“The Purpose of life is the expansion of happiness” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Being happy and loving seem to go quite well together. Just about every picture I have ever seen of his holiness the Dalai Lama shows him laughing or with a big smile on his face. Think about it. When you are busy being genuinely happy, it’s pretty hard to be mean-spirited, cruel, judgmental, violent, hateful, resentful, petty or selfish. That’s because in that moment of happiness, a great generosity of spirit (love) surges and expands upon itself through us, lifting us. And the best part of it is that it affects others in the most positive ways too. Truly, the purpose of life really is the expansion of happiness and you and I are the vessels through which it can happen. So the larger question is, Where do we find happiness? Unfortunately, the common belief with most people is that happiness is something that happens to them when conditions are just right rather than something that happens through them when they choose to make space for it. While outer conditions may stimulate the feeling of happiness, it can never come from anywhere other than within us. Authentic happiness isn’t something we can go out and get, buy, borrow, or steal. Nor can any form of artificial sensory stimuli generate true happiness; it’s only something we can be, and it’s a choice we make with every breath we take. We just need to make space in our minds and hearts for happiness to be revealed. So breathe into this moment and choose to be happy.
One of the wonderful gifts of facebook is the ability to connect with those who are no longer physically close to us. One of my joys has been the connection with my former students. It is fun to see pictures of those cute little first graders that I once taught now as students at Berkeley, Stanford, Santa Clara, UCLA and USC to name a few. If I need to think of happy thoughts all I need to do is go back through my memories and remember the students I used to teach. The above picture is from a student (3 years ago) named Amanda. I came across this picture not too long ago when I was leaving she made this for me and Courtney.
Today in your writing think of these things:
- Generally when you are unhappy, you will discover it’s because you want something you don’t have, have something you don’t want, or are simply too attached to something you do have.
- Choose a different perspective today – choose to be happy with what is and stop putting off being happy until things change.
- Start by focusing on what is right and good about your life. in this instant and breathe into it.
- Choose to be happy…the world will be a better place because of it!
