Be Happy – Be Energetic

You must jump into the storm, do not stand on the sidelines, Are you too scared to do anything about the ugliness around you? You are not a brave person. If you are not brave to fight, you will be crushed one day without any prior notice to you. Majority of us like to play it safe. They go to their safe jobs, come home timely to safeguard their relationships, they drive cars safely, they invest money in safe deposits, they think safe thoughts, and they want nothing more than to feel safe and secured. Survival of the fittest dictates that these people live another day and therefore get to breed and would make up the majority of the population. We could say that they play it smart.

But there is another kind, too. This other group lives for thrills. They don’t just occasionally think outside their conventional box, they actually prefer to live outside the box. This is a group who thrives on adventure, change, and newness. They love innovative new ideas, they like to explore new things, and push the envelope beyond its capabilities. They are the visionaries who perceive something beyond where we stand today.

This group often does not feel understood nor supported by the mainstream population. They are not rebels, although they are often accused of being rebellious because they do not embrace the status quo. This group is not anti-anything. They do not define themselves by not being a member of someone else’s group. They do not require group consensus to be who they are. Young adults often think that by dressing badly or by misbehaving that they are somehow brave and different from whatever it is that they are opposing, but that is not revolutionary and different, that is just anger turned inside out. Most of the time they are not making a point, they are not changing the world they are simply behaving in a manner that causes people to shun them. That is not the group I am talking about today. This group is made up of people like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and countless others who do not strive to be different not to go against the mainstream beliefs. They simply are different, they think different, they live different, and they make passionate choices to contribute something meaningful to humanity despite the fact that others oppose them. All of these people stand tall despite the chaos and anger of those surrounding them. “Why can’t you just leave well enough alone? Why do you always have to push people too far? Why can’t you just get along?”

Those who would keep things safe and comfortable become frightened and angry at these innovative new thinkers. They torment them, threaten them, mistreat them, ostracize them, and create a storm of ugliness to try and stop these people from simply sharing the gifts of their hearts that they were born to share with humanity. Years later, often after they have long been dead, future generations can look back in hindsight and see their bravery as admirable. But in the moment, these people are historically treated terribly. These people are typically men and women of peace who do not go out with an angry rebellious need to stir up trouble. They fight for higher ideals because in their heart of hearts they truly believer that things could be better of mankind. They hold a vision of better things to come and they follow that vision wherever it takes them. Today there are millions of people who would change the world with their beautiful open-minded hearts and their incredibly brilliant minds, especially the upcoming teenagers and young adults in their early twenties. They feel that there is no point in even trying because the current political and cultural environment is so against them. I would be lying if I claimed that what you see as extreme hostility towards change was not at a peak right now. You are right. They do not want to change again, but you are right, it is time for another change and you are the ones to help bring it. Do not be afraid of the backlash. Stand tall and do what you know in your heart is right and just for all, not just what benefits a chosen few. You know that ignorance can no longer rule the people. You know that blind obedience is no longer a viable option.

To you I say, meet me in the eye of the storm and together we will steer this mess in another direction. Jump into the storm. Do not stand on the sidelines too lazy and scared to do anything about all of the ugliness going on around you. Jump into the storm. Swim and fight your way to the centre of the vortex. There, we will sit together in the quiet and find the solutions. Until we embrace the eye of the storm and really see what is at the root of humanity’s hatred of each other, we will never find a long-term solution that created real peace and equality for everyone. We need to heal our planet, our bodies, and the spiritual hearts of our species. Since we are not going to be here much longer, should we as well fry it on our way out. How come carry you off to heaven, therefore you do not have to care for the people and planet that are going to be left in the wake of your final choices. Who is to say that is not the ultimate test of who stays and who gets to ascend to a better place? If you had to pick an choose who were truly worthy of burning in hell or going to heaven, would you pick the folks who were killing and raging war in the name of God or would you pick the people who were crying out for love, equality, and to save the planet?

I stand here in the eye of the storm, turmoil and war all around me, my heart quiet and strong. The vision is very clear here. I will do my part to save the planet for the sake of those left behind. It is not for me to say who should or should not prevail. Someone will be left standing here on this planet, with this atmosphere, with this water with this soil. For them, I say let’s create a plan so that they have the best possible chance of rebuilding a new world. For love of this place with its beaches, mountains, and forests that I love so much, I will hold the love of Mother Nature in my heart. You know, if the savoir comes to haul all the good guys off to a better place, I think I will volunteer to stay behind to help make this bettered planet a place of beauty once more. When you are done with your religious wars and your ascensions into heaven, give the planet back to those of us who care for her and please do not come back. Embrace the eye of the storm, for the vision is very clear here.

One thing I may like to make clear that I believe most of the religions do not teach us to hate the followers of other religions. Religions must be termed as code of living. God has built up this beautiful Universe for equal enjoyment to all the species – He has not provided any superior blood, brain and flesh to any particular group of people. If someone thinks so, he is thinking in a wrong way. Therefore, instead of getting indulged in worthless fights, we must be energetic to enjoy the life fully without any hate, jealousy to any other one.

Be Happy – Be Energetic.

Be Happy – Satisfaction Is More Important

We are more disappointed when we feel that we are not satisfied with something happening, not according to our wishes. It means that we would never be happy if we do not find anything as per our wishes. For happiness, the least happiness, we must have some outlines within which we need to locate our satisfaction. If we do not do, our needs may exceed our capabilities and we can not be happy. We need to draw a line or a limit where we can be satisfied, where we can be happy. A little compromise is essential to achieve our happiness. We often forget to celebrate the things that are most important because they are so much with us.

If you are really serious about your happiness, you may have many more reasons to be satisfied than you might think. You need to locate out your points for satisfaction, happiness and peace of your mind. For example, you are alive, which is probably pretty basic, but all too often we don’t realize that it is the most basic things that bring us the greatest happiness.

We often forget to celebrate the things that are most important because they are so much with us. One of the few really wise people I have ever met once asked with great puzzlement, “Why isn’t everyone dancing with the sheer joy of being alive?” Everything we do celebrate is a celebration of life, whether it is a birth, a wedding, or an anniversary. We all celebrate religious festivals as touching to some aspect of life as represented by the attributes of the deity, or the passage of some event of our lives. What we need to do is remind ourselves to consecrate every day, take time out at least once a day to quietly experience being alive. And the simplest way to that is to just pay attention to our breathing, which is another wonderful reason to be happy.

Breathing is the key to life and almost every spiritual discipline starts and ends with this, as does life itself. Every moment we are meditating. With every breath we are partaking of all the mysteries of the universe. Just, pay a few minutes attention to a gentle indrawn breath. Within that action is the key to sustaining our life. How does that happen? Whenever I think I need a miracle just to keep going, I stop and pay attention to one or two breaths. Each breath feeds the fire of the heart. Some of us may not be able to eat gourmet food three times a day, but some other are blessed with sufficient food. We must be happy that we do have some food to survive.

Think about those who do not have. We are blessed with all the memories of discovering new wonderful tastes every time we eat them again, and the love that we imbibe with food made by those who care enough about life to prepare good food, a spouse or a friend. I believe that food made by people who love to feed people has special nutritional properties.

If you think that nobody cares enough about you to prepare delicious food, let me invite you to go and get a banana, and pay attention to it. What a marvel of packaging, flavor and nutrition. I am not implying that particular banana was grown just for you as an act of love, or may be I am. It grew, it made its way to you and it will sustain you. Now I can hear you arguing that it was provided by a chain of commerce. What if that chain was forged to that banana to you with out any of the links being aware of the chain’s purpose? Might be, and even if it isn’t, the banana is still pretty amazing in its color, utility, taste and ability to keep us alive. I once knew a man who only ate bananas, all different kinds and he was very healthy. And think about bread. I know that it is not much more than grain and salt and water but think about what that means. Bread, naan, chapatti, tortilla, pain, hobz, brot, or whatever you call it provides us with the elements of the earth. The process of growing, threshing and milling the grain transforms the earth into a form that we can use.

Almost every spiritual tradition uses the fruit of the earth to impart spiritual nourishment along with the calories, whether as communion, Prasad at some temple, dates at Iftar or Karah Prasad at some Gurudwara. I would invite you everyday to take a few minutes to pay attention to the joy that is food. Find something simple to eat, maybe a piece of fruit and take time to eat it with focus, eat it slowly, pay attention to the color and texture than the smell, and the smell, and the taste. If you do not do anything like watching television, listening music or reading something when you are taking meals, you would be happy to experience the transformation of one form of life to another. It may give you internal satisfaction of taking foods in to meet your basic requirements. You would surely be happy to think that you are getting meals peacefully.

All of us have enough to drink and hope that everybody enjoys at least one drink a day as much as I enjoy the first cup of tea. Throughout the day we en joy a wide variety of things to choose from: tea, coffee, juice and a whole lot more. But how often do we appreciate the miracle that is the liquid we drink? We are 70% water. Without a steady supply of water we would only live a few days. Having access to water is really reason to be happy, throughout the day. You may sit in a comfortable chair with a large glass of water and take a small sip of water. Notice something about the water as you swallow. Feel it with you, feel the water’s presence. Take more small sips, noticing different about the water each time until you drink one third of the water. Now take more small sips, this time noticing something about yourself each time. Keep sipping and noticing until two thirds of the water is gone. Now spend time with the remaining third of the water, notice its relationship with the glass, its relationship to you and your relationship to other things in the room.

So, there are a number of really elemental reasons to be happy. Celebrate them everyday. Is this simple? Yes, but that doesn’t mean easy. We are all too often caught up in the drama of the day, our pain, and the effort of work, the demands of family and friends to be full of joy. Yet, we each have a few minutes to celebrate the fire, earth and water and remind our selves to dance.

But there are more than elemental reasons to be happy. You’re reading these lines, which means you know English and most likely at least one other language if your mother tongue is different. Every language is the key to wisdom that only that key can open. Whole worlds are yours to explore, and you also have the keys to the Marx brothers and humor in Language like Mandarin Chinese, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, German, Bengali, French, Japanese, French or whatever language you might know. Laughing can cure more things than you think. Norman Cousins recounts in Anatomy of an illness how be cured himself by laughing after doctors gave up on him. So, everyday find something that you can laugh about or look for the local chapter of Laughter Club International. You can laugh only when you are satisfied with your life. You can be happy if you know the points of your satisfaction. If you define it sooner, you would be better.

Be Happy – Satisfaction is more important for your life and for your happiness.

Be Happy – Work for Success Only

What do you feel after your success achieved? Quite happy! How do you measure your success? It can be done externally and internally. Externally it is the measure of a job well done and recognition. Internally, it is a feeling of achievement and wholeness derived from the completion of a task or the fulfillment of a desire. Is a true measure of success the outer accolades or the inner joy and peace that is experienced when we know we have performed well?

Our goals are based on our desires and aspirations. When we fulfil a desire or achieve a goal we feel incomplete and begin to strive again. Occasionally, when we reach a goal, we feel a void in our lives and do not know that to do next.

Success can also be measured by the feeling of comfort we have with ourselves. This happens when we live according to our intrinsic nature. If we attain what we want and still find something lacking then we know that either our desire was not desirable or the means adopted were not in accordance with Nature.

Modern management philosophy says that if a person is satisfied there is lack of motivation and this works against the interest of the corporation. This is a negative approach. When people are positively satisfied, they want to share their feelings with others… Their motivational levels get higher. They want to work more and also efficiently.

True success is that which gives happiness to self and others. Success should include and embrace all aspects of life. Someone may be great at work but utter failures in the family arena. Other one may be good in the family but are of no use to society. We must be whole individuals, just as God intended us to be. Take the case of a mango seed that grows to be a tree giving the world its sweet fruit. The seed does precisely nothing, but by remaining true to its nature finds fulfillment and completeness.

After returning from Lanka Rama was asked how he won the battle. Rather than taking the entire credit he acknowledged the contribution of all those who had helped him. Another example of giving credit to the great and true leader is when Hanuman returned from Lanka after locating Sita, he did not go directly to Rama to give him the news. He collected all the other monkeys and included them in the successful completion of their mission.

Why do people want success? It is associated with perfection wholeness and joy. It is an expression of our Higher Self which is Supreme and perfect. We have this thirst for success because we are that Supreme alone. We want to be great because we are intrinsically great! It is a natural desire fulfilling its natural goal. If we understand this in all its connotations then our success will not be dependent on anyone’s failure, nor will it be gained by pulling others down. Our joy will emanate from a deep sense of contentment and completeness. We must work for success only. If we have a little doubt about our competence, we must first sharpen our caliber before taking up the work. Once we are able to gain our confidence fully, we can work for success only.

Be Happy – Work for Success Only.

Be Happy – Small Breaks in Routine Working Can rejuvenate You

Once a Saint mentioned that he was taking retirement. The followers were surprised to hear about his wishes and asked why he was willing to do so as they knew that a Saint does not have any retirement age like an employee. A cricketer announces his retirement as a CEO of a corporation. But a saint? He was packing his belongings at the cottage, as he was “retiring”, as he put it. “Does a saint ever retire?,” his followers asked. Laughing, he said, “A saint never retires but he must get out of the way of young, energetic saints! For the body is no longer agile – but he continues to be of help to society, maybe even more sincerely.”

An older saint has a lifetime of experience and faith, has witnessed many sorrows and miracles. Can a saint be a burden to society due to his age or sickness? His prayers, goodwill and the spiritual wealth acquired are for everyone, for the entire world. A senior saint is not exhausted by age or by work as other worldly people are; rather he is a treasure trove of spiritual insight.

“We leave our home, our family, only to acquire a bigger family. You have a small home to perform your duties while we owe to the entire world. All women, of any age, are like mothers and sisters for us. You shed tears when you see the pain of your loved ones who are few in number but we feel and care for all. No one is excluded. You celebrate mother’s Day or Father’s Day once a year but for us all days are mother’s Day and all days are Father’s Day” said the Saint.

To be a saint does not mean to be insensitive to the world. he explains: “We , too, are emotional when it comes to relationships. I will have to leave my possessions when I shift permanently somewhere else. The very thought is wrenching my heart because the earthly possessions have no intellect to detach . But what about human beings who are attached to their loved ones?

This attachment could prove detrimental. In this very birth learn to love all and not get attached to a few. We feel so much love for humanity that we can feel your pain as deeply as you do. We don’t have any grudges towards or expectations from anyone.

“After a lifetime on the spiritual path I can say that the path to living is: Never expect but accept. Accept whatever comes your way. You have come here to win, no to lose. Why do you lose. Why do you lose your health, your peace of mind over trivial issues?

Win as many friends as possible, overcome life’s hurdles with your will power, win peoples’ hearts with kindness. The more peaceful and calm one is, the more you will be drawn to a life of spiritualism. There is no need to convert people to your ideas of God, to your ideas of faith.

God is not about shaking faiths; rather God is about reaffirming faith. To reach God one must love Him, love all Creation and then there will be no question of insisting which path one should follow. Let each follow the path that He likes. Utilise each moment in loving God and His devotees.

“You need neither starving nor overeating, neither sleeping too much nor too little, neither too much mirth nor seriousness. You need to preserve this body, the vehicle that will take you near God. With meditation, you acquire tranquility. The calm mind tends to focus one-pointedly when it follows the path Discharge you duties lovingly. During your routine life, you must make some breaks – it will help you to rejuvenate your capability for new assignments.

Be Happy - Small Breaks in Routine Working Can rejuvenate You

Be Happy – Give Up Your Selfishness

Like most of other people, I am interested in my progress, my job, my family, the little house in which I live, in getting a better position for myself, more prestige, more power and domination over others, and so on. What is your fundamental, lasting interest in life? Yourself? That is what most of you would think to say if you do it truthfully.

Ethically, some of us would say that it is wrong to be primarily interested in ourselves. But what is wrong about it except that we seldom decently, honestly, admit it? If we do, we are rather ashamed of it. So there it is – one is fundamentally interested in oneself, and for various ideological or traditional reasons one thinks it is wrong.

You may say that it is more satisfactory to help another than to think about yourself. What is the difference? It is still self-concern. If it gives you greater satisfaction to help others, you are concerned with what will give you greater satisfaction. Why bring any ideological concept into it? Why this double thinking? Why not say? ‘What I really want is satisfaction, whether in enjoyment, or in helping others, or in becoming a great saint, scientist, or politician?’

It is the same process, isn’t it? Satisfaction, in all sorts of ways, subtle and obvious, is what we want. When we say we want freedom, we want it because we think it may be wonderfully satisfying, and the ultimate satisfaction, of course, is this peculiar idea of self-realization. What we are really seeking is a satisfaction in which there is no dissatisfaction at all.

Most of us crave the satisfaction of having a position in society because we are afraid of being nobody. Society is so constructed that a citizen who has a position of respect is treated with great courtesy, whereas a man who has no position is kicked around… This craving for position, for prestige, for power, to be recognised by society as being outstanding in some way, is a wish to dominate others, and this wish to dominate is a form of aggression. The saint who seeks a position in regard to his saintliness is as aggressive as the chicken pecking in the farmyard. And what is the cause of this aggressiveness? It is fear, isn’t it? Fear is one of the greatest problems in life. A mind that is caught in fear lives in confusion, in conflict, and therefore can be violent, distorted, and aggressive.

Living in such a corrupt, stupid society as we do, with the competitive education we receive, which engenders fear, we all are burdened with fears of some kind, and fear is a dreadful thing that warps, twists, and dulls our days…We are all afraid of something; there is no fear in abstraction, it is always in relation to something. Do you know your own fears – fear of losing your job, of not having enough food or money, or what your neighbors or the public think about you, or of not being a success, of losing your position in society of being despised or ridiculed…? And what do you usually do about them? You run away from them. Don’t you, or invent ideas and images to cover them? But to run away from fear is only to increase it.

One of the major causes of fear is that we do not want to face ourselves as we are. So, as well as the fears themselves, we have to examine the network of escapes we have developed to rid ourselves of them. If the mind, in which is included the brain, tries to overcome fear, to suppress it, discipline it, control it, translate it into terms of something else, there is friction, there is conflict, and that conflict is a waste of energy. We must therefore give up our selfishness to get rid of our fear of losing our domination etc.

Be Happy – Give Up Your Selfishness.

Be Happy - Exercise restraint

We know that necessity is the mother of all the inventions. As the human being grew up from the early stages of his evolution, he started to invent new and newer things to sail through his life more smoothly. Amongst those early inventions, the invention of wheel was path-breaking one. In early life, wheel was used for mobility. Even today, wheel is playing the same job. But this might not have been as useful but for the invention of brakes and gears that help us control movement. The wheel made locomotion credible but brakes regulated this motion.

The defining quality of any system is probably based on the degree of control one can exercise on it. In karate, up to the black belt stage, the discipline and conduct is for strengthening the body and speeding up reflexes. Thereafter, all subsequent degrees are attained by perfecting self-control and restraint.

In evolution, life forms have been empowered incrementally as they progress through stages. Human beings have the power of control, of temperance and restraint, and the ability to think beyond the self. Physiologically, higher centers in the brain have been given the responsibility of inhibition to maintain restrictive control on lower centers of the brain and spine. In spinal injuries, when the lower motor neutrons are disconnected from the higher centers and they fire without control, it leads to reflex movements of the limbs, spasm of the muscles and so on. Though movement occurs, it is involuntary, uncontrolled and purposeless.

The ability to rise above reflex behavior seems to be the summit of the evolutionary pyramid. Olympian Carl Lewis once explained the reason for his spectacular achievement: “I have mastered the art of self-denial”. Behavior that rises above the primitive reflexes forms the essence of culture and sophistication. All religions have a set of behavioral restrictions like fasting, celibacy and observing silence. These restrictions help the individual increase his will power, temperance, self-control and discipline.

Some religions talk about renunciation. But renunciation eliminates choice. So it is probably indulgence in abstinence. The swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction charged with the potential energy to swing back to indulgence. It may also reflect a subconscious fear of lack of self-control. Like the instance of the guru, who was invited for a meal by his disciple? Whilst the other devotees were served on plantain leaves, the guru was served on silverware as a mark of reverence. The guru however was offended and walked off as he was already in process of renunciation. He may as well have eaten in the silverware. If he was no longer in any mundane bondage, there ought to have been no distinction between silver and leaves.

In reproductive behavior, too, human beings have the freedom to choose. Any control is self-imposed. This self-control is the evolutionary upgrade. It is as if the remote control which operates all other animals has been substituted by a sharp discriminatory ability which bestows free will. In other words, we can use our intellect of discrimination. Free will reflects the ability to restrain rather than indulge. If indulgence was the purpose, all actions would have been reflexive, with scarce regard to volition.

Exercising restraint requires a higher form of intelligence. Indulgence required neither skill nor intellect. And renunciation relied more on extremism.

Obesity, alcoholism, hypertension and diabetes, when they are lifestyle-related, point to the diminishing self-regulatory process. Affluence has given man the opportunity to indulge like never before. Austerity is facing extinction. Patience and contentment are no longer virtues but are relegated to mere words. All catastrophes like global warming, nuclear threat and poverty are merely a reflection of our ever-increasing inclination for indulgence.

Be Happy – We must exercise self restraint to eliminate the demerits of our society as soon as possible.

Be Happy – Adventure in Your Life Can Make You Happy

If we keep some water stored somewhere for sometime, the stagnancy in its movement can reduce its utility. Why do we designate the water of flowing river superior to the water stored in a pond? The continuous flow makes the water fresh. Similarly, we need to have some changes from time to time. In wake of such changes, we sort out which change gives us more security. We need to balance both security and insecurity. I have seen people who always look for risk. They believe higher risk brings back higher gains. They are found usually uncomfortable with secured business. For better results, you may agree that the spirit of adventure should be included in your life. Truth has to be searched for. In a search nothing is guaranteed. The only thing that is guaranteed is a beautiful adventure that helps you learn the art of both accepting and rejecting. Then, you would be able to filter many things in life.

However, over-indulgence in adventures is not recommended. If you are getting burnt out, then something in you asks you to slow down. You must concentrate to know what you are and what you are meant for. While performing your duties you have undertaken, you must filter what is not essential and what is required essentially.

There is a god in us who speaks, but our mind is noisy and we cannot hear the divine speaking. When you are inwardly silent and addictive thoughts are absent, the silence and the meditative energies that emerge will heal you. Meditation does not mean that you are sitting idle and trying to concentrate through any medium. Your simple walking can be your meditation, sitting is meditation, and drinking tea is meditation if at that time, no other irrelevant thoughts are attracting you.

Most often, the burnt-out feeling is from your thoughts, which signal that you are burnt out. Bring a meditative quality in your thoughts. Watch out not to use words which are self-defeating. Bring in the quality of joy in whatever you do. Allow your actions to flow from the ‘higher self.’ The ‘higher self’ guides you when to slow down.

Learn the art of relaxation. After a long run, sit under a tree, feel the miracle of your body, the dance of your body, the dance of your breath, the music of your heart beat, the gentle kiss of the breeze… the quintessence is in being relaxed, being at ease with oneself. Whatever you do, let your center be calm, silent and relaxed. Act from this energy field. Let action emerge from silence. The nature of your ‘higher self’ is silence, peace… while that of the ‘lower self’ is restlessness and ambition.

Flower gives fragrance unconditionally, so let us also operate from unconditional love. All great masters inspire us to live in abundance but not in scarcity. Be total and not fragmented. Live to the maximum and not the minimum. Let your ‘presence’ reach others and shower them with fullness.

Real growth happens when you trust and operate from the ‘higher self’. This ‘higher self’ is a flow, a learning being that enjoys the given moment in totality. Unfortunately, we trust our ‘lower self’ that is authoritative, rigid, and non-supportive. It is a victim of likes and dislikes. Growth happens when you negate the ‘lower self’ and are centered in the ‘higher self’. Your ‘higher self’ is an evolving being through which you come in touch which you come in touch with a mystic flower in you.

A courageous person explores the unknown with or without fear or in spite of fear, whereas a non-courageous person is stopped by fear. Respect what you know and have courage to explore the unknown. The courage of a spiritual seeker is different from the courage of a soldier. The spiritual seeker drops his mind and explores the heart… it is a flight from the head to the heart… has courage to accept even death as he knows the art of living involves the art of dying. By accepting death, he has accepted life in totality.

To accept both life and death gracefully requires courage. Failure is a shadow of the ego. With this understanding, life becomes magical. The hidden secrets of life flow in us. One cannot succeed against the whole. One’s success is the success of the whole. In fact, one becomes the whole. Such feelings can be brought about in your life once you forget about your own interests and think about the humanity as a whole so that you work more for the welfare of the society than for yourself. It is the adventure in true sense.

Be Happy – Adventure in Your Life Can Make You Happy

Be Happy – Identify The Energies Within You

Are you aware? You have got peace, violence, delusion, misunderstanding and compassion deeply seated within your heart and these elements may grow in their dimensions depending how you touch them in your life everyday. If you seriously identify the causes of their growth, you can neutralize and transform violence and anger to love. Choose the right environment and water positive thoughts everyday. Once you recognize the right energies you will find easy how to take care of them.

In your routine life, you may meet some people who plead that their thoughts are correct. Even they may like to prevail upon you. It may be possible that you can become fanatical and create a lot of suffering, if you follow them without considering whether their statements are correct or not. If you exercise your own wisdom in right perspective, you may be able to choose what is wrong or right for you.

Looking at the nature of things, you can come closer to the truth. To climb to the sixth step, naturally you have to abandon the fifth and this can be done with non-attachment. If I say you to feel the presence of the Moon up above in the sky, I am just use the finger pointing to the Moon. If you think my finger is the Moon, you are misled. A scientist needs to be non-attached as well because only if he is not attached to one truth, he can’t find another. Truth is not contained in concepts and ideologies; truth can only be found in life. Holy scriptures are only the residues… When you strike a match and the flame is created, the flame consumes the match. The raft is not the shore; it is only an instrument to reach the shore. Your own exploration is the raft.

Don’t we have to stay attached to the dictated values?

Detach yourself from others’ views; don’t get carried away by them. Compassion is not a view. It makes you feel good; it helps you connect with other people peacefully. You have to be understanding and care deeply. Understanding is a value. Values are always there.

How to live in harmony with nature?

When we live mindfully, we are aware of what is going on in and around us. With thoughtful breathing, you can bring your mind to the here and now. You are made of elements found in nature. You are made of five elements available in everything in the universe and that is in you.

With mindfulness, you can see the cloud nearby you. No cloud, no rain. No rain, no trees, no existence! So, too, when I touch myself I touch energy or you can say it is sunshine for no trees can grow without sunshine. When you know that you have the cosmos in you, you may like to ensure better utilization thereof and you will be in harmony with nature.

How to deal with despair?

We people are deeply concerned with Global warming. Today it is a big challenge. Many of us feel despair… so that even before the tragedy manifests, we are dead! Everything is impermanent. Keep hope alive. Don’t lose courage. Our civilization may come to an end – whether sooner or later depends on us as to how we are harnessing the resources of the nature. The earth will go on, as it has recovered from meteorite hits and other sufferings in the past. New civilizations might evolve after millions of years. Similarly, our desperation may go away if we take it that it is created by us and we are responsible for their existence. We must try to eliminate it from the root itself.

Sometimes why do you turn violent?

Even in company with a Saint, you need good teaching and practice. A saint can act like others if he has not enough compassion in him. If you are a real practitioner, you know that violence. Many terrorists are born in good families; they have a good education. They might be victims of wrong perceptions created by lack of communication. Terrorism is rooted in misconceptions; through dialogue, deep listening and understanding, we can remove hate, anger and misconceptions.

Wrong conception about Ahimsa!

Human beings are supposed to live and let others live. Ahimsa or non-violence does not mean non-slaughtering of animals or blood-shedding. It means that by adopting Ahimsa or non-violence, you are not going to hurt any one in any terms. If you hurt anyone emotionally without any reason, you are exercising violence with him/her. Why so? Just imagine if you were there being victimized for no fault at your end, in place of the person you are scolding or hurting – what will you be thinking? You must immediately give up your violent action. May be your politeness be misunderstood for the time being but no, you will at least be sure that you are not committing any mistake by giving up undue violence. If someone deserves your violent treatment, you must think if your forgiveness can solve your purpose. Please think again.

Just you need to identify the right energies within you and crush all the evils, you will find the heaven nearby you at all the times.

Be Happy - Identify The Energies Within You

Be Happy – Your Grand Mother’s Stories are Your Wealth

Do you remember, in your childhood, you had been requesting your grand mother to narrate some stories when you were going to bed? Her stories were full of the experience and some time, had many good things to follow. For generation, this tradition is being followed except in those cases where our circumstances have compelled us to lead nuclear family system. Somewhere, the work of story telling has been taken up by the professional story writers to fill up the vacuum created by the lapse of joint family system. Though active in smaller towns and villages, and brought to city-dwellers as part of ‘cultural’ or ‘art’ events, this tradition finds it difficult to remain significant; it’s hard if not impossible for young people to continue the tradition and choose it as a viable means of livelihood, so necessary for survival.

Through such stories, the wisdom of the world’s cultures have been preserved and conveyed, helping explain our world and our place in it – enabling us to develop as individuals, create community, solve problems, discover meaning, and teach, nurture and inspire younger generations. In ancient Ireland, a master-poet, sat next to the king and was privileged, as none but the queen was, to wear six different colors in his clothes. He also held the respected position of judge and seer, and tutored the king in morality. In Turkey and Azerbajjan, the singing storytellers or troubadours were called ashiks, a word from the Arabic meaning ‘lover’, which describes someone who is a musician, poet and storyteller.

While some storytelling traditions have died out, others continue. However, with the role and position of the tellers, and their basic means of livelihood eroded, their numbers have drastically dwindled. The loss is ours. In the Mali, Guinea and the Gambia, the jalis or griots were and are the community’s historians, with skills to draw a village or people closer – one known way is by “giving them courage” through the short stories orally delivered.

Of recent the world over, people are recognizing the power of storytelling and story-sharing in different arenas of life, and actively working to revive it. And some of the indicators of this revival take surprising forms. In Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani, the Storyteller’s Bazaar, professional storytellers recited ballads and tales of war and love to traders and soldiers crowding its many tea-shops each evening. Today, the place is known by the same name, but is full of traffic, shops and noise, with no tellers in sight. Still, in this busy market, storytelling recordings in the form of tapes and compact discs sell briskly, helping listeners to remember the past and tellers to find new audiences.

In the Jemaa el-Fna Square in Marrakesh, you can still find a teller or a halaka who recounts ancient stories handed down from generation to generation. A friend tells me, “Our young Moroccans would rather get their stories from TV soaps than listen to storyteller – much less become one themselves.”

Only six years ago there used to be around 20 or more halakis in the square, and now he finds barely half a dozen – and they are all very old. UNESCO has worked to try to save the stories as part of world’s oral heritage, even recording some of them on the internet, so modern technology may yet come to the rescue of these wondrous tales.

There is a good difference between a story teller and our Grand Mother. Story teller is always a professional whereas the stories by Grand Mother always intend for the betterment of their grand children.

Be Happy - Your Grand Mother's Stories are Your Wealth.

Be Happy – We Can Live Longer

For particularly those people, who did not study medical sciences, it has been a great anxiety for long what causes us to age resulting in death of our body cells over the years, develop heart disease leading to plaque in the artery, or suffer from cancer causing cells to mutate and grow erratically. If we reduce the number of oxygen radicals, we improve the antioxidant status in our body to reduce the danger of many diseases and we can live longer since the common denominator in all these conditions is the antioxidant status – the level of chemical process that cholesterol level we can measure our antioxidant status and determine how vulnerable we are to diseases.

There is a rhythm in nature. Seasons come and go. In your own body also, there is a rhythm. Life has a particular rhythm. Similarly, your breath also goes in a pattern. Your emotions move in a particular rhythm, as well as your thoughts. All these rhythms arise from your being, which has its own rhythm. In this direction, Sudarshan kriya works a lot on the antioxidant status of individuals. Sudarshan Kriya is a well known rhythmic breathing technique, preceded by Ujjayi Pranayam or long and deep breaths with constriction at the base of throat and Bhastrika or fast and forceful breaths through the nose along with arm movements.

In Sudarshan Kriya, we get into the rhythm of our being and see how our being is permeating our emotions, our thoughts, our breath and our bodies. Soon, every cell of our body becomes alive and releases all the toxins and negative emotions it has stored from times past. Once again, we are able to smile from our hearts.

Our body is being constantly damaged and destroyed by oxygen radicals, similar to what dirt and rust do to our vehicles. Oxygen radicals are different from oxygen gas in that they are molecules that are highly charged and detrimental byproducts of cell reactions.

Our body has an antioxidant defense system that constantly searches and destroys these oxygen radicals, much like our immune system, which polices our body for foreign agents such as bacteria and viruses to eliminate them. If the antioxidant defense system of our body is weak, the number of oxygen radicals increases, causing our cells to die quickly. This results in inflammation and plaque with our heart vessels or prompts the cells to mutate into cancer cells. If we reduce the number of oxygen radicals, we improve the antioxidant status in our body, and we can live linger and lead a disease-free life.

It is important that we try to reduce the level of oxygen radicals and strengthen our defense system. We can increase our antioxidant levels through our diet. A healthy diet of vegetable and fruit increases our intake of important antioxidants such as Vitamins A, C, E, and beta carotene. Some initial studies have shown the benefit of higher antioxidants in our diet, but larger studies have not detected the benefit – so the jury is still out. Smoking, alcohol and chronic psycho-social problems like work and family pressures, can increase oxidative stress. This stress affects our complex molecules and genes. Yoga and meditation can relieve this stress.

Will Sudarshan Krisya have similar effect? In a research, it has been found that the Kriya practitioners had a better antioxidant status at the enzyme and the gene level. Also they had less DNA damage and cell aging. It is difficult to know if this change will lead to longer life span, decrease rates of cancer, or lessen heart disease, but we should practice some type of breathing technique once a day to reduce stress. We can undertake this kriya twice everyday. Though biochemical science and spirituality may seem miles apart, it is heartening to see ancient practices and modern science converging in man’s endeavour to live a richer and healthier life. It is expected that it can help us to live longer.

Be Happy - We Can Live Longer By Undertaking Sudarshan Kriya Under Some Expert's Supervision.

Be Happy – Know What You Are

It is everyone’s wish to be successful. But, have you ever thought success can be as easy as doing what you like? In other words, if you are doing what you like, there’s nothing that can stop you from achieving your goals, since work will then be a treat for you. All that is needed is to identify that aspiration which you cannot do away with. For example, a person who aspires to be a writer cannot do too well in a sales job! For convenience of comprehension, we can name it ‘career anchor’. Now what’s in it for the industry? Well, it could be an organization's best tool to retain their best talent. Letting your employees do what they like can helps them excel in their jobs and maintains their loyalty to the organization. Sure, it’s not an easy task. But enterprises would benefit tremendously by keeping an eye on the ‘career anchors’ of their employees, and aligning the same to the company goals. This, in turn, calls for establishing a symbiotic relationship between the employee and employer.

Know what you are?

Knowing an employee’s career anchor can be one your best retention tools. Do you know what’s it that you can’t do away with? A ‘career anchor’ has been defined as one’s occupational self-concept comprising self-perceived talents and abilities based on actual successes in a variety of work settings; self-perceived motives and needs based on opportunities for self-tests and self-diagnosis in real situations and on feedback from others; and self-perceived attitudes and values based on actual encounters between self and the norms and values of the employing organization and work setting.

This anchor could vary from managerial aspirations where people like to administer, to technical/ functional aspirations where people are more attentive towards the details of their craft, stability, autonomy/independence, and entrepreneurial/ creativity; among others. The most important thing to note here is that the anchor is a ‘stabilizing force’- the values motives and needs that an individual will not give up, if forced to make a choice.

However, there’s usually a mismatch between an individual’s career anchor and the kind of career path that an organization provides. And in the knowledge industry, where the employee is the greatest asset, no organization can achieve success without its employees achieving success. Therefore, the relationship between organizations and professional also needs to be looked at from an increasingly symbiotic perspective.

Career aspirations:

Interestingly, while entry level professionals mostly pursue careers that are in vogue, those in the 2-3 year experience category, more or less know what their career anchor is. Right from the early days, I wanted to create. And today, in the capacity of a software developer, I am learning, applying new skills and implementing new thoughts in action, everyday.

Building that psychological connect is never easy:

A good understanding of career anchors can strengthen the psychological contract between the employee and employer. But this is never an easy task. After all, how do you deal with entry-level professionals, who would join an industry not out of any specific career inclination, but because of other reasons like peer pressure, what’s in vogue etc. Again, many a time, career options that are in line with the employee’s career anchor might be limited. So once the career anchor has been identified and the employee assigned responsibilities in line with the same, after a period, the growth of the employee may become limited by the opportunities available in that area.

Take you time:

An organization may give people time to ‘settle down’. “instead of charting out a career path right at the entry level. We must wait for two years and then let them choose their careers. One of the main purposes of performance appraisals is to identify the strong areas of an employee. It has six growth paths, which are thrown open to employees once they have completed a certain period of time with the company.

After a fair bit of counseling, we must help employees choose the career they would like to be in. employees even have the liberty to opt out of a career path after spending a considerable amount of time, in case they feel they want to do more. But yes, their decision to opt out should be backed by genuine reasons.
Right from the first contact:

The process of identifying an employee’s career interests begins right at the stage of the first level of interview wherein the potential employees’ motivations or joining the company, other than remuneration or role and responsibility, are uncovered. There are mechanisms like setting up of measurable objectives (in line with the company Goals) along with the reporting manager which will be assessed at the time of appraisals. During this process, managers get a chance to uncover other factors (career anchors) which keep the employee with the company. The manager then incorporates these along with the objectives which will be measured at the time of appraisals. This has a twofold impact – better employee retention and brand building of the company.

Reaching the inner person:

Understanding a person’s career anchor could be a way to bridge the gap between what is planned for him/her and what the ‘inner person’ will accept. There are basically three approaches to identifying career anchors. First is the use of questionnaires, the second is to have structured discussions with the individual and understand what motivates him/her and the third is self-evaluation to help make the correct career choice. This helps identifying areas where one can deliver fully over a period of time, and also understand the work setting in which one thrives best.

This may go a long way in helping people identify if there is a rift between them and the job they are doing. People are constantly looking for something meaningful. Many people switch jobs in the hope of finding ‘meaning’ without understanding where their passion lies and end up being miserable in a new place. Stability will come when people are clear which career will work for them in the long run.

Be Happy – Know What You Are Whether You are An Employer or An Employee. If You Are able to ascertain your capabilities, you can design your strategy accordingly.

Be Happy – Sincere Love Can Accomplish Your Dreams

Love is that type of emotion which is related to a sense of strong affection and attachment with someone or self. The word love can refer to different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure, as getting attracted to some specific meal due to taste or aroma, to intense interpersonal attraction as happens between wife and husband. This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states. Its definition changes from time to time in the different contexts.

We usually refer love to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring for another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual emotional closeness of familial and platonic love to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.

Love is an essential matter for the success of your emotional life. If you develop and nurture it properly, be sure you can add up more than 16 years to your life span. That is why it needs special consideration and for that you need to create conducive atmosphere to develop. How to build up and nurture love in your life, there is a simple story for those who mostly work on computers and forget the importance of this factor in their life which I am putting up as I read somewhere. One computer-savy wishes to install love in his life and asks for the guidance from technical support expert. What they discuss is for your information and kind consideration.

Customer: Do you give technical guidance?
Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?
Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready, as long as you walk me through the steps. Tell me now, what do I do first?
Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support: Er… what programs are running, can you list them for me?

Customer: Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
Tech Support: No problem, you can go right ahead. Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-esteem with a module of its own called High Self-esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Tell me, can you turn those off?

Customer: Umm… let me see. Actually, I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how? Please help.
Tech Support: With pleasure. It’s really quite simple. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Wow, Love has started i9nstalling itself. Is that normal?
Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. It’s quite basic. You need to begin connecting to other Hears in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, ‘Error – Program not run on external components.’ What should I do now?
Tech Support: Don’t worry, relax. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?
Tech Support: Pull down Self-acceptance; then click in the following files: Forgive Self; Realize Your Worth; and acknowledge Your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done. That wasn’t too difficult.
Tech Support: Now, copy them to the ‘My Heart’ directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also you need to delete Verbose Self-criticism from all directories and empty you Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?
Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes a While, But eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to pass it and its various modules around to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you, thank you so much.

Be Happy – Distributing love to others costs you nothing but it gives back to you a lot.

Be Happy – Shed Your Ego

Ego comprises that organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. Conscious awareness resides in the ego, although not all of the operations of the ego are conscious. The ego separates what is real. It helps us to organize our thoughts and make sense of them and the world around us. It may mean one’s self-esteem, an inflated sense of self-worth, or in philosophical terms, one’s self, amour-propre, delight, dignity, egoism, egotism, face, gratification, happiness, self-honor, self-pridefulness, repletion, self-satisfaction, self-admiration, self-confidence, self-glorification, self-love, self-regard, self-respect, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency, self-trust, self-worth etc.

Ego can be termed as a big social problem world over. We people are highly egoistic and did not want to compromise with it. Especially people who rose higher in ranks or got high position in society or get rich, starts classifying themselves as different class of people than the rest. This is a common story that is why we people still salute to higher status. There are many examples where people use their power to exploit other because only they want to satisfy their own ego. Ego tussles can be seen among people of same class. People are usually hurrying to malign others, only because these people have hurt their ego.

In office rivalries are mostly result of hatreds grown due to ego clashes. Many bosses are more concerned with their own ego satisfaction rather than the benefits of company or department. Due to their ego, these people starts given themselves extra cover of false perceptions. Ego problems are not restrained only up to office or societies but they are very well present inside homes. Ego problems can be seen between all the relations of Father-son, husband-wife, brother-brother or brother-sister, no relations are left alone by the ego problem. With the advent of new technologies and advancement in higher education, these problems are becoming even worse. Now days, a small school going boy or girl also have big ego to satisfy. It looks that people have forgotten the art of forgiving and respect for others. We are only and only concerned with our and only our ego.

An average person always thinks he is above average. The perception of ‘easy and difficult’ is the result of one’s state of being. Swatting a fly is ‘difficult’ for some, while killing thousands is ‘easy’ for others like terrorists. Dropping the ego is easy when we realize that we are less than a dot in this vast cosmos. It is foolish to live with the illusion that we are the center of the cosmos. Dropping ego becomes difficult when we have this illusion.

In any circle, there is a center and a circumference. If the center of your life is hope then you will experience deficiency. If the center of your life is enjoying the moment, being total in the moment… then hope will be a circumference… then it is not a problem. Let kitchen items in the kitchen and bathroom items be in the bathroom. If they are placed elsewhere, then there is a problem. There is no problem with ‘hope’ as such, as long as it is in the circumference and not in the center. Be alive to the present.

The self with arrogance is ego. Self with the ignorance of who we are is also ego. Self filled with hopes and dreams is also ego. Ego lives either in the past or in the future, but never in the present. If its center resides either in the past or in the future it misses the present.
We are living in the world of ego… the ‘lower self’. But if our center is gratitude and devotion, then we live in the present. Both past and future become mere reference points. The ‘higher self’ is a space from which possibilities arise. It is a flow. It is a learning energy. It is an evolving being. You have the choice to operate either from the lower or higher self.

When you operate from ego, your relationships will be affected. Ego wants to prove its point of view. If you feel that the point of view is more important than truth or happiness, you may appear to demand and not command respect. If a couple demands respect from each other, they are beggars of happiness and not givers of happiness. In the egoistic state, an argument feeds the ego. Remember no one wins an argument. You accumulate more of bitterness and at different periods of time you settle scores with the other.

When you operate from the ‘higher self’ there is a healthy discussion. In discussion, truth is more important than who has said it. Happiness and well-being become more important than the survival of one’s point of view. Then, a relationship becomes rhythmic. You enjoy being with the other and you enjoy being alone. You are neither dependent nor independent but interdependent. You share your joyous being and not beg happiness from your partner.

Identity is created by what others have said about us. If others have told you that you are a great speaker, then you feel you are a great speaker. So your identity is dependent on others. In fact, others create your identity. Others validate you. It is painful, as you have invested much on others. Your image is in the hands of others.

The facts is, the real ‘I’ in us is not created by others, but the higher self is our essence. The higher self is a presence. It is awareness we have not learnt to operate from that state of being. Hence, we are alien to ourselves. When your partner separates from you, you feel you are at a loss. Stop and look within. You may find a higher self. Give up Your Ego and you will enjoy the life truly.

Be Happy – Shed Your Ego

Be Happy - Spirituality is an important virtue

Generally, we view spirituality as the quality of being concerned with human spirit and our spirit represents our mind, our feelings, our character. It is that part of the human beings which includes their mind, feelings and character rather than their body: the power of the human spirit to overcome difficulties, a person’s feelings or state of mind: to be in high / low spirits. Spirituality relates to, consists of, or has the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. It lies beyond the material world of proof, beyond what can be measured or counted. It is something deeply religious, something relating to the spirit and sacred matters.

It is vital to our well-being because of its emotional significance. It is the foundation of our most closely held values, the seat of our trust and hope. Spirituality brings purpose and meaning to life, and as we develop it, we grow in wisdom and love; we begin to experience a sense of awe, a sense of connection to all of life, and a deep reverence for the Divine. We find ourselves moved to prayers of gratitude and moments of spontaneous worship. Spirituality calls a human being to a life of trust and service.

When our spirituality is nurtured to go beyond the materialism, we get connected to others more easily. This connection is both a sense of relationship to the Creator, Great Spirit, or God (Divine Force), as well as a relationship to all people and to Mother Earth (Our life giving environment). Spirituality takes us beyond our ego-centered lives by expanding our hearts with compassion toward all.

Spirituality forms the framework for re-orientation to life; it does not dwell in a realm apart. It is not an extracurricular activity. Spirituality involves a reverent attitude towards all things because it awakens us to a divine presence in all things. In this way of seeing and being, all things and persons are interconnected and interdependent.

Yet this spirit, full of mystery, is every bit as real as the visible, tangible world. It is important to differentiate spirituality from religion. Some people have rejected religion in order to escape what they consider to be oppressive rules and regulations. In the process, however, many lose the great gifts of joy and compassion that spirituality brings Religion and spirituality related and intertwined, but they are not the same.

A person may experience spirituality without being a member of any specific religious affiliation, and even the most religious person may feel spiritually bereft. The true purpose of religion is to enhance spirituality through ritual and practice. This is accomplished when a person approaches his or her religion as a way to enter the great mystery, to become aware of the sacredness of all life. Religion can become a barrier to spirituality when it insists on narrow, judgmental dogma, and estranges its followers from a sense of connection with the Divine.

Religion serves us best as a vehicle to nourish and develop our spirituality. It is possible, however, to get too caught up with the religious practice, while losing sight of the destination, spirituality, which is communion with the Divine and compassion for all. For modern, academically oriented professionals, like physicians and health care workers, spirituality is often a difficult subject. For nurturing our spirituality, we need to depend on logical, analytical, and rational approaches, and while honoring science and the mind, our cultural tendency urges us to devalue belief and mystery, but the result is costly: we are left spiritually starved and out of balance.

Some of life’s most difficult questions are the spiritual ones. What is the purpose of life? What is of real value in our lives? If there truly is a God who loves us, how could there be so much suffering and unfairness in the world? Part of our addiction to our busyness is an attempt to prevent ourselves from thinking about our mortality, the inevitable fact of our own death.
But when we keep ourselves too busy to consider the purpose of our existence, our lives cease to have meaning. Strangely, it is only when we fully accept the reality of our mortality that we truly begin to live. This is the point at which we begin to enter into and learn about the spiritual dimension of our humanity.

Factually, we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience. Our spirituality is our true essence. It is that part of our life which relates to our soul, which from a spiritual perspective is connected to the divine and is infinite. This life-time is but the physical experience of our deeper reality, our spirit, which is our fundamental nature. We must nurture our spirituality as it is an important virtue.

Be Happy - Spirituality is an important virtue

Be Happy – Death is the Universal Truth.

Death is separation of the soul from the physical body. In other words, you can say, it is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It will eventually afflict all living things. Death refers both to a particular event and to the condition that result thereby. It is the end of one’s life. Let us say that vital processes are those by which organisms develop or maintain themselves. These processes include chemosynthesis, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, cell generation, and maintenance of homeostasis. Then death is the ending of the vital processes by which an organism sustains itself.

For those, who believe in the theory of reincarnation, death becomes the starting point of a new life. Death merely opens the door to a higher and fuller form of life. He who is born is bound to die. He who dies starts new journey to live again. This way, life is death and death is life. They believe that no one comes, no one goes. The eternal alone exists. Your physical body comes to an end in event of your death. Just as you move from one house to another, the soul passes from one body to another to gain experience. Just as a man casting off worn-out garments takes new ones, so the dweller in this body casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others which are new.

This way, life is a continuum. Death is necessary for further evolution. Dissolution of the body is no more than sleep. Birth is like waking up. Death brings new life. Death unlocks the door to other options the soul has. The soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere but its center is in the body. Death means the change of this center from one body to another. There is death for the physical body, a compound of five elements. It is a universal fact that who takes a birth in some physical form has to put off that body one day after the vital processes stop to work.

The individual souls build various bodies to display their activities and gain experience from this world. They enter the bodies and leave them. The process goes on. This is known as transmigration of souls. The entrance of a soul into a body is called birth. The soul’s departure from the body is death.

Man has always tried to know what happens after the death of an individual. Science has been struggling to unravel the mystery of what lies beyond death. Experiments have yielded many interesting facts. Natural death, it is said, is unknown to unicellular organization. When life on earth consisted of these creatures, death was unknown. The phenomenon appeared only when from unicellular, the multi-cellular evolved.

Laboratory experiments have shown that whole organs such as thyroid glands, the ovary, suprarenal gland, the spleen, heart and kidneys isolated from the body of a cat or a fowl, can be kept alive in vitro to show increase in size or weight due to the appearance of new cells or tissues.
It is also known that after the cessation of an individual, parts of the organization can continue to function. The white corpuscles of the blood, if cared for, can live for months after the body from which they were withdrawn has been cremated. Death is not the end of life. It is merely cessation of an individuality. Life flows on to achieve the universal till it merges in the eternal.

Why do you worry about death?

Death will come to you one day in spite of the best medical care you opt for your body. Your body is not your own – it has been given to you for your soul for some limited time by nature and would be taken back after that specific period expires. You are quoted to have expired after that period ends and your death is declared. Nature takes back the body, whether through some violent means like malnutrition, disease, or accidents resulting in terminal physical injury or due to natural decay on account of age factor but with remarkable exceptions like hydra and the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula since both are thought to escape age factor (possessing biological immortality).

Keeping in view the nature of the souls, it is also advised to all the mortals not to attach emotional attachments to the material things excessively as such material things may not be carried along with by you beyond the specific period allotted to your body to contain your soul. It is true that the specific period is not known to you or anybody else and this is the reason we understand ourselves to be permanent resident in our present body. This illusion creates greed in us to keep everything of our possession with us unless that is snatched from us or we are compelled to give away on account of some other consideration.

Death of someone can cause a lot of grief to those who love him/her. But if you assume that it was to happen to someone and/or all some day either one by one or to some of you together or all of you, you may take the death as no exception. You can shed tears that she is gone, or you can smile because she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all she's left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see her, or you can be full of the love you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember her only that she is gone, or you can cherish her memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back. Or you can do what she'd want: you must smile, open your eyes, love and go on. You must ensure that those who are still enjoying their lives near to you may continue to do happily, Because Death is a Universal Truth for you, for me and for all human beings.

Be happy – Death is a Universal Truth.

Be Happy – Use Your Intuition as Your Best Guide

The dictionary definition of intuition is "quick and ready insight;" and "the act or process of coming to direct knowledge without reasoning or inferring." It is derived from the Latin word "intueri" which means "to see within." It is a way of knowing, of sensing the truth without explanations. You may not consider yourself to be particularly spiritual or metaphysically adept yet may be quite good at following your instincts.

Your intuition is your ability to know something by using your feelings rather than considering the facts. For example, intuition told her that he had spoken the truth, he was guided by intuition and personal judgment or the answer came to me in a flash of intuition.

Your intuition can be an idea or a strong feeling that something is true although you cannot explain why it is so. It can be an immediate apprehension by the mind or by a sense without reasoning. For example, you can say at any moment that you have an intuition that something awful is about to happen.

What do we mean by intuition in the context of decision-making? While different definitions emphasize different aspects, there are three key features that characterize the intuitive mode of thinking.

1. The process is dominated by your subconscious mind, even if you use your conscious mind to formulate or rationalize the final results.
2. The information is processed in parallel rather than sequentially. Instead of going through a logical sequence of thoughts one by one, you see the situation more as a whole, with different fragments emerging in parallel.
3. You are more connected with your emotions. For example, it may occur to you that an option you consider does not feel right, even though there is no clear logic to prove that.

As our life becomes more dynamic and less structured, intuition gains more and more recognition as an essential decision making tool. You have probably heard of experienced decision makers who are able to directly recognize the best option or course of action in many tricky situations. The solution just comes to them from somewhere in their subconscious mind, instead of being a result a lengthy chain of logical derivations or a computer output from a complicated simulation.

Why are your intuitions important?

Intuition can make you a much more effective decision maker, especially when you deal with non-standard situations or in expedient decision making. Yet, before you put more weight on intuitive choices, there are a few important points you need to keep in mind. You need intuition in decision making situations where intuitive approach can help most when

• Expedient decision making and rapid response are required. The circumstances leave you no time to go through complete rational analysis.
• Fast paced change. The factors on which you base your analysis change rapidly.
• The problem is not well defined but poorly structured. But that is affecting your productivity.
• The factors and rules that you need to take into account are hard to articulate in an unambiguous way.
• You have to deal with ambiguous, incomplete, or conflicting information.
• There is no precedent.

Intuitions versus Rational Analysis

The main alternative to the intuition-based approach is rational thinking. The rational decision making process relies mostly on logic and quantitative analysis. You consciously analyze all the options. You formulate the main criteria for judging the expected outcomes of your options and you assign certain weights to those criteria to reflect their relative importance. Then, based on the expected outcomes and their weights, you rate your options by their perceived utility. Finally, you choose the option that has the highest rating.

If, for some options, the expected outcomes involve uncertainty, you will also need to incorporate in your ratings the perceived probabilities of different possibilities, or even perform a simulation.
Rational analysis still plays crucial role in many situations, especially when you have clear criteria and have to deal with extensive quantitative data, like quantitative finance. Yet, you will likely face even more business situations where the rational decision making becomes impractical.

How Do They work?

The simplest way to make sense of why and how intuition works is to think of it as an advanced pattern recognition device. Your subconscious mind somehow finds links between your new situation and various patterns of your past experiences. You may not recall most of the details of those experiences. And even if you did, it may be very hard to express the lessons you learnt in a form acceptable for analytical reasoning. Yet, your subconscious mind still remembers the patterns learnt. It can rapidly project your new circumstances onto those patterns and send you a message of wisdom. That message comes as your inner voice and will most likely be expressed in the language of your feelings. For example, some of the options or solutions you consider may not feel right to you.

How to use intuition effectively

The first important thing to keep in mind is that even when you rely on intuition it is still very important to do your homework. The intuition will help you navigate faster through much of unstructured data and can work around certain gaps and conflicts in the available information. Yet, even intuition can be misled if too many of your facts are wrong or missing.

Pay attention to your emotional state. If you are stressed or in a bad mood, your true inner voice will be distorted or lost in the background of your strong negative feelings. A similar effect may happen with strong positive feelings. If you want to hear your inner voice, get over the background of your strong feelings. Feel them through or let them go. Take a walk. Do something refreshing. Say your prayers. Forgive and accept. Sigh. Refresh your mind with new inputs.

Finally, you can greatly increase the quality of your intuitive decisions if you include certain elements of the analytical approach. In particular, try to follow the procedure of the rational analysis first. As much as you can, capture on paper the ideas on the main options and the criteria for evaluating your choices. Write down the key facts and factors you need to keep in mind.

Following this procedure is an effective way to feed your subconscious mind with all the relevant data it needs. You will help yourself even more if you put all those notes together on paper as a mind map. By having all the important points written in one place you will also refresh your mind. At that stage you are much more ready to listen to your inner voice.

Once, Martha a young lady found herself at her wit’s end. Her business was failing, she owed a huge sum of money that she did not have, and her long-term partner had just ended their relationship. In the small hours one morning she hit bottom, in a crisis of despair.
“There has to be something more,” she said out loud, even though there was none else in the room except her.
“Are you asking?” a voice said clearly, outside of her head. She was too stunned to respond.
“Are you asking?” the voice repeated in an even more urgent tone.
“I guess I am, I am not satisfied with my business performance.” she answered.
“Do immediately what you wish to do. Just, verify your stocks once again and meet your trade debtors and customers afresh. You may get reply to your query.”

Martha heard the voice but found none there. She felt that this voice was coming out of herself only. She went into her shop immediately, did what she was advised. She found that her stocks were more than what the statement given to her by the store keeper. She felt that something was wrong. She made out the list in his absence and went to her trade debtors and customers to know that there had been some misunderstanding brewing without her knowledge. She made the necessary corrections and from that moment on, Martha knew she was not alone in this world. She had just met one of her angels, also known as guides.

Even though at times we may feel isolated and bereft, none of us comes into this world entirely on our own. We always have help and friendship right by our sides in the form of loving, invisible mentors who want nothing more than to play an active role in supporting us before, during, and even after our physical sojourns on earth.

All we need do is ask for their help – and then be ready and open to receive their guidance. In the days following that dramatic encounter, Martha learned much about guides in general and her angels in particular. As vibrating eternal essences (also known as souls or spirits), we choose to experience each physical lifetime. We usually have a purpose for the life we have selected. Such purpose is general, such as teaching, healing , inspiring, creating, and so forth.

Our life purpose attracts to us other spirits who want to share that purpose but do not necessarily desire to do so in a physical body. We then select a group of souls to help us along the way. Often we make our choices based on the fact that we know these spirits already from other physical lifetimes on earth (or elsewhere). We trust these beings and they trust us. Sometimes we include souls who have particular expertise that we believe will be especially helpful to us or because we just want to try something new while on earth.

Then we arrive in our physical bodies. As very young children, we interact with our spirit friends as the invisible companions we play with and who comfort us. Well-meaning adults, however, inform us that these friends are “not real”. We start to distrust our intuitive senses, the means by which we communicate with our angels, and eventually give up our angels, and eventually give up our angels so that we may “grow up” and become “well adjusted”.

Our angels remain with us anyway, sending us their love and guidance, hoping to reconnect in a more direct manner. In times of crisis, we call out for help, and they provide it to the extent we will allow ourselves to receive it. The voice Martha heard was an angel.

Angels/guides have different functions on our behalf. Martha’s angel will guide her spiritual well-being. Another role for a guide is that of protector. In our world full of cars, buses, trains, planes, boats and other forms of mechanised travel, protector put in plenty of overtime paying attention when we are distracted.

Many guides take on the function of jokester. Humour is the easiest and best way to tune into our own heart’s wisdom, so helping us find and appreciate the hilarity and absurdity in life also helps us keep our spiritual connection alive and healthy. Guides are also healers, teachers, legal experts, even business consultants. One of Martha’s guides is a handyman who invariably astonishes his physical counterparts, who cannot understand why Martha is able to tell them the actual mechanical problem even before they inspect the broken machine. Angels or guides present themselves to us usually in a form we can relate to-human- but some guides have shown themselves as comic book figures, like Wonder Woman or Rocky and Bullwinkle, if that’s what and names they take on are simply a matter of making them, their love, and their guidance readily available to us by matching our needs and expectations.

Is it possible for all of us to meet our guides, up close and personal? Yes, provided we are willing to relearn how to trust our intuition. Since guides/ angels do not have physical bodies, we cannot sit down with them for a cup of coffee and a chat. We need our intuition – our hunches, gut feelings, visions, and inner hearing – to be able to receive their messages and send ours in return.

The next step is taking the time and space to get to know our angels via a meet-your-guides meditation, with help if needed. The reacquainted with our angels will come back to us many times over in the acceptance, safety, and well-being. For that, you need to give up your bad habits, take up humanity, sincerity, honesty, selflessness, kindness, patience, humility, justice, temperance and prudence. Your clean brain would be able to listen your intuitions more clearly.

Be Happy – Use Your Intuition as Your Best Guide