How to Find Real Happiness: (Part 2)

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Life in the contemporary society is a struggle which is aimed to gain monetary rewards, comfort and luxury. However, there is a little value in the material things when it is compared to the mental happiness.

Can wealth give happiness? Look around and see
What gay distress! What a splendid misery!
What fortune lavishly can pour?
The mind annihilates, and calls for more! (Dhammananda, 1989, p. 149).

The mind is the eventual source of both happiness and misery. As the individual is the basic component of the society, the mind of the individual must be at peace at first to be happiness in the world. It should be mentioned that ‘no one is happy unless he is contented with him-self’ (Dhammananda, 1989, p. 140). Therefore, we should understand that happiness comes from within.

“Happiness is a perfume. You cannot pour on others 
Without getting a few drops on yourself”
-Anonymous-

Unless and until you adjust yourself to the universal virtuous principles you cannot expect the peace in the world and you cannot make yourself happy. If you want to live happily, then you should allow others to live peacefully and happily.

“If we want to find happiness, let us stop thinking about gratitude or ingratitude and give for the inner joy of giving. Ingratitude is natural, like weeds. Gratitude is like a rose. It has to be fed, watered, cultivated, loved and protected’
Dale Carnegie-

There was a monk who was interested in preaching ‘heaven and hell.’ One person was getting tired of this repetition and asked from the monk: I will call you a liar if you do not answer my question. Where is this heaven and hell? The monk kept silent. That silent made the man angrier. He shouted by saying that he will beet he monk unless he answer the question. The monk replied: the hell is around your anger now.’ The man realized the hidden truth behind this answer. He began to laugh. He again asked from the monk: ‘where is the heaven then? The monk replied by saying that the heaven is also around you, with your laughter.’ You have the capacity to create your own heaven right here on the earth. It is impossible for you to gain happiness and the peace of your mind by simply praying. You have to work to gain such blessings.

“If you want to see the most contented and happy man in this world, look at the prince in the beggar’s clothing.”
-Anonymous-

Life is naturally unsatisfactory because it is impermanent. One of the influential French philosophers: Henri Bergson says, ‘To exist is to change; to change is to mature; to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” Therefore, the people who seek guidance should not base their expectation of happiness on the life whose elements are in a flux. If you get rid of your desires, then only you will be free from your unhappiness because displeased desire is the main cause of unhappiness.

Wealth, fame, social status, popularity are some of the temporary sources of happiness. But the actual source of happiness is the mind which is controlled and refined. We all have the capacity to cultivate the inner peace and the mental tranquility via the purification of the mind.


“People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be”

-Abraham Lincoln-

Bibliography

Dhammananda, K. S. (1989). How to Live Without Fear and Worry. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Buddhist Missionary Society.
Newman, b. (1992). The Power of a Successful Life. BNC Publications.



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