Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Thoughts on "Happiness."..............................

Thoughts on "Happiness."..........................


"Throw away "Escapism" from your life and replace it with"Empowerment".

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita that this world is a place of misery where everything is temporary and where no lasting happines could be found. The world is a realm of experience where birth,unhappiness, misery,decay, old age and death are inescapable for all. It is a universal observation that each one of us are engaged in some kind of of activity or the other which is intented either to increase our quantum of happiness or to reduce our suffering or misery. The Vedas declare that our very essence is bliss. The moment we try to increase it from external sources, our miseries begin.

How then can we find happiness?

Vedanta tells us that Love towards all and unadulterated and single-pointed devotion direct the individuals to look within rather than look outward. The Upanishads and all the treatises on devotion ask the devotee to rest in bliss which is causeless as opposed to artificial pleasure dependent on a specific source.

Lord Krishna advised Arjuna to remain a warrior outside, but a sanyasi within to move in the world, always ready to act appropriately. There is nothing wrong on our part in our observing external events and happenings and their implications with total internal detachment. Temporary worldly joys and happiness are to be viewed as a distraction from the quest for true eternal bliss which lies within. In fact a true spiritual seeker would welcome each affliction and sorrow as a sort of springboard for a leap into the spiritual world within. It is believed that Saint Kabirdasji used to pray to Lord Rama to always give him miseries so that the latter could always think of the Lord.

Another thought yet comes.................. Have any one of us ever prayed to God for distress? Did we at any time act consciously in search of sorrow or suffering? Yet, did not grief and anguish come to us totally uninvited? Worldly joys, pleasures and happiness come to us as a result of our Prarabdha or manifest karma by the grace of God. " Both happiness and misery come to us by Divine arrangement" , in the words of Bhaktha Prahlada, in the Bhagavata Purana. Lord Krishna describes as how a sage of steady wisdom behaves in such circumstances, "As the ocean already flooded continues to welcome rivers that enter it, the sage of steady wisdom resting in divine bliss, welcomes all worldly pleasure that come to him by Divine arrangement. Yet, when the rivers run dry, the ocean remains ever full with water, never missing them. Similarly, the sage of steady wisdom even in the severest deprivation, remains ever blissful, never
craving,seeking or even mindful of the absent sensual pleasures. "Happiness" is the very essence of our life. And......................................................................

"Always be the reason for some ones happiness,never be just a part of it. Always be a part of some one's sadness, But never be the reason for it."...................................................................

And here is article with tips on Happiness and hope it will be of some use tomy beloved readers.........................................


Smile and count your blessings – it'll make you happier.


Experiment shows smiling and reliving happy memories are effective ways to boost mood.

Smile:....................................

Using positive recent memories can help cheer you up, research has found.

A public experiment designed to lift the nation's spirits has reported its hopeful conclusions – that smiling, counting your blessings and reliving happy memories will make you happier.

The Science of Happiness study said thinking of a positive thing that happened the day before was by far the most effective way for people to cheer themselves up.

It could be something as simple as a great cup of coffee or meal, watching a good film or television programme, or things going well at work.

But – depressingly – one strategy predicted to boost mood was found to be counterproductive, because performing small acts of kindness turned out to have a negative impact on happiness.

Richard Wiseman, the Hertfordshire University professor who designed the research, said:

"All of the techniques, including the control, resulted in a reported rise in happiness.

"However, thinking about one positive thing that had happened the day before appears to have been by far the most effective technique. This quick and simple procedure provided an additional 15% boost in happiness.

"We often don't relive positive events from the previous day, so when we do they are still vivid in our minds."


The psychologist said he was amazed by the number of people who took part in the on line study – 26,000 participated – and "very happy" with the results.

Wiseman asked volunteers to complete aon linene happiness survey, after which they were randomly assigned into one of five groups.

They were then shown one of four videos describing a common mood-enhancing technique and asked to report back in a week.

One urged them to smile as they went about their daily routine, and another suggested they performed random acts of kindness.

The other two videos encouraged them to express gratitude about something good in their life or focus on something that had gone well in the last 24 hours.

Because people "catch" the emotions of those around them, researchers hoped the increased happiness of their volunteers might help cheer up the nation.

To test that theory, they commissioned a survey on the weekends before and after the study asking a representative sample of around 2,000 people to rate how cheerful they felt.

The results revealed a 7% increase in cheerfulness after the experiment.

"Obviously it is impossible to say if this rise is due to the study," Wiseman said. "After all it might be caused by many different factors, including world events or changes in the weather.

"However, we like to think that we played some role in helping put a smile on the nation's face."

With Love & regards.

J.K

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