Not just on Earth day or Thanksgiving or Christmas, but everyday. We should practice being kind and selfless everyday. Most every person operates on a level where they are independent; looking out for their own survival needs and sub-consciously creates a micro-bubble awareness for themselves, and the close knit of family/friends in their immediate circle. It takes much more effort to act and give of ones’ time, energy, belongings and intention to others for compassionate, benevolent, and simply a selfless notion of being kind and altruistic. Maybe this settle gesture makes us feel better about ourselves, helps us to connect with others on a positive vibrating level and gives us an empathetic point of view? More than those positive feelings and “pats on the back,” however, science has proven that acts of kindness and selflessness toward others and the environment around us equate to being happier, living longer, and better mental and physical overall health.

Part of the human condition is to strive for greater and greater happiness, to attain a deeper and richer experience of life.  Whether we express it in that way or not, it is our actions that speak volumes on the topic.  The old paradigm is to seek escape or distraction – we externalize our condition and attempt to pacify it through some form of consumption.  The result brings only temporary relief, and once the novelty wanes we look to the next experience.  This is life as a “seeker.”

In order to Love, we must first Understand.

In order to Understand, we must Appreciate.

In order to Appreciate, we must Perceive.

In order to Perceive, we must Purify our senses.
Our senses are the instruments through which we experience the physical world. Our bodies are the housing for them. Without a body we would have no sensory experience, and therefore no physical experience of life.

Through meditation we discover the nectar within. Pure Being.
When the physiology that is in accordance with Being is printed out, all behaviors flow from that place. All desires flow from it.

And ultimately, all actions flow from it.

When we are in accordance with Being, everything flows from our one true Self.
Through our daily meditation practice, we establish ourselves in Being first, and then take action. In this sequence, action is more powerful, more frictionless and ultimately more fruitful.

The quality of our actions is rooted in our mental outlook.  Calm,  clear thinking gives rise to action which is creative, inspirational and  evolutionary.  On the other hand, stressed or reactionary thinking  yields action that is rife with friction, short sightedness and even  regret.  It may even do harm to ourselves and others.  That is why we  strive to take care of our mental well being, since our state of mind  directly impacts, and is in fact the basis of, our activity.

 Someone asked, “What is Happiness?”
In a word, Happiness is fulfillment. It is an internal state of non-neediness.
Whenever we felt needy in the past, we most likely looked to the outside world in order to fill that void. The trouble with this approach is that once we got whatever we thought we needed, happiness had moved on. We then found we were lacking something else, and now we needed that too. Each successive object or experience only temporarily filled the hole. When we began our meditation practice, almost immediately we had the experience of fulfillment within ourselves. Inner contentedness is purely self-referral. That means, it does not depend on anything outside of ourselves in order for it to exist.

“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” – Dalai Lama

The development of our inner spiritual life and outer material life are not in opposition. As householders (non-monks), it is neither necessary nor advantageous to retire from the material world in order to reap the benefits of our inner development. Nor is it possible to fully enjoy the fruits of the physical world without an equal inner enrichment. The two support one another. To create the proper balance, we do not look to simply strike a “happy medium” between these two poles. True enlightenment is not midway between the spiritual and the material. The middle is merely a compromise of opposites, which results in living a half-spiritual, half-material life.

Happiness is like a butterfly.

Inspirational Quote of the Week