Currently Empty: 0mkd

Have you thought about what the term happiness means to you and do you really understand what it is that makes you truly accessible to happiness?
Simply put: Happiness is your potential. So what is it that prevents us from feeling it, seeing it or having it?
There is a story about Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson which happened when they were camping. In the evening, they set up their tent, fell asleep and a few hours later, Sherlock wakes up his faithful friend and says to him: "Watson, look at the sky and tell me what you see"? Watson replied: "I see millions of stars" and Sherlock Holmes asked him: "And what does that tell you?" Watson thought for a moment and said, "Astronomically, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets; Time-wise, it seems to me to be about three-fifteen in the morning; Theologically, it is obvious that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignificant; Meteorologically speaking it looks like we will have a clear beautiful day tomorrow! And what does he say to you, my friend? Holmes was silent for a while and then told him: "Watson, you idiot, someone stole our tent!"
The habits of how and where we direct our attention completely shape our mood and thus our view of happiness. Everyone has their own characteristic patterns of paying attention, that is, the direction where their attention goes. Just like Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. Limitations that we have in our mind is what prevents us from experiencing happiness. We have become so used to not being happy, that we have forgotten that it is a part of us and that we were born to experience or touch it in this life. The habit of how and what we think shapes our life. It is estimated that 86,000 thoughts go through our heads every day. Of these, not even 10 % are conscious thoughts. That is, today and yesterday we turn the same unconscious thoughts, or we repeat the same thought patterns. And what we practice regularly becomes stronger, so in this context it means that we only strengthen what we feel, think and do on an unconscious level and there is no change here.
In one conversation with a woman who comes to my growth and development programs and meditations, she told me that she doesn't believe she can change; He says I've been like that all my life, depressed and insecure, it's my habit. She is so used to it that she is constantly looking for evidence around her that everything is uncertain and scary. I often come across this kind of thinking, many have it and manifest it with the questions: What if I can't change the way I want to change? What if I can never feel close to others? What if I can never truly gain a sense of peace or find love? What if I can't like myself? What if…. ?
The reason I am writing all this to you is that we all have the potential to connect, to change, to experience happiness, love, peace or tranquility. Even Buddha he believed in that potential when he said that he would never have shared his practices and teachings if it were not truly possible to touch human well-being, happiness, and freedom.
We, because of our natural tendency of mind and bias towards negativity, naturally tend to look at the sky but be concerned about who stole the tent. So to balance this we need to acquire new habits to enjoy, see the beauty around us and open ourselves to goodness. It is the kind of happiness that many of us miss in this modern western society.
Catholic mystic Andre Nuan says that joy does not come easily, we have to choose it and continue to choose it every day.
Thus reprogramming begins with opening the personal capacity for happiness. There are many ways to bring happiness and joy into the mind, but here I will list three of them. So if you want to introduce a new habit, to install the new trait in your life, you need to call on some positive experience and hold it in your awareness for about 15 to 30 seconds. Consciously hold the good feeling or experience and hold it in your awareness. What most often happens in reality is when we look for example at the sky or at the full moon, we say "Oh how beautiful", getting the feeling that we are part of the universe, and immediately after that our mind automatically turns to something else or you simply look at you forget your phone.
So, to increase your personal capacity for happiness, practice these three things:
Gratitude
Bringing joy into your mind and embedding that positive state requires you to practice gratitude with intention. Each one of us has a part in us that is used to complaining or whining and is far from grateful. This is an exercise for that part of you. There is a story of gratitude about a man named Kabir (for the shoemaker, not the poet) who repeated the mantra whenever he worked. Ram, Ram, Ram. It was his way of expressing a sense of gratitude to God and divinity. He did this every day for 20 years and one day Rama appeared before him and Kabir asked him: Who are you? Rama replied: I am Rama. Kabir asked him: Why are you here? Rama said: For years and years you have been calling me and now I have come! What do you want? He asked Kabir "I don't want anything". Rama said to that: So why are you repeating my name, and he replied "I just want to repeat your name, I simply love the sound of your name, Rama. From then on, wherever Kabir went, he was followed by Rama who repeated behind him: Kabir, Kabir, Kabir….
What I want to suggest is that at any time of the day, quietly whisper the words to yourself: I am grateful for.... and fill in the blank, and keep whispering to yourself about other things you're grateful for that come to mind. It can be about anything: about what you are doing at that moment, about friends, about being healthy and alive, about anything. Practice!
Helping
A second way to increase your capacity for happiness is to be of service to others. To understand how important it is, look at a friend of yours who suffers from it depression. Those people are the most closed. But whenever they do something for someone else, or have a sense of giving, it helps them raise their energy. Depression is severe in itself but it is self-centered. The whole society is focused only on itself, so if you start selflessly sharing or giving (time, energy, help) to other people, you are helping yourself and getting out of the habit of mind that only focuses on what is wrong or what is missing. Selfless help means that you should not expect anything in return, not even a simple "thank you" from the person you are helping. You simply help them and that's it.
Think of someone in your life who is going through a difficult time and think about what you can do for him/her. There must be something even if you have to secretly do the same. It can be a simple conversation, sharing, gift, help. Let me tell you that the capacity for happiness increases even more strongly when you do it to a person you don't know. Try it! The experience is unique and the feeling of happiness and meaning of one's life is multiplied, I'm telling you from experience!
Enjoyment
Einstein wrote: There are two ways to live life, one is to live as if nothing in your life is significant, and the other is to live as if your life is a real miracle.
I know a married couple who are in their 70s, they love to travel and live life to the fullest. That's how they live. They recently retired, working until the end. I am amazed how throughout these ten years since I have known them, they make a conscious effort to make their lives more beautiful, more interesting and healthier, regardless of their age and environment. I keep telling them when I grow up I want to be like you.
Enjoyment does not have to be something glamorous, wonderful, exciting, wild or exciting. It consists in the little things. And if we remember and apply those things, it becomes a habit and life becomes really easier and more fun. The little things can be: enjoying someone's laughter; a conversation with a friend from childhood, a walk by a river or sea, someone who laughs contagiously (like my sister with whom she laughs no matter what topic we talk about), enjoying beautiful music, nature, i.e. something that really makes you feel beautiful , happy and that you are part of something bigger, of the universe. And here I am not talking about the pleasure that is obtained when we consume the addictions of today such as cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, pub, brandy... and everything that falls into this category. The enjoyment I am talking about here is a healthy and joyful view of oneself and the environment, without the application of external stimuli.
So gratitude, service and enjoyment are the three tasks with which you can raise your personal capacity for happiness. Practice them every day so that your happiness becomes available and present in your life.
Love and light
p.s. About our happy events 😀 read HERE
about the author: Biljana is the founder of the brand Healthy Life Skills & Healthy Yoga where he holds seminars, retreats, active vacations, trainings and classes to reduce stress and tension in the modern man using a comprehensive (holistic) approach in working with individuals and groups. The text is author's and it is not allowed to copy parts of it without prior permissiona.