Happiness is a lot Healthier than Hostility

Happiness is a lot Healthier than Hostility - This statement was written on a piece of paper I found in a book that I bought in a second-hand store.  I looked at it for a moment and wondered why would someone write this statement. It is a no-brainer. Of course happiness is a lot healthier than hostility. Happiness in life sustaining and hostility is toxic to the psyche.

Mathieu Ricard, a Buddhist Monk wrote: “Our life can be greatly transformed by even a minimal change in how we manage our thoughts and perceive and interpret the world. Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time.”  Ricard is about 62 years old and was a scientist before he turned a Buddhist Monk.

Of course, if we managed our thoughts correctly we stand a good chance to be happy. Our thoughts are private and there is a world that goes on inside of us that no one else share. We build castles and cauldrons, soothing waterfalls and fetid pits all in our heads or minds. Instead of fetid pits wouldn’t it be better to build soothing waterfalls?

This is where skill through practice comes it.  Forcing our minds in a certain direction takes work. As most our parents or grandparents might have advised “if at first you don’t succeed try and try again” or “the heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight but they while their companions slept were toiling upwards in the night.”  These quotations speak about the benefit of practice.

What makes us happy is our thoughts, not anything outside of us.  We react outwardly to what goes on inside of us. When we allow negative thoughts  to find a comfortable home in our minds, they grow out of proportion and leave little room for positive thoughts. It is so easy to complain and to spout out negativities, putting people down, criticizing others for not meeting our expectations and difficult to constantly look for something to praise others about someone. That takes a lot of work.  The work is worthwhile.

We can change our lives by changing our thoughts. Simple as it may sound Pollyanna was right, think about the good and happy thoughts will be yours. Instead of griping about what you do not have, think of all the things you have.  Instead of focusing on the negative behaviors of your friends, family and colleagues, think about the good qualities they have and remind them of that. It will make you feel good and it will make them feel good too.

Baha’u’llah wrote that if a man has nine bad qualities and one good one to focus on the one good quality.   This is life affirming and promotes happiness, promotes training of the mind for success.  Thinking in this way suppresses the wiles of the ego, which is at the root of our unhappiness because the ego is insatiable.

Meditation

No one is without any redemptive quality. Each day I will focus on the good qualities of others and in time this will become a habit.