Abundance

Death

I am so afraid of closing my eyes tonight and not knowing. Will I wake from a comfortable sleep? I close my eyes trusting that I will wake rested. Since I do not dream I would not feel myself slipping away. I fall into an imaginary realm of fantasy and memories. Where is that place we fall into? Sometimes I fall asleep and wake and the most recent memory was closing my eyes and yet I am rested and ready to go. Once I was knocked unconscious and did not remember anything of how I was knocked out. Will I leave this consciousness and slip into nothingness one day? Close my eyes and nothing? I am so terrified of this reality. Is this a reality? Will it happen that way? I have read so many books regarding this transformation from life to death. I have attended church to hear the speaker (priest, pastor, minister, etc…) telling us how afterlife will be. What is after? What is the guarantee? I have observed many different variations of the story of death and afterlife and what to expect. What is the truth? Whose story is right? One thought is more right than the other. Does one have a more compelling argument?

Do the people that grow up in the violence and war-torn countries think about death the way we do? Or is it an accepted idea that they will suffer a horrible death one way or another and they have accepted their fate? I imagine they have no control over it so therefore they do not enjoy their days. Their days are spent worried and preparing for their anticipated death. Instead of celebrating the life they currently have. Sometimes it is a catch 22 because we think of how we should be thankful for the life we have and yet the quality of our lives might not be as one would describe quality life. Everyone has an opinion. We all have experienced different levels of living. I can name so many points in our human history where children are exposed to so many different variations of life. Enslavement, work farms, concentrations camps, sweat shops, human trafficking….I can go on but it is mortifying to think that I can sit here and tell you appreciate your life you have and it is a perception of how you see things. A cow and a chicken know their fate. They are to be eaten in most societies. A snail crossing a busy path knows they will be stepped on by a human. How do we perceive death? A daily routine with the knowledge of a set expectation of certain death? Certain death….This is such a sure thing that we can almost assure ourselves a seat on the ride out of our consciousness.

Imprisoned in fear? Can we be happy regardless? Can we make a decision to be happy and appreciate the small things in a certain vulnerable state of mind of fear? Can we decide to be happy headed a million miles an hour towards a wall? Time is not stopping and we are headed towards our fate every moment we have life and breathe. If it as certain and sure why are we worried? Is it morals? Have we been convinced that we are certainly going to a bad place or good place? Are we second guessing and not being fed the correct information? Are we doing the right things to meet our 12 virgins in paradise? Are we going the the yellow brick road one day to meet the OZ on the other side of the curtain?

What are we headed towards? If we have been told we are headed towards something and nothing is there how will we know there is nothing there?> If we close our eyes for good and there is not anything how do we warn the rest of us? Is it fair? Does it matter? IF we are headed towards nothingness and we cannot control it would it drive you crazy knowing that we are just a created from something that is unknown and we have no sure resource to prove either way…… Would we go crazy knowing all of this information? Does it really MATTER?! No. I say no. I will be very happy if and when my faith is validated. If I close my eyes today…I will not lie I will be happy if my soul or essence transforms into another something. This time I hope I remain in that knowledge that I have transformed and it is not a secret again.

What IS a sure thing is, we are here. We will stop breathing and deteriorate and die. We will be something else. We will wither away and become the dirt we were created from. Where will the energy in our system re-appear or float off too? Energy is what holds our atoms together to form our matter. Matter is not solid but atoms clumped together by energy.

Again does it matter in the bigger scope of things as it pertains to our current perceptions of our life right now? No. I say no!

We can change the perceptions. We can change our fear and make it love. Love one another and the situation we are in and thrive. Love and be happy. We always have the choice to be happy and remain in that state of mind. If we cannot control the outcome we can certainly control the way we perceive it. If it is inevitable and we cannot explain it we can be happy and decide it is the right thing to be. A happy feeling is much healthier than a negative fearful feeling which scientifically causes premature death by many ways. Stress causes deterioration of our living cells. There is so many ways to go with this conversation and it is only assumptions and learned ideas. We can disprove and validate so much just by going over all the myths. If we start to talk about the science of death and life we just might make you a God believer.

My last Comment. Science increasingly believes in intelligent design. Look into it. I can only articulate what feels right and make sense. If I do not make sense then our perceptions are going in different directions…or are they? It is your perception that they are or aren’t they……

I Love all of you in any perception!

 

What Is Your Legacy?

What is your legacy? People do not think of that as they age. How do you live your life and who’s is watching you? You do not have to be a parent to pass on your legacy. You can give the world love and kindness and ask for nothing in return. Have a giving heart and a compassionate way about you. Invest in something that improves our world. Invest your time and concern. Work with your schedule wherever you are to express yourself as a caring co-inhabitant of this planet. Spread your kind words. Join a positive group that gives unconditional love to all. Truly mean Good Morning when you say it. Start the day with love. Do not just plan to leave a legacy …. Fight to live it!

Our lives are all connected and we affect one other in so many ways at many different levels. Our butterfly affect is real. We could literally impact peace all over the globe if we smile at one person. By chance that could be someone that had given up hope and goes on to be a hero that saves millions from disaster because of that smile of hope. I am a dreamer and a romantic. I love people. I pray everyday for the people I have hurt and hope that one day they will forgive me and cherish the wonderful moments we spent together as brothers and sisters in this dysfunctional family we call the human race.

Of course there are those that are selfish and sick. Power, money, self gratification with violence filling a void in themselves with a perverse stimuli that they decide equates to happiness. I have had my vices and weaknesses and made excuses for them. In the end I was trying to find all justification to hurt myself. I end up hurting my legacy I so desperately want to leave my family friends and special people that I have a blessing and privilege to help. It is not easy. Find someone to tell that secret to. Find accountability. Put yourself in check. Happiness is a choice not an external “thing” that is a trigger. We have the trigger it is called choice.

I write in this blog for one reason only. I want to share my heart in hopes of putting a smile on your face by teaching you how to decide to be happy just because. Happiness is free. Create Your Legacy Today. Start from scratch now. It is never too late. Be happy from this moment forward regardless of the circumstances and your world will change immediately. And then teach one person what you have learned. And help them teach someone. A beautiful cycle .

I Love You

 

Happiness advice from the Dalai Lama

happiness tips from the dalai lama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness.” — The Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people.  As is illustrated by the quote above, the Dalai Lama believes that the very purpose of our existence is to seek happiness.

“The Art of Happiness – A Handbook for Life” is a book written by psychiatrist Howard C. Cutler based on a series of interviews which he held with the Dalai Lama, and augmented by some of the Dalai Lama’s public talks. It contains tips and advice from the Dalai Lama on how to be happy.

Here are three of the ways recommended by the Dalai Lama for cultivating happiness:

  • Train Your Mind For Happiness
  • Shift Your Perspective
  • Cultivate Compassion and Altruism

You’ll find a detailed explanation of each below.

Happiness Can Be Achieved Through Training the Mind

The Dalai Lama’s approach to happiness relies heavily on learning, reasoning, and training the mind. He explains that through inner discipline we can undergo a transformation of our attitude, our outlook, and our approach to living.

In Buddhism causality is accepted as natural law. Therefore, if there are certain types of events that you do not desire, then the best way of safeguarding against those events taking place is to make sure that the causal conditions that normally give rise to those events don’t arise. Similarly, if there’s an event that you would like to take place, then you should seek the causes and conditions that give rise to that event.

This same principle of causality can be applied to your mental states. If you desire happiness, you should identify those factors which lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. Having done this, you can gradually do the following:

  • Eliminate those factors which lead to suffering from your life.
  • Cultivate those factors which lead to happiness.

That is, one achieves happiness through learning which mental states to cultivate and which to eliminate, and then making a sustained effort to implement this knowledge.

The Dalai Lama explains that education—focused specifically on understanding and implementing the factors that lead to lasting happiness–is crucial because the more sophisticated your knowledge is about what truly leads to happiness and what doesn’t, the more effective you will be in achieving happiness.

As Cutler explains in “The Art of Happiness”, the most distinguishing feature of the Dalai Lama´s method of training the mind involves the idea that positive states of mind can act as direct antidotes to negative states of mind. Positive mental states which lead to happiness include the following:

  • Love
  • Compassion
  • Patience
  • Generosity

Negative mental states which lead to suffering include the following:

  • Hatred
  • Greed
  • Envy
  • Frustration

Deliberately selecting and focusing on positive mental states which lead to happiness, and challenging negative mental states which lead to suffering, requires a systematic training of the mind.

The Dalai Lama also emphasizes that working on our mental outlook is a more effective means of achieving happiness than seeking it through external sources, such as wealth or position. As an illustration that external events are not the source of happiness, Cutler refers in his book to people who win the lottery or experience some other windfall. These pe0ple are elated for a while, and then they go right back to the same level of happiness which they experienced before their sudden rise in wealth.

The approach of focusing on your mental outlook also places the secret to happiness within your own hands, instead of leaving it at the mercy of external factors, most of which are not within your control.

The Dalai Lama summarizes his point as follows:

“As long as there is a lack of the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, no matter what external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the feeling of joy and happiness that you are seeking. On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality, a calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, then even if you lack various external facilities that you would normally consider necessary for happiness, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful life.”

Happiness Can Be Achieved By Shifting Your Perspective

The Dalai Lama goes on to explain that the ability to shift perspective is one of the most powerful and effective tools we have to help us cope with life’s problems. He adds that when problems arise, our outlook often becomes very narrow: we focus all of our attention on worrying about the problem. However, what we should do is shift our perspective by doing the following:

  • Looking for opportunities which could arise from the situation.
  • Taking a wider perspective.
  • Thinking of how things could be worse.

Shifting our perspective can make the problem seem smaller and more manageable.

Difficult situations are often opportunities for growth. Cutler interjects that he worked at a facility in which he had a number of run-ins with the facility’s administrator. These run-ins were instrumental in Cutler’s decision to quit working at that facility. Although at first this appeared to be a negative situation, it ultimately led to Cutler finding more satisfying work.

The Dalai Lama uses the approach of taking a wider perspective when dealing with the situation in Tibet. He explains that if he were to look at the situation in Tibet from a narrow perspective, then the situation looks almost hopeless. However, if he looks at it from a wider worldwide perspective, then he sees an international situation in which communist and totalitarian regimes are collapsing, and even in China there’s a move toward democracy. So he doesn’t give up.

In addition, researchers have conducted a number of experiments which demonstrate that one’s level of life satisfaction can be enhanced simply by shifting one’s perspective and contemplating how things could be worse. How we feel at any given moment has little to do with the conditions themselves, but is rather a function of how we perceive the situation and how satisfied we are with what we have.

When a situation is causing negative emotions, spend some time seriously searching for a different perspective on the situation. A key component to happiness is adopting a flexible, malleable approach to life.

Compassion and Altruism Lead to Happiness

Compassion, the Dalai Lama explains, is a mental attitude based on the rationale that all human beings have an innate desire to be happy and to overcome suffering, coupled with a desire for others to achieve this as well. It’s associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility, and respect toward the other.

In developing compassion one should begin with the wish that oneself be happy and free of suffering, and then take that natural feeling toward oneself and extend it out to include and embrace others.

In generating compassion the Dalai Lama suggests that you think of someone who is actually suffering and allow your natural response to arise: a natural feeling of compassion toward that person. Now think of how strongly you wish for that person to be free from that suffering, and resolve that you will help that person to be relieved from their suffering.

The altruism that arises from compassion is a key component of happiness. Several studies have shown that helping others can induce a calmer mind and a feeling of happiness. In a survey by Allan Luks conducted with several thousand people who were regularly involved in volunteer activities, over 90% of the volunteers reported the following:

  • A kind of “high” associated with the activity, characterized by a feeling of warmth, more energy, and a kind of euphoria.
  • After participating in the volunteer activity they had a distinct feeling of calmness and enhanced self-worth.

Conclusion

Despite all the loss he has experienced, nearly every time you see the Dalai Lama he’s either laughing or smiling. If you ask him whether he’s happy he answers “Yes” without hesitation. He emphasizes that happiness is built on the foundation of a calm, stable mind. The tips explained above are three of the ways he recommends to achieve ultimate happiness.

Another Day to Create

Today is another day to create my life. Today I have the opportunity to feel the way I want to feel and not let anyone decide for me. If the person cuts me off on the freeway they decided to be an idiot. They needed to be in front more than I needed to not let them. If my boss is a shit then they have a problem in their life they need to resolve. WHo am I to judge. If a child of mine is sad, I love them instead of taking it personal. WE all have choices of our perceptions. Although I might be way off in my perceptions from the truth…..but I would rather take a positive approach rather than be self destructive. I love waking up in the morning and hearing the birds, air breeze, cars, sirens, people and children making their way to work and so forth. I love to hear life. I love to see strangers smile. I love to feel the heat and cold. I am so in love with life. I want to share my choice and how I feel about it. I know others will appreciate my choices. I to love despite the negativity and the push back. We should always choose love. I am creating a beautiful day despite the challenges. I am choosing to write in this blog to communicate the love I feel for you even though I do not know you. If you were in front of me I would hug you and not ask for anything in return. This blog is paid for and it is for you. All I ask in return is your commitment to love others.

 

Have a Wonderful Day!