Dalai Lama Archives - Mindful Happiness

December 31, 2015 By Admin

Ideas about Attitudes of Gratitude – M. J. Ryan

Attitudes of Gratitude Thoughts and Applications

M. J. Ryan presents some interesting practices in the book, Attitudes of Gratitude (1999). Here are some ideas. Hope you will practice some of them soon. As The 14th Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh suggest, we should always appreciate the preciousness and miracle of human life – our own life no matter what the challenges are.

Understand that your emotional mood and the quality of your thoughts depend on where you place your attention and reflection. Do your best to pay more attention to the softness and warmth of your human heart and soul. Pay more attention to positive experiences and less attention to negative experiences.
When you are plagued with GIANT problems or BIG emotional reactions to not-so-giant problems, look into the nature of the problem itself to see if any solutions arise. Life is all about arising and falling experiences – both good and bad. Causes and conditions present and lead to pleasure, pain/suffering, or neutrality.
Pay much more attention to the little joys (“wonderment”) you may be missing by being on autopilot and rushing around trying to be happier trough material gain. Wealth and fame are nice, but they DO NOT bring lasting, inner happiness. Your happiness is an INSIDE JOB!
Do your best to be in the present moment of experiences. The past is gone; you cannot change it. The future is not here yet; you cannot control it. Your real power comes from responding to whatever is now in your present moment experience.
Pay much more attention to what is working for you now rather than what you desire and crave from the past or the future. If you are not present-minded, you cannot appreciate and have gratitude for what exists now.
Reflect upon and honor your close friends, your family, and your ancestors. Use any of their spiritual supports to do well in adversity and to do great in happy experiences.
Practice meditations on appreciation, gratitude, and loving kindness. These practices build your capacity to be happy. These practices also improve compassionate actions and self-compassion. Do you have self-compassion?
Periodically, live a whole day as if it were your last day living on earth. Notice! See what you decide to do.
In the final analysis, Buddhism informs us that life on earth will contain suffering, joy, and neutrality. All three conditions will occur in your experiences. You cannot escape suffering! How you respond will determine your level of satisfaction or your quality of life in the long run. Be happy! Be at peace! Be in the present moment!

For more information refer to Ryan, M. J. (1999). Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your life. New York: MJF Books.

mindfulhappiness

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image below to Order

December 20, 2015 By Admin

Happiness Path According to The 14th Dalai Lama

Happiness Path – The 14th Dalai Lama

His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama has suggested, among many other important things, that humans may experience true inner happiness by regular practice on the path to enlightenment. In his 2012 book, From Here to Enlightenment, he noted that personal happiness may be attained via specific behaviors and ways of being. Here is list for you to consider.

Work at having a sound mind. Psychological health includes moderation in thoughts and overcoming afflictions. Mind-soundness and health allow us to experience the feelings of joy. Thus we feel happier.
Practice being within a mental reality that is relatively free from suffering. Suffering (like neutrality and happiness) are norms of human nature. Using wisdom to reduce your suffering opens mind-doors to the experiences and feelings of joy. It is all about your personal emotions.
Realizing that long-term, natural happiness is supported by ongoing life experience with brief moments of joy and happiness. Happiness is an inside deal. It is all about how we react to the realities of the moment.
Practice greater acceptance and gratitude. Practice greater mental recognition of improved life satisfaction. Avoid traps of general dissatisfaction made stronger by by attachment, desire, clinging, and craving.
Practice stronger and stronger self-compassion. This is a required foundation for compassionate actions on behalf of others.
Practice greater and greater compassion for others, including thoughts, works, and actions.
Allowing the gentle expansion of wisdom and skilled awareness through the regular practices of meditation and compassion. Wisdom and inner peace make space for joy.
Learning how to use your wisdom-mind to improve regulation of self-discipline in the actions of brain, mind, heart, body, and emotions – all in the present moment of experience.
Learning how to let go of personal stuckness in the past and fearful apprehension of the future. Complete engagement in the present moment is the way.
Recognition that whatever is, is! Turning into the presence of suffering, neutrality, joy, and happiness.
Practice holding appreciation for your personal life, regardless of the level and intensity of suffering you may experience.
Lastly, but most important, participate fully in regular, daily practice of mindfulness, compassion, and meditation.

For more information refer to Dalai Lama (2012). From Here to Enlightenment... BostonL Snow Lion, pp. 39-48.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image below to Order

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Using Your Compassionate Mind in Psychotherapy For you to become a more compassionate therapist, follow the details noted below. These preconditions, skills, and practices are required as a baseline for compassionate practice. You need the ability to access calmness in an environment of emotional suffering, chaos, or conflict. Most people do this by breathing in […]

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Vipassana Meditation -No-Self Journey 3 In this third vipassana meditation I will guide you on a meditation dealing with the experience of no-self. No-self is a highly advanced experience in Buddhist meditation and wisdom practices, and it is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood concept and experience. Along with impermanence, dependent origination, typical reality […]

Practice Approaches to for Mindful and Enhanced Emotion Regulation Brought to us by way of The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont Mindful Approaches for Enhanced Emotion Regulation; here are some approaches to practice. 1)In some ways you could understand the progression from auto-pilot mind to greater stability and equanimity of […]