by Lucky on January 14, 2010
The last thing you want to be in your search for happiness is CONFUSED.
It’s easy to get confused. That’s because there are many happiness teachers, and although groups of them say similar things, it is unlikely that any two teachers will say exactly the same thing.
So let us say that you are following two teachers, believing that they are both talking about the same approach to happiness. Let’s call them teacher #1 and teacher #2. You trust them both equally and have opened your mind to them like you would open the bonnet of your car to two mechanics.
One day, while reading the teachings of teacher #1, you come across a statement that is mildly inconsistent with what teacher #2 is saying. You start wondering which teacher is right. If you cannot get in touch with both of the teachers in person, and are depending on their books, your state of doubt can make you feel unsettled, so unsettled that you put your pursuit of happiness on hold pending resolution of your doubt, whenever that is. This unsettled state is usually one in which you are slightly preoccupied, which means that you are not giving full attention to the things happening to you. This is sub-optimal living and a waste of your precious life’s moments.
So what’s the solution to this?
You have to designate one of the teachers as your primary teacher. You have to have more trust in, let’s say, teacher #1 than teacher #2. In practical terms this means that you’ll have to take a policy decision that as far as major principles go, you will always go by what teacher #1 says come hell or high water. As far as minor principles go (by "minor principles" I mean principles that do not have an impact on the major principles), you can make your own decisions, even based on other teachers if you like.
Rest assured that if you sincerely pursue happiness, the Universe will always set you on the right path should you by some chance stray onto a wrong one.
All this said, the important thing to do, as in all fields of endeavor, is to TAKE ACTION.
Now go forward and succeed!
To your happiness and peace,
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by Lucky on November 22, 2009
One of the many great things about finding inner peace is that it has a profound effect on how often and how strongly you feel anger. It definitely should find a place in everyone’s anger management toolbox.
The mechanics of the relationship between anger and inner peace is worth understanding.
Inner peace is the state of being that exists beyond your mind. It’s the basic you that’s aware of all your thoughts and emotions. It’s been there ever since you were first conscious, which was at some point in your mother’s womb. It’s what has been aware of everything that’s happened to you since that moment. It has never changed… what’s changed has been your thoughts and your external environment… these have been in unceasing flux.
Because the basic you is aware of all thoughts and other sense impressions, it is separate from them. It’s like you’re on a sidewalk watching busy traffic. Does it matter to you what color the cars are? Do you get injured if they bump against one another? No. You are unaffected by what happens on the road.
In exactly the same way, the basic you is unaffected by thoughts, emotions and sense impressions. Unaffected by worries, anxieties, stress and thoughts as a whole. Unaffected by your senses of smell, touch, sight or hearing.
Notice how thoughts, sight and hearing were included in the list of inputs. The basic you is unaffected by what you think, see and hear.
So supposing you have found inner peace. Then someone talks to you angrily or insultingly. You’re seeing him, you’re hearing him and you’re thinking about what he’s saying. In other words, you’re getting sights, sounds and thoughts related to him.
But they don’t affect you. Especially the thoughts. Thoughts like, “How dare he talk to me like that and get away with it…” (these are the thoughts that usually make people explode in return). But now you just watch those thoughts come and go in front of you. You are their calm, peaceful witness.
Wait for your mind to come up with a rational solution to the situation. One like, “Maybe I should tell that angry guy that we had better talk later when we can discuss things peaceably…” or “I’ll just smile and tell him I’ll call him after about an hour…” It’s easy to come up with good solutions when you are peaceful.
So, did you manage your anger? No you did not… because there wasn’t any in the first place!
To your cheerfulness and compassion,
