Posts tagged "inner state of mind"
Happiness, Peace and Kindness
“I will try to remember your words,” said the villager and continued, “there is another thing that I am curious about. You do not seem to be influenced by the environment. You have a kind word to everyone, and are helpful. However, people treat you well, and do not exploit your goodness.”
“Being good and being kind do not necessarily point to weakness. When you are good, you can also be strong. People sense your inner strength, and therefore do not impose on you. When you are strong and calm inside, you help people, because you can, and you want to. You then act from strength and not from weakness. Goodness can also go with power and strength, it is not a sign of weakness, as some people erroneously think.”
“Thank you very much for your advice and explanation”, said the villager, and went away happy and satisfied.
My note: It all starts with us.
Mirror Concept
When we look at the mirror, what do we see? Do we see tiredness, sadness, wrinkles? Or do we see happiness, enthusiasm, smile? Do we see pain and struggles? Or do we see sparkling energy and love?
Now, let’s look at the outside world. What we notice first? How we relate to people? Do we see them struggling or being successful? Do we encounter sadness or happiness?
Usually, our inner state reflect our outside world. What we choose to concentrate on, that’s what we see. What we feel inside, that’s what we feel and see around us. That’s why it is so easy to feel empathy for people who are going or went through similar situations that we did. We can feel their pain or joy. Now, if somebody is going through entirely different experience that we never been through, we will not understand it; it will feel odd to us.
We are all conditioned by our past, good or bad and by what we know. We’ve been through ups and downs and sideways. We view our world through our past experiences, what is familiar to us. If we been through pain, we view our world through pain. We encounter people who are going through the same pain. Sometimes pain becomes anger, hatred and revenge. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We want the person who hurt us to be hurt. We want them to suffer the same way they made us suffer. Where does it get us, though? Like Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” It does not do anything good, except it causes more pain.
Now, if we would concentrate from a place of love and compassion, no matter of circumstances, the outcome would be completely different. We would start caring for each other. Instead of war, there would be peace. Instead of hatred, there would be love. One man can make a world of difference. Let that be us. Gandhi is one of many examples. He saw peace for India; he stood for his beliefs and by being himself, he reached seemingly unattainable.
So, how about instead of wrinkles, let’s see lines of wisdom. Instead of tiredness, let’s see rest. Instead of sadness, let’s consciously smile more. Instead of struggles, let’s imagine our dreams come true. Instead of pain, let’s fill our hearts with love. Love does conquer it all. If we change our outlook in life and see our world through new open possibilities, we will change our life for the better. Let’s reflect goodness from our hearts into the mirror of outside world and make a difference now.
What is Happiness?
Often times we depend on someone or something to make us happy. We think, “When I’ll make x amount of $, I’ll be happy,” or “When I’ll meet someone special…” or “When I quit my job…” or “When I’ll get married…,” or “When… (fill the blank).” List goes on. What we do not realize is that we can be happy right here, right now. We usually seek happiness outside ourselves, when Happiness is an inner state of mind. Often times, people comment that I always smile, I am always happy. That’s what I choose to be. My personal motto is “Life is too short to be unhappy.”
You may protest, “How can I be happy if I lost my job, if there is a shortage of money, if kids are making me crazy, etc., etc.”? These are only your life situations, transitional events, opportunities for a change. They do not make who you are. They do not define your being. Look at the 3rd world countries. People there do not have much, but they sing and laugh like nothing matters. Look at children – every small thing fascinates them. It does not make much to make them happy.
In Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, one of the synonyms for “happiness” is gladness. My happiness consists of gratitude. I’m very grateful for everyday that I live. I’m grateful for my family and friends. I’m grateful for my life. That’s all what is important to me. Sure, there might be worries or unsatisfied wishes or frustrating events. They are nothing compared that I’m so fortunate to have what is important to me: my family, friends, pets, my health and my life.
Problems do not define who we are. They are just the next steps in our lives to get to the higher level, to go to the next transition. We can fight it and be miserable, or we can go with the flow – make choices which way to go. Life is all about choices. It is a matter of opening the doors and go whatever direction we choose to. Now if there seems no doors, we can always make them by breaking the wall.
When I’m in the state of happiness, it does not take much to be happy. When I’m in the state of gratitude, everything – the smallest things fascinate me: a blooming rose, a walk on the beach, wind in the hair, sunshine, puppy’s hug, to hug and kiss my family and friends.
Life is too precious. Enjoy every minute of it one smile at the time, minute by minute, and be grateful of what you have.
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