The Ingredients of Happiness
“One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain. By the proper use of experience and thought one can draw much from oneself, by determination and patience once can even restore one’s health… so let us live life as it is, and not be ungrateful.”
–George Sand (a.k.a. Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, Baroness Dudevant, French Writer, 1804-1876)
A Built In Safety Device?
“It is as if evolution has built a safety device in our nervous system that allows us to experience full happiness only when we are living at 100%–when we are fully using the physical and mental equipment we have been given.”
–Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Italian-born Hungarian American Psychologist and Author, 1934-)
“Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning” (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
True Happiness Is A Spiritual Experience
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”
–Denis Waitley (American Writer, Lecturer and Expert on Peak Performance, 1933-)
Some Profound Thoughts on Happiness
“Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different.
There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects.
When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, Samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness.
Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it.
Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.”
–Ramana Maharshi (Indian Hindu Mystic and Spiritual Teacher, 1879-1950)
Happiness Is Within Us
“Happiness is within us, and it is ours, but we are always superimposing our own inner joy onto something outside and thinking it comes from there.”
–Swami Muktananda (Indian Spiritual Teacher and Writer, 1908-1982)
Noticing Happiness
“Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.”
–Bertolt Brecht (German Playwright, 1898-1956)
Happiness Is the Nature of the Self
“Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different.
There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects.
When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, Samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching.
A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool.
A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.”
–Ramana Maharshi (Indian Hindu Mystic and Spiritual Teacher, 1879-1950)
Your Thoughts Are Your Key
“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
–Dale Carnegie (American Educator and Author, 1888-1955)
Different Paths For Different Folks
“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.”
–H. Jackson Browne (American Author and Advertising Executive, 1940-) {Who is not to be confused with the singer and songwriter, or the English Writer, Physician and Philosopher, who lived from 1605-1682!}
Spread Kindness and Happiness
“Try to make at least one person happy every day. … If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought. Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, in a lifetime!”
–Lawrence G. Lovasik (American Roman Catholic Priest and Writer, 1913-1986)
