Perhaps Love

Timeless Ways to be Happy

Our passions, expectations, life experiences, and even our personalities all contribute to the level of happiness we experience in our lives. Some find happiness in their careers while others find ways to be happy in their marriages or other relationships. No matter how you define happiness for yourself, there are certain universal and time-proven strategies to bring, and sustain, more happiness into your life. Over time, these strategies will become positive and life-changing habits that will begin to bring more happiness, joy and peace into your life.

Some of us see the glass as being half-full and others see the glass as half-empty. The next time you are caught in traffic, begin thinking how nice it is to have a few moments to reflect on the day, focus on a problem you have been trying to solve, or brainstorm on your next big idea. The next time you get in the slow line at the grocery store, take the opportunity to pick up a tabloid magazine and do some “guilty pleasure” reading. Take all that life throws out you and reframe it with what’s right about the situation. At the end of the day, you will more content, at peace and happy. Take the time to begin to notice what’s right and see the world change in front of your eyes.

How many times do you say the words “thank you,” in a day? How many times do you hear these same words? If you are doing the first thing, saying the “thank yous,” the latter will naturally happen. Learn to be grateful and you will be open to receive an abundance of joy and happiness.

Do you remember how to play? I’m not referring to playing a round of golf or a set of tennis. I’m talking about playing like you did when you were a child – a game of tag; leap frog, or street baseball when the bat is a broken broom handle and the bases are the parked cars. One way to find or maintain your happiness is to remember the kid you were and play!

There is no question that by merely watching acts of kindness creates a significant elevation in our moods and increases the desire for us to perform good deeds as well. Kindness is indeed contagious and when we make a commitment to be kind to ourselves and to others we can experience new heights of joy, happiness and enthusiasm for our lives.

Although an abundant social and romantic life does not itself guarantee joy, it does have a huge impact on our happiness. Learn to spend time with your friends and make the friendships a priority in your life.

To be in the moment is to live in the moment. Too often we are thinking ahead or looking ahead to the next event or circumstance in our lives, not appreciating the “here and now.” When we savor every moment, we are savoring the happiness in our lives.

There are times when we need the time to unwind, decompress, or to put it simply, just “to chill.” Life comes at all of us hard and fast. Time, as do the days on the calendar, keeps going forward at its own natural pace, which is not always the pace we would choose. Fatigue, stress and exhaustion may begin to settle in on us faster than we may think, or notice. The best remedy for this is indeed rest.

The expression a “runner’s high” does not infer an addiction, but a feeling or a state of mind - a state of euphoria. There is no question exercise, or any physical exertion, elevates your mood and enhances a more positive attitude as well as fosters better personal self-esteem and confidence. Indeed, one way to increase your happiness is to move!

Sometimes we have to fake it until we make it. I’m not suggesting that we not be honest, real or authentic, but I’m suggesting, sometimes, we just need to put on a happy face and keep moving forward. Researchers claim that smiling and looking like we are happy will indeed make us happier. Studies further show that if we act like we are happy then we can experience greater joy and happiness in our lives.

The absence of goals in our lives, or more specifically avoiding to pursue our goals, makes us feel like we are stuck and ineffective. The pursuit of goals in our personal lives, in our relationships, or with our careers, is the difference between having a mediocre life or a life full of passion and enthusiasm. Pursue your goals and watch your happiness soar.

Some find meaning in religion or spirituality while others find purpose in their work or relationships. Finding your calling may be much more than accomplishing one simple strategy for increasing your happiness, but having a sense of purpose – of feeling like you are here for a reason – can perhaps bring the greatest joy of all.

Flow is the form of joy, excitement and happiness that occurs when we are so absorbed in an activity we love that we can lose ourselves and time seems to stand still. What creates flow is unique to each one of us. To find and sustain true happiness in our lives, we must get off the sidelines and get into the flow.And two more just to sweeten the pot a little more.

One way to achieve flow is by understanding and identifying our strengths and core values, and then begin to use these every day. Once we aware of our strengths and we begin to play to your strengths we can better incorporate them in all aspects of our lives.

Know when to say when. What gives you joy and happiness the first time may not work the second time. Too much of a good thing may begin not to feel as good if the “thing” becomes more of a routine, or an expectation. Set healthy and reasonable boundaries for yourself and don’t overdo it.

Einstein Said

The Lotus Dance

Quotes

The world is filled with Beauty that goes unnoticed. Much of it lies like a newly seeded field within the depths of each Heart, waiting for the sun to shine and the rain to come in order to grow and flourish.

Each of us has a destiny to fulfill that represents the deepest longing of our soul. Embrace this longing. Let it wind its way through your Heart. For the end of longing is the accomplishment of peace, and the gift of longing is the deepening of LOVE.

Why Women Cry

One day, a young boy asked his Mom. "Why are you crying?"
"Because I'm a woman" she told him.
"I don't understand," he said.
His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will, but that's okay."

Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does Mom seem to cry for no reason?"
"All women cry for no reason" was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.
Finally, he put in a call to God.
When God got back to him, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?"
God answered,

"When I made woman, I decided she had to be special.
I made her shoulders strong enough
to carry the weight of the world,
yet her arms gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her the inner strength to endure childbirth
and the rejection that many times will come,
even from her own children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going
and take care of her family and friends,
even when everyone else gives up,
through sickness and fatigue, without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children
under any and all circumstances,
even when her child has hurt her badly.
She has the very special power
to make a child's boo-boo feel better
and to quell a teenager's anxieties and fears.
I gave her strength to care for her husband, despite faults,
and I fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know
that a good husband never hurt his wife
but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve
to stand beside him unfalteringly.
For all of this hard work, I also gave her a tear to shed.
It is her's to use whenever needed and is her only weakness."
"When you see her cry, tell her how much you love her
and all she does for everyone.
And even though she may still cry,
you will have made her heart feel good."
"She is special!"

The Missing Brick

Once, when I and my wife were traveling, I received a fax from my secretary.

“There’s one glass brick missing for the work on the kitchen renovation,’ she said. ‘I’m sending you the original plan as well as the plan the builder has come up with to compensate for it.”

On the one hand, there was the design my wife had made: harmonious lines of bricks with an opening for ventilation. On the other, there was the plan drawn up to resolve the problem of the missing brick: a real jigsaw puzzle in which the glass squares were arranged in a higgledy-piggledy fashion that defied aesthetics.

“Just buy another brick," wrote my wife. And so the did, and thus stuck to the original design.

That afternoon, I thought for a long time about what had happened; how often, for the lack of one brick, we completely distort the original plan of our lives.

Alone On The Road

When things get hard, let us not forget that - independent of race, color, social situation, beliefs, or culture - everyone has experienced exactly the same. A lovely prayer written by the Egyptian Sufi Master Dhu'l-Nun (d. AD 861) neatly sums up the attitude one needs to adopt at such times:

O God, when I listen to the voices of the animals, to the sound of the trees, the murmur of the water, the singing of the birds, to the rushing of the wind or to the rumble of thunder, I see in them evidence of Your unity; I feel that You are supreme power, supreme knowledge, supreme wisdom, supreme justice.

O God, I also recognize You in the difficulties I am experiencing now. God, let Your satisfaction be my satisfaction, and let me be Your joy, the joy that a Father takes in his child. And let me remember You with calmness and determination, even when it is hard for me to say: I love You.

Quote

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love".

... Washington Irving.

Many Lives, Many Masters

"Patience and timing . . . everything comes when it must come. A life cannot be rushed, cannot be worked on a schedule as so many people want it to be. We must accept what comes to us at a given time, and not ask for more. But life is endless, so we never die; we were never really born. We just pass through different phases. There is no end. Humans have many dimensions. But time is not as we see time, but rather in lessons that are learned".

A wisdom by one of the Masters through Catherine. This wisdom is taken from the book Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss.

The Notebook

I am nothing special of this I am sure.
I am just a common man with common thoughts.
There are no monuments dedicated to me
and my name will soon be forgotten.
But I've loved another with all my heart and soul,
and to me, that has always been enough.

~Nicholas Sparks

No Other Thoughts Exist

Repeating the name of Ranjha
I have become Ranjha myself.
O call me ye all "Dhido-Ranjha,"
Let no one call me Heer .
Ranjha is in me, I am in Ranjha,
No other thought exists in my mind.
I am not, He alone is.
He alone is amusing himself.



By : Bulleh Shah

Me

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more .

Messages from The Masters

Live in the present, not the past or the future. The past is over; learn from it and let go. The future is not yet here. Plan for it, but do not worry. Worry only wastes your time and energy.

The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh describes enjoying a good cup of tea. You must be in the present moment, mindful and aware, to enjoy the tea, to savor the sweet aroma, to taste the flavor, to feel the warmth of the cup. If you are ruminating about past events or worrying about the future ones, you will look down at your cup and the tea will be gone. You drank it, but you do not remember, because you were not aware.

Life is like that cup of tea.

A Passage from Messages from the Masters

What is the difference in this life if you are wealthy and I am not?
Only the treasures of spirit can be retained.
What is the difference if you are powerful or famous and I am not?
Happiness has no roots in power or fame, only in love.
What is the difference if you are more liked and respected by others than I am?
Perhaps I am daring to tell and live the truth, and the truth is rarely popular.
Happiness comes from within, not from without, not from the reflection of what others think of you. Jealousy is poison to the soul.

--- Dr. Brian Weiss, MD, an eminent psychiatrist.

Love Poems between Teishin and Ryokan

Have you forgotten me
Or lost the path here?
I wait for you
All day, every day
But you do not appear.

--Ryokan

Here with you
I could remain
For countless days and years
Silent as the bright moon
We watched together.

--Teishin