Happiness

It is the art of living, the purpose of our existence. Happiness is the true index of quality of life. Without happiness, life is dry and meaningless. With happiness, life immediately becomes fulfilling and wonderful. Happiness is an infectious feeling that immediately lifts the sagging spirits of people. Happy people keep themselves happy because they know the little Ways to appreciate themselves and to see the humor and magic in each moment.

Not long ago I answered a telephone call from an old friend I'd not heard from for a long time. 'Hi,' he said. 'I just wanted to see how you're getting along.'

For whatever reason, our paths had simply not crossed for a long, long, time. It was good to talk with him. I wondered why we hadn't kept in touch better. Toward the end of the conversation, he said, 'If you need me in any way, I’ll be happy to help out.' And he meant it!

That call came at just the right time, as they so often do. I needed those words of encouragement. I hung up the phone feeling a satisfying lump of warmth in my chest.

And that day I re-learned something important about life: Life is primarily about people, not plans and schedules, not to-do lists and a million tasks left undone - it's about PEOPLE!!

To love and to know that we are loved is the greatest happiness of existence. And happiness seems to be something that is in short supply for too many of us!

My friend reminded me that it is never enough just to love; we must also express it. What good are our affectionate feelings toward others if we don't find ways to let them know?

'Do not keep the alabaster box of your love and friendship sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears can hear them and While their hearts can be thrilled and made happier. The kind things you mean to say when they are gone, say before they go.'

Happiness is what you are…

Being Happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect, it means you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.

Happiness is not a destination, it is a journey. Happiness is not tomorrow, it is now. Happiness is not a dependency, it is a decision. Happiness is what you are, not what you have.

We tend to forget that…..happiness doesn’t come…..as a result of getting something we don’t have, but it rather comes….by recognizing and appreciating all that we have.

Imagine

There is no limit to what you can imagine and the moment you imagine anything, it begins to come to life. When you imagine, you plant a seed. The more detailed and specific your imagination becomes the more that seed will grow.

Imagine the place you would most like to be then imagining how you could get there. Continue to imagine, in greater and greater detail, and at some point an amazing transformation occurs. The object of your imagination crosses over into reality.

When you imagine, you focus your mind on the possibilities. And your mind goes to work to make those possibilities happen when you imagine, be sure to imagine the very best for what you can imagine sets the stage for where you’ll go’

Change your world

You cannot change the world, but you can present the world with one improved person- yourself.

You can go work on yourself to make yourself into the kind of person you admire and respect. You can become a role model and set a stander for others.

You can control and discipline yourself to resist acting or speaking in a negative way toward anyone for any reason.

You can insist upon always doing things loving way, rather than hurtful way. By doing these things each day, you can continue on your journey towards becoming an exceptional human being. Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. In your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.

Family vs Work

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. They are work, family, Health, Friends and spirit and you are keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball, if you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls- Family, Health, Friends and Spirit- are made of glass. If you drop one of these they will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.”

Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time, give the required time to your family and have proper rest.

Value has a value only if its value is valued

Energy and Enthusiasm

It is energy that causes all beings to act in this world. The higher the level of positive energy, the greater is the accomplishments.

When we are tired, our energy level plummets and we do not feel like doing anything. When the field around is negative with hurt, anger, possessiveness, greed, jealously, fear and abhorrence, we are less able to act with speed, effectiveness and efficiency. These emotions suck the energy and life force out of us. All beings have within them, the all-pervading life force, the same force or energy that creates and sustains life in the universe and nourishes it. It is the universal nature of energy that binds and connects all creatures in a single, networked web. That is why it is difficult to be completely happy while hurting others. The universal life energy acts and lives in all created matter. It is necessary at all times to make sure that the creation of a negative field is carefully avoided.

The Five Stress- Triggering Emotions

Any of the big five emotions—Kama (Lust), Kroda (Anger), Madha (Arrogance), Lobha (Greed), Matsarya (Jealousy) can flood the body with the chemicals of stress. Stress is destructive. Stress is ageing. Stress is a killer.

Stress is the Killer

The twenty-first century will be the century of the Mind. The Mind is man's last unconquered frontier. The Upanishads describe it as fast, fickle and uncontrollable, like a dozen swift horses travelling at breakneck speed. Mankind is paying a steep price for failing to learn more about the Mind before embarking on the race for success in the new millennium. Stress is the price we pay for success. Stress stalks the precarious climb up the corporate ladder. Now we should now what is the Stress. Stress is the culprit.

How Does This Stress Affects us?

Let us consider the most common emotion of this century—anger. What happens when you are angry?

Thirty-six chemicals pour into the blood: Lethal chemicals like adrenaline and histamine. The heart and pulse rates shoot up. The rate of breathing increases. The body gets ready to fight or flee. Digestion is switched off. All parts of the brain, except the primitive 'lizard brain’s switched off. Primitive man who was confronted by a tiger needed this state of high alert to survive in the jungle. Today, this desperate Mayday response, this most primitive survival response, is used frivolously, not to save life, but in response to office politics or traffic jam.

As the blood rushes through the heart, during an anger attack, it raises blood pressure. The force of blood-flow in an enraged person causes minute tears in the tender fabric of the arteries. Fatty deposits find a convenient place to park themselves to repair the tears—cholesterol, the plaster of Paris of the body, slowly builds up to occlude the artery. Soon the tender flexible artery becomes stiff and hard, preparing the stage for a heart attack. To avoid such situation one must do meditation.

Meditation

Enlightened Masters have also shown that meditation produces beneficial effects such as reduction of tension, lowering of blood pressure, relaxation of muscles, increased concentration and work efficiency, and increase of immunological resistance to diseases. As a result, some form of meditation has become an essential part of most holistic health programmes.

Service to others, music, prayer—all are forms of meditation—make the blood flow with serotonins—the happiness chemical. Hindu scriptures enjoin five types of service known as pancha-mahayajna—service to gods; service to sages; service to ancestors; service to humans, guests and the poor; and service to animals. A traditional Indian home, at dawn, feeds ants with the rice-flour rangoli drawn near the threshold, and crows and cows with leftover food.

Eating should be regarded as a sacred act. In an orthodox Hindu home, food is offered to the family deity first and is then consumed as prasad or offering with the deity’s blessing. There is a basic similarity between the rituals involved in offering food to the deity and those involved in eating oneself. In both cases, food is offered as oblations to the five pranas regarded as five fires. Even if one does not follow this ritualistic concept, one should make eating a fully conscious and peaceful act. Hurry, worry, anger, distractions and chattering should be avoided while eating. Because while the food eat during these act hormones are produced are rushed to your stomach and to the blood.

Best way to avoid food in hurry, worry,anger, distractions and chattering.

Your Thoughts

With your thoughts you can open your eyes. What you see in front of you is a function of the thoughts you nourish inside of you. Have you ever thought about a person whom you haven’t heard from in a long time, and then that person suddenly appears again in your life. It may seem magical or supernatural but it’s not.

For your thoughts did not magically cause that person to appear. Instead, your thoughts opened you up to connect with that person to appear who was there all the time.

There are vast expanses of reality that you have never even considered. Your thought can open you up to experience all sorts of valuable and wondrous things.

Life becomes available to you to the extent that your thoughts allow. And the quality of life that you experiences very closely connected to the quality of your thoughts.

Your thoughts are the filter through which you connect with the world where you live. With your thoughts you can choose to experience the best of life’s countless possibilities.

Doubt

Though doubt can stop you cold, you always have the power to overcome it. For your doubts cannot take action, but you certainly can. With each positive action, with each step forward, the doubt will quickly melt away.

There is no need to fight against your doubts. You can simply decide to walk away from them. Though they may have become quite comfortable and well entrenched, your doubts exist only as long as you are willing to support them.

When your desire to move beyond them grows strong enough, then you can easily leave them behind.

Those doubts may seem big and imposing, but all their power comes from your thoughts. And you can choose to turn those thoughts in a completely different and far more positive direction. Think and act in the direction of your dreams. And your doubts will be far behind.

Health is wealth and critical to happiness

Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. Really speaking, health is not a state but a continuous adjustment to the changing demands of life and the environment. Positive health implies perfect functioning of body and mind in a given society.

Ayurveda defines health as ‘svasthya’—to be one’s own spiritual self. It is the state of equilibrium of the three doshas or mind-body energies that govern our external and internal environment―vata (wind); pitta (bile); and kapha (phlegm), along with a contented state of the senses, mind and soul.

All the ancients believed that no attempt should be made to cure the body without treating the mind and soul. To be healthy is to have the ability, despite an occasional bout of illness, to live with full use of your faculties and to be vigorous, alert and having a joie de vivre, even in old age. This concept of operational health has been termed ‘wellnesses. It is a sense of all-round wellbeing.

Physical Wellness

Your Happiness Quotient (HQ) is directly affected by your physical condition. Health is the foundation for a feeling of wellbeing and joy. It is very difficult to be full of enthusiasm if you are not in a state of positive health. The absence of disease is no indication of this state of perfect health. It is a hygienic factor for improving your HQ.

There are many steps that will take you to a state of optimum health. A complete medical checkup once a year can provide accurate information about the state of your body to your physician. Make sure this becomes an annual habit.

Just as you would not tolerate a minor malfunctioning in your car, so too, you and your doctor should be vigilant for the slightest disturbance in your state of health. Minor problems, aches and pains should be dealt with immediately, rather than be endured with gritted teeth.

Listen to your body. If you are tired, rest. If you are hungry, eat. If you are lonely, communicate, ask for a hug. If you are angry, deal with your anger constructively, resolve it.

The body is our vehicle for the journey of our soul in this world. You may be an immortal soul who happens to own a body, but the body-vehicle has to be maintained in good condition, so that we may achieve the goals for which we were created.

Prana and the Positive Field

An innovation initiative works better in a positive field. So first install the positive field. Prana is the life force that flows in all living things. When the life force leaves the body, the body dies. Kirlian photography has captured pictures of the pranic aura. (Dr. Semyon Kirlian of Soviet Union developed a system to photograph the aura. His researches had taken the western world by storm, and the kirlian system became the subject of intensive research all over the world. The Krilian system has already gained certain acceptance in the Soviet Union and elsewhere as a diagnostic tool for illness and incipient disease (not only human being but also even crops). The logic behind this is an organized energy structure hidden within the gross body of all living beings, any happening on gross plane take place only after this energy shows up signs of disorganization, even before the gross body shows up the disease.

The other system studying human aura is the Schlieran System; this system maps out the air density and flow pattern generated by the warm living body (gross body) in its surroundings. These are invisible to the eye but this system makes available this constantly moving current of flow, for several inches all around the body, to our scrutiny in the form of shining, multi-colored, pulsating aura on the screen. Some scientists suggest that this system too could be considered as diagnostic tool.)

When Prana is in full flow, the person is full of vitality, energy and enthusiasm. Prana is nurtured by freshly cooked, healthy food. It is fed by breathing pure fresh air.

Pranayama is very pro-prana. Moderate exercise and yogic exercise develop the life force. Meditation and a calm attitude cause prana to flow through all our activities smoothly.

Getting too hungry or eating too much, consuming stale food, exercising till you are ready to drop dead, constant arguments, over-working, getting emotionally upset and breathing polluted air, all interfere with the smooth flow of prana. Moderation is the norm.

Prana enhances the positive field and the vital life force flows freely through it. It creates a powerful positive field – a field of all possibilities, where any seed of an idea will develop rapidly.

Happiness and the Positive Field

An old Indian prayer says”Let all Beings be happy”; not just friends and family, but all men; not just men but the wider world of all beings. When the great musician Tansen sang, it is said that deer’s wandered into the palace to listen. The great scientist Jagdish Chander Bose wrote decades ago, about the response of plants to kindness.

There is a Tibetan concept of ‘drala’ by which any space can be made sacred. All religions sanctify space by holy water, prayer, dress and conduct. Hindus draw sacred symbols on the earth with rice flour or chalk (kolam) and a particular space can be set apart for the Gods and prayer.

A sacred space is defined by the rules of conduct laid down for those who enter, as in a room, a church, a temple, the parliament. Very few misbehave in such places; at least they are not supposed to. They are rarely able to cast away the weight of laws and customs built up over centuries around such places.

Some religions lay down rules of cleanliness and dress to enter such places, which include a purificatory bath.

A person who maintains such dignity and decorum, in such a place, may be totally different in a bar or when he is at a party.

The analogy of a TV monitor would describe this phenomenon better. Depending on which button you press, you get a different image. So too depending on the place, a different person emerges. Some place access the Highest and Noblest Self while others access the Beast, the Meanest

This is true about people in different interactions. Some people create a field which accesses the best in us, while others access the worst. If you learn the secret of positive fields, you can improve your Happiness Quotient. You can also get the best out of others.

Be Silent: Listen to yourself

In the silence, become aware of yourself. Be aware of your body as full of health and energy. Visualise peace, tranquility, prosperity and fulfillment. Be silent. Be aware of your breathing, the beating of your heart. Once you are aware of your body in silence, in peace and tranquility, then you begin to notice immediately, the destructive effects of stress. You become aware of the first, imperceptible symptoms: the tightening of the jaw, the clenching of muscles in your throat and abdomen, the speeding of the heartbeat. Once you become aware, you can consciously decelerate. Be completely aware of the shift of feelings from moment to moment. Knowing exactly how you feel can help you make better emotional decisions.

The Auspicious Field

Auspiciousness or a feeling of wellbeing is created in a space or a field by treating it as sacred.

What happens to a space that is sacred is transformation.

When you consider yourself as sacred, you will treat yourself well. You will wear clean, good smelling clothes. Maybe ironed and starched, mended if torn, but clean and fresh. You will smile at yourself, encourage yourself. Just as you put on clean fresh clothes, you will also clean up the mental space or field around you. Sweep out all ill will, anger, fear and anxiety. Let there be the fragrance of incense, divinity of prayer and mantra, the smiles of loved ones, laughter and joy, the smell and taste of good plain, food. It is as important to clean the field around you as it is to have a bath. Sweep out the sad baggage of the past. Take into that field only what is bright and elevating, fine and happy.

The space around you, your house, your office needs the same kind of careful attention. When a space is sacred, it magnetizes wonderful people and attracts beautiful events into it.

All the words spoken in that space should be sweet and loving. When harsh words or events happen, do not allow them to take root like evil weeds. Sweep them away and find gentleness and kindness that grows beneath.

All religions sanctify space by holy water, prayer, dress and conduct. Hindus draw sacred symbols on the earth with rice flour or chalk (kolam) and a particular space can be set apart for the gods and prayer.

A sacred space is defined by the rules of conduct laid down for those who enter, as in a court room, a church, a temple, or the parliament. Very few misbehave in such places, they are rarely able to cast away the weight of laws and customs built up over centuries around them. Some religions lay down rules of cleanliness and dress to enter sacred places, including a purificatory bath. A person who maintains such dignity and decorum in such a place, may be totally different in a bar or when at a party.

The analogy of a television monitor would describe this phenomenon better. Depending on which button you press, you get a different image. So too depending on the place, a different person emerges. Some places access the Highest and Noblest Self while others access the Beast, the Meanest.

This is true about people in different interactions. Some people create a field, which accesses the best in us, while others access the worst. If you learn the secret of positive fields, you can improve your Happiness Quotient. You can also get the best out of others. ‘Don’t push the wrong buttons,’ we say. What we mean is, don’t access his negative field.

Love and Reverence in enhancing the positive Field

Elevate everyday experiences to the level of sacredness.

When work is done with such love, it fills the body and mind with bliss and transforms any place into a sacred space. As Kalil Gibran writes in The Prophet, ‘What is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth from the strings of your heart, as though your Beloved were to wear it.’

This reverence or shraddha is due to all, because of the divine spark that dwells in all men—whether he is a legend or a leper. Sometimes it is obvious. The Divine spark is the silent flame of consciousness that reaches out to you from a flowering creeper or a healthy pet. Sometimes this life force has lost its vitality and is dimmed by dirt, lethargy and lack of care. Clean the glass of your lamp. Make the light shine through. Decide to approach all events, people, and things with affection, shraddha.

The LANGAR made at GURUDWARA is so tasty, no one waste a single grane, because it is made with shraddha. Mother make food for his son who has come after a long period of stay from home. The food is so tasty that he does not stop eating as he is hungry from many lives, because the food is made by mother is with shraddha, that his son has come after a long period.

Tools for creating a Positive Field

An ancient Indian prayer says: ‘Let all beings be happy.’ Not just friends and family, but all men, not just men but the wider world of all beings. When the great musician Tansen sang, it is said that deer wandered into the palace to listen. Decades ago, the great scientist J C Bose wrote about the response of plants to kindness.

Learning to create a positive field is an important part of the climate of wellbeing. The positive field is created by tools and behaviours that may be verbal, tonal and non-verbal.
• A common prayer or mantra.
• A mental process which draws a magic circle around all those who are participating.
• A common exercise, a common company song, common goals.
• A handshake, a friendly look, an encouraging word.
• Thinking, believing and acting in a positive manner.
• Laughter, commonly shared jokes.
• Meditation, practiced regularly, helps develop the capacity to be analytical, positive and disciplined, and eliminate negative fields.
• Affirmations, the most important constituent of the positive field. It is a verbal, tonal or non-verbal act of appreciation. A compliment can be a verbal hug. A verbal hug can replace a thousand words. There is a Sanskrit verse which roughly translated means: ‘Don’t say harsh or hurting words. If you have to say something unpleasant, do it as kindly as possible, while genuinely appreciating the good qualities of the person and the relationship.’ The great Tamil Poet, Thiruvalluvar has expressed it succinctly, when he says, ‘Why say harsh words, when kind words are available. Who would eat bitter, unripe fruit when sweet ripe fruits are at hand?’

However, the energy field around a person is most affected by positive, soul-level motives or ‘sankalpa’. If the gut-level motives are positive, the mere lack of skill in verbal, tonal and non–verbal

The Secret Power of Emotional Fields

Around every person there is a field of emotional energy. Some people always look and feel radiant and everything in their life flourishes and grows. They have a positive energy field around them. Some people, on the other hand, always feel and look morose and tense, everything in their life seems to fade and die. They have a negative energy field around them.

The positive field is created by positive emotions and the negative field draws sustenance from negative emotions.

THE NEGATIVE FIELD

If some people in the group feel excluded, they cannot contribute good ideas or a happy atmosphere. They may even change the nature of a positive field by their unhappiness. Just as a drop of cyanide can poison a clear pool of water, so too the unhappiness of a single person can poison the field in a home or a company. They give off toxic waves of hostility and can turn a flourishing field into a desert.

A negative field is toxic with distrust. In the negative field, individuals are afraid to think differently; new ideas wither before they are formulated. In such a field, only the most obvious ideas, which appear practical and sensible, will be shared. All but the most obvious ideas will be rejected. These ideas will be of little use because they are probably centuries old.

A child who is never praised or complimented turns into an insecure adult with little self-esteem, he does not want to say or do anything that others will laugh at. Continued exposure to the negative field can cause many health problems.

It is easy to identify the negative field in your home or organization. Danger signals may range from a lack of enthusiasm and interest to gross outbursts of rage. Being part of a group belonging a negative field can be a soul sapping experience. The symptoms of such a field are sour looks and suspicion. Politics and manipulation will have a free run. You can identify such a field when the Big Five:- Lust, Anger, Obsession, Greed and Jealousy roam like wild beasts in the garden of your life. You can change the field by first changing yourself and filling the field with the positive emotions like love and compassion.