Buddhism is often associated with happiness. According to Buddhist thinking, joy and sorrow are our responsibility – and entirely within our control.
This means that mental training can make you happy, no matter what happens to you. What can we learn from Buddhism?
What is the secret on how to be happy?
This is not a simple question to answer. Are you one of those people who always listen to mainstream media? Maybe you think that the secret to happiness is fame or money. This is not always the case.
Connecting our happiness to material stuff might make us happy, like lying on the beach or enjoying a ride in a Cabrio. But all of these things make you happy for only a short period.
What we mean is our inner happiness. How do you feel inside? Are you really happy? If money and stuff do not make us happy, what does?
Dalai Lama said that you can only have inner peace by compassion and awareness of reality. And these all come from the mind.
How to be truly happy, some lessons from Buddha:
- Always Live Your Life with Compassion
- Express Gratitude in Everything
- Practice Meditation
- Connect with others and cultivate those connections
- Take Care of Your Well-being
1. Always Live Your Life with Compassion.
Did you know that compassion is one of the essential traits in Buddhism? Compassion is an excellent indication of a highly realized individual. Compassion is recognizing the goodness in every individual and pursuing to explore that basic goodness.
This view helps you from experiencing the mental torment you experience, as you do not understand other people’s actions.
The motives for exercising compassion are manifold and great. Pursue to live in a way you treat everybody as you’d treat yourself. After you start trying to do that, you will understand the power of living life with compassion and to be happy.
2. Express Gratitude in Everything.
Cultivate gratitude every time you wake up in the morning. Take a few moments to think about the things in your life that you could feel thankful for.
Feeling gratitude might include even those tough situations you are encountering, because they could help you learn and grow. Embracing them helps you to be happier.
3. Practice Meditation, to be happy.
Everyday meditation is very helpful because it improves your focus even if you do it, only ten or fifteen minutes a day.
Happiness is a state of mind, and you could cultivate that by learning how to be less caught up in the nonpositive emotions and thoughts. Remember that meditation is not just about clearing or emptying your mind or letting them pass you.
Nonpositive thoughts will only dwindle in your head. Meditation helps you to pick happiness. It is a wonderful idea if you can attend a class to understand the various methods of meditation.
4. Connect with others and cultivate those connections.
In Buddhism, there’s what they call a “sangha.” It is a community of nuns, monks, laymen, and women exercising peace together towards the unified “goal” of recognizing greater awakening.
We are used to gathering in groups all the time, like for business meetings. These are more meant to build monetary riches or to get great power. The sangha principle could be expressed in our life in different ways. It is a beautiful means you can view your life through the lens of the totality’s various “expressions”. This is how you can be happy.
5. Take Care of Your Well-being.
Eating nutritious, healthy food, and adding regular exercise amounts to your daily regimen. It is vital for your physical well-being.
It helps with enhancing a sense of well-being, allowing you to feel positive and calm. Healthy food helps your body’s chemistry positively, which makes you feel happy for a longer period of time.
You just read about Buddhism wisdom on how to be happy. See this great video on Ted Talks from Matthieu Ricard about Happiness and Meditation and be inspired by his great speech.
The question is, are you ready to practice them?
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