Through constant familiarity, we can definitely establish new behavior patterns, using our tendency to form habits to our advantage. If we make a steady effort, I think we can overcome any form of negative conditioning and make positive changes in our lives. But we need to remember that genuine change doesn’t happen overnight ~ Dalai Lama
Happiness is a form of courage. ~Holbrook Jackson
Happiness at some level is a luxury. What do I mean by that? Well it comes back to one of my favorite concepts of all-time, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The concept is beautiful for its simplicity, basically the idea is that you have to meet your most basic needs before moving on to things that are optional, like happiness, environmentalism or spirituality. Those things are secondary if your kids are hungry. One of the most basic things that human beings need is to feel safe and it is the second level of the hierarchy. So the question today is, do you feel safe?
If not, what is it in your world that threatens you? Is it something you can change? If you can, you should make it a priority, taking care of yourself and your well-being is one of the first steps to being happy. Remember that the things that threaten you are not always physical threats and most likely are psychological in nature. People who are overly critical or not responsive of your needs can be just as damaging to your feeling of safety. In the end, feeling safe means you can feel comfortable to let your guard down both physically and psychologically.
What got me thinking about this today was that I was fortunate to wake up this morning at a hotel on the beach. Laying there in my warm bed, listening to the waves I was hit with this incredibly feeling of safety, I haven’t been feeling very safe in my world lately and the feeling this morning was wonderful and inspired this post and the following poem, enjoy.
Safe (written in Monterey, CA – 2/19/11)
I feel safe here
warm in my bed
sound of waves
breaking on shore
regular as heartbeats
kissing the land
A reminder
the original safe place
warm
wet
well-fed
regular heartbeats
the meaning of safety
before words or language
Fear is Killing Your Happiness
Our Best Happiness Posts of 2015
It is very important to value all religious systems. Although they may have great philosophical differences, they all have precepts for cultivating a good attitude toward others and helping them. They all counsel the practice of love, compassion, patience, contentment, and observing society’s rules. Since all religions share these goals, it is important to respect them and to value the contribution they can make.~Dalai Lama
My weekly post this week was on worry and as a nice companion here is my daily meditation from Deng Ming-Dao’s 365 Tao on the same subject.
Worry is an addiction
That interferes with compassion
Worry is a problem that seems to be rampant. Perhaps it is due to the nature of our overly advanced civilization; perhaps it is a measure of our own spiritual degneracy. Whatever the source, it is clear that worry is not useful. It is a cancer of the emotions-concern gone compulsive. It eats away at the body and the mind.
It does no good to say, “Don’t think about it.” You’ll only worry more. It is far better to keep walking your path, changing what you can. The rest must be dissolved in compassion. In this world of infants with immunce deficiencies, racial injustice, economic imbalance, personal violence, and international conflict, it is impossible to address everyone’s concerns. Taking care of yourself and doing something good for those whom you meet is enough. That is compassion, and we must exercise it even in the face of the overwhelming odds.
Whenever you meet a problem, help it if is in your power to do so. After you have acted, withdraw and be unconcerned about it. Walk on without ever mentioning it to anybody. There there is no worry, because there has been action.
I feel that an individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune that one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace – anxiety, doubt, disappointment – these are definitely less. ~ Dalai Lama
So, on my other blog I’ve been posting a travelogue about my trip to the Himalayas last year as part of the 8 months I took off of work, I’ll talk more about that soon in a post. But my posting this week, part 11 of the travelogue is one of my favorite points and includes some of my favorite photos from the trip. Have a look when you’ve got a few free minutes:
Hey friends, from my other blog, I thought I would link this over concerning how poorly I think this company treated Tibetans, Buddhists and the Dalai Lama:
http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/insensitive-groupon-tibet-super-bowl-ad/
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, and honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~ Leo F. Buscaglia
So I’m a Steeler fan, c’mon you didn’t think you’d completely escape the Super Bowl on the Monday after the game did you? Well, my team lost and worse they beat themselves, so as I’m writing this I’m a bit grumpy. However, what is important is that by tomorrow my brain will have readjusted to the reality that it’s just a game and I’ll be back to normal. And how do you get there, well, the first and easiest step is just to smile. Smiling has an amazing range of impacts and I meant to write about that today until I found an absolutely amazing piece about smiling on the web, I think the article is absolutely perfect and here it is, The Art of Smiling.
A natural flow from smiling is to be positive, remember that smiling, being positive and in the end being happy is a choice. You choose to decide whether your boss’ attitude, your team losing, or even the other driver in traffic is going to set you off, or if you decide to let it go and not let it disrupt your happiness. From the piece linked below here are some fantastic tips:
Hints and tips on becoming more positive
The piece this came from is called, Being Positive. have a happy day my friends and remember, happiness is a choice, choose to have a great day. ~ Rev Kane
At a fundamental level, as human beings, we are all the same; each one of us aspires to happiness and each one of us does not wish to suffer. This is why, whenever I have the opportunity, I try to draw people’s attention to what as members of the human family we have in common and the deeply interconnected nature of our existence and welfare.~ Dalai Lama
The more intense the nature of a man, the more readily will he find meditation, and the more successfully will he practice it. ~ James Allen
It’s been a turbulent week for me and a lot of the good folks I know have been snowed on and blown around so I thought it might be a good time to share one of my favorite passages from Deng Ming-Dao. It’s his, if you will pardon me, reflection on reflection and after reading it you may want to peak back on some of the posts we’ve had on meditation.
Happiness, Science and Meditation
A fascinating article on Meditation
Finally a quick link to the basics of meditation, I really like this page, it’s a simple, single page basic meditation that anyone can do just about anywhere. Don’t try and meditate long, it’s much better to meditate for 5 minutes a night 10 nights in a row, than it is to do one 30 minute session every once in a while. The important thing is that you do it, that you relax and let go a bit.
And now, Deng Ming-Dao’s thoughts on reflection, have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
Moon above water
Sit in Solitude
If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves, we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frenetic activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our wanton schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters become turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive to Tao.
There is no effort that we can make to sill ourselves. True stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude where we allow our minds to settle. Just as water seeks its own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.
Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection. In the same way, meditation will be natural and immediate.
