Happy
Spring First everyone and Happy Nowruz. It's been too long since I
put my thoughts to paper and being inspired by a sunny Sunday
afternoon, here I am.
I
was cleaning up my desktop and started to view several memes I had
downloaded since the new year. One is a quote from John Lennon:
“When
I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the
key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be
when I grew up. I wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn't
understand the assignment. I told them they didn't understand life.”
I
know I’ve blogged about happiness before and it seems like a
recurring theme but honestly it's so important to living a fulfilling
life it's worth another round. Think back to a time when you were
completely happy. What did it look like? What were you doing? Who
were you with? How long ago was it? Why aren't you happy now? Or are
you? How did you get to it or from it? When I did this little
exercise on myself I found those moments to be fleeting and
temporary. So I began to think about how to be successful in
permanent happiness not only for my own sake but especially for the
sake of my children. I needed the tools to teach my kids the meaning
of that John Lennon quote. There must be a way, a method. Happiness
comes from within right? Hmm...
I
found another quote a short meme that states: “Beauty catches the
attention but character catches the heart”. Character catches the
heart...now that was worth exploring. What does good character look
like these days? Kind, gentle, polite, funny, helpful, does the right
thing even if there are negative consequences for themselves, will
always fight for what is right, gives of their time and money to help
others, shows goodness of spirit.
Which
started me thinking about how we can express this good character to
the world.
The
next desktop item reads: “Do noble things, do not dream them all
day long.” Noble deeds improve your character, and by improving
your character, you will have happiness. So it begs the question,
what are noble deeds? Here is a definition: “A
noble deed can be defined as an action or performance that is done
according to high moral standards. Such actions can include aiding
the sick or impoverished, selfless acts or random acts of kindness.
These kinds of deeds can be performed anywhere by anyone.”
Ok sounds like a plan. In order to build permanent happiness, refine
a good character and show it in your deeds.
There
is one more thing that stands in the way of permanent happiness.
It's called Ego. I was reading a short blog on flipboard which had
some very interesting insights. It talked about moving beyond the
“you” and “me”. Loving on a higher level. Mmm yes happiness
moves us toward love but this can become troublesome and fleeting
also.
“Instead
of wasting time with the Ego's version of love, return to the place
of love. To detach yourself from anger, resentment and the sense of
being a victim happens only in the space beyond ego” -DC
As
per typical Deepak, the answer lies in how mindful we remain. When we
have a decision to make we should ask ourselves these important
questions:
which
choice is more loving?
What
will bring peace between us?
How
awake am i?
What
kind of energy am i creating?
Am
i acting out of trust or distrust?
Do
i feel what my partner is feeling?
Can
i give without expecting anything in return?
“if
you can rescue love every day, bringing yourself back to the place
where love is, all the other problems don’t have a chance to grow”.
-Deepak Chopra
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