HAPPILY EVER AFTER IN THE MOMENT
Monday, April 30, 2012 § 1 Comment
Seeking happiness and practicing happiness are not the same.
People pursue happiness in their own ways. Some seek it in wealth, in beauty, in fame, or in power. Some feel they have recognized those goals as false promises. Instead they seek happiness in making the world better in their own garden or in the global community. Others seek it in the creation of a harmonious family or community. Another seeks it in achieving excellence in meditation or yoga.
The language of goals that need to be achieved to finally be happy and content repeats itself; just the goals themselves are exchanged: “I will be happy and content, once I have a million dollars/ created an NGO that stops the killing of whales/ have three kids/ can hold downward dog with no hands.”
Mostly the stories are more intricate and often not articulated – but there are images: “once I get the promotion, I can move into a slightly nicer apartment and work a little less to be able to do some sports. I will lose a bit of weight and feel better about myself, be sexy and get a great partner and be happily ever after.” Or: “I always feel good after doing yoga. Once I get my yoga-teacher-certificate, I can be in that state of mind all the time and be happily ever after.”
From the outside looking in, we can see with all those storylines, happiness will be elusive. Sometimes life’s a bitch and the first million Dollars is hard to come by. And worse, once the first million dollars is there, we will want the second. Once we can sit in lotus, we find it unsatisfying that we cannot levitate.
“Nothing makes us as unhappy as the constant pursuit of happiness.”
Buddha suggested that happiness is a state mind, not a situation. While circumstances have an influence on our state of mind, they don’t control it. Practicing happiness is the practice of our attitude in response to all circumstances. It’s inside, not outside; it’s right now, not projected into the future.
The revelation that we are waiting for something to fall into place to be happy often hides in a story of plausible conditions and correlations. “Well, I am just waiting for X, so I can do Y.” is often the beginning of that story. If you hear yourself saying sentences like that, please ask yourself the question: “why am I waiting?”
THE LIMITING FACTOR RIGHT NOW
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 § Leave a comment
The limiting factor for us to act wisely is mindfulness. Not age, not experience, not hair-color, not opportunity, not education, not religious affiliation, not title and authority, not luck, not gender, not skin-color, not yoga certifications, not how little or much we’ve been hurt in the past.
“There is no path to wisdom, wisdom is the path.” Siddhartha Gautama, a.k.a. the Buddha.
In every moment we choose our response to our circumstances. Wisdom is not a stage we can get to and then hang out in it as if lying in a hammock. It’s an every moment practice. No need to wait for different circumstances, resources or power. Nor do we need to wait to develop into a more mature and better person. In this moment you choose not to click on the stupid-ass link on Huffington Post about Jennifer Anniston wearing a very short dress – those never live up to my expectations, but instead you are reading this supremely nourishing blog. It requires our attention, right now!
Business Buddhism 