, so I thought it might be exciting to collect together some of the answers I give and turn them into this article!
This is one among my very favourite quotations …
Ever bumped into an obstacle? Ever not enjoyed it?
This is a quotation many of you will have come across, but maybe not translated like this! Usually it’s something like “life is pain”, which not only sounds awfully uninspiring but is just not what the Buddha actually meant.
I grew up around professional philosophers, grew to become a Buddhist at 21; I thought I knew all I needed to regarding beliefs. What a surprise to get to know not many years ago that majority of the beliefs that were actually driving my life were ones I didn’t even recognize I had!
I feel it essential to say that I am enjoying life a good deal more than I did before 10 years and one among the several important reasons for my happiness is the positive improvements that I have incorporated in my way of life.