Buddhism shows how to set this automatic baseline to a higher level. It doesn’t matter if the external events are good or bad, you’re going to gravitate back towards this point. So this internal baseline is where it’s at. ![]() ![]() But sooner or later, you’re back on the baseline. At the start it’s a kick in the balls like no other. It is also the case for catastrophic events like cancer, blindness or paralysis. He had transformed from a ripped handsome man to a chubby junky. When I saw him, it wasn’t clear if the lottery was this absolute joy that will solve all of our problems. He quit his job and ‘lived the life for a year’, travelling, taking drugs and eating all he wanted. I (Jonesy) once heard about an old school mate who won the lottery. But a year later this high wears off and they are back to normal…. Researchers show that lottery winners are pretty stoked after winning as you’d imagine. Psychologists call this hedonic adaptation. Even if you have a wild success and knock your goal out of the park, or severe failure that puts you into a depression, sooner or later you hit your baseline happiness. There are obstacles between you and happiness. According to Buddhism, happiness is an attainable goal. To our Western minds, it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing you can develop and sustain by training the mind. It doesn’t matter what your religious beliefs are: all of us are seeking something better in life. The purpose of life is pretty clear to The Big Dal. More recently, Western science has validated what the Buddhists have been claiming for millennia. Over time, they’re left with only the gold, the things that might be objectively true about human existence. So for the last 2500 years, Buddhists have been practicing techniques to train the mind and develop inner resources and been willing to discard what appears to be BS. Rather, you should investigate the validity of it all, test the method for yourself and discard anything that looks like crap. It isn’t a faith based system the Buddha recommends that nobody blindly accepts his teachings. But if you look at the fundamentals of their beliefs, it seems like they’re onto something.īuddhism is very different to Western religions. ![]() It seems to be only for those wild monks who are willing to give up iPhones and Pizza to hang out in a cave for a few decades. There are similarities that all of us share in being part of the human race.īuddhism doesn’t seem to be relevant to us in the Western world. ![]() Here the little distinctions like gender, race, religion, culture and language don’t matter. Although perspectives differ, they attempt to drill things down to the basic human level. And the 14th Dalai Lama (The Dal from here on in), leader in Tibetan Buddhism and bringing the perspective from the east. Firstly, the Western perspective from Howard Cutler, a relatively no-name psychiatrist out of the US. The Art of Happiness looks at happiness through different perspectives from two different authors. These happy employees are more productive, loyal and take less sickies. In the workplace, happy individuals perform much better and earn much more, than miserable employees watching the minutes tick throughout the day. It also leads to better mental resilience and ability to deal with adversity or trauma. Studies show you’re more likely to pick up a better mate, more satisfying marriages, more likely to be a better parent, better immune system and live an extra 10 years. Happy people have it a lot better than unhappy people. “The Art of Happiness” – by HH Dalia Lama XIV & Howard C Cutler
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |