Post # 123
Practising happiness :-)
This morning I woke up and lay on my bed, trying to organize the random thoughts flowing in my mind. When I did get a grip on them, they seemed to crystallize into a set of realizations.
Before I list them down, a few definitions:
Success = My outer world is the way I want it to be.
Happiness = My inner world is the way I want it to be.
And now, my realizations...
1. The ultimate goal of human life is to be happy.
2. The biggest lie the world told me, which I swallowed like a fool, is that success leads to happiness. Haven't I seen enough unhappy, successful people in my life?
3. On the contrary, happiness probably leads to success. Even if it doesn't, the objective is met anyway.
4. Being happy has got nothing to do with my surroundings - people, things, circumstances etc. Happiness is a state of my mind.
5. Making happiness a state of my mind needs practice. Like that damn alphabet A, which was hard to learn when I was a kid, but I can now write in my sleep, with practice, I can make happiness a permanent state of my mind.
6. I think the easiest way to practice happiness is to practice gratitude. When I am grateful for what I already have, I make way for more of happiness to come into my life. Its magic.
7. One of my big questions in life was/is - Does Life happen to me, or Do I make life happen? I think the answer is - Life is finding a balance between the two.
8. There will be moments in life where I just have to accept Life as it unfolds. There is nothing I can do about it. And there is no shame in surrendering to life. In fact, it is quite liberating to do that.
9. There will be other moments, when I have to grab life by its horns and make things happen. I have to hustle.
10. Finding the balance between the two is discovering the flow of life. That needs patience, humility, discipline, commitment and practice.
11. When a human being discovers the flow of life, he can make a 'dent in the universe' or 'bend reality' and create some magic.
12. I want to create some magic!
