Chapter 6
Happiness starts with your thoughts.
Think for a moment:
What thoughts drive you?
Are they negative or positive?
What are the consequences of the thoughts you currently have?
Negative thoughts are thought of as negative because they destroy our state of happiness and tend to lead to depression, hatred, jealousy and anger. The result is usually, the feelings of fear and a sense of insecurity. In other words negative thoughts keep you repeating the same behaviour.
What is at the base of your negative thinking?
Does money or the lack of it stop you from performing?
Are you a quality thinker or quantity thinker?
Quantity thinking is that state where countless thoughts swirl around in our heads making us tired, indifferent, careless and reduces our self respect. It creates a desire to pass judgement on others, to get involved with things that don’t concern us. We fill our heads with distractions, such as others shortcomings, the urge to criticise and correct others.
The result of thinking about other people, carrying them around in our mind, makes us unhappy and dispirited. If I can let people go from my thoughts, I lift all restrictions of thinking, and I release my original qualities. My mind becomes light and I can use all my talents with confidence.
Most of us run our lives from the past. It is like driving
a car by constantly looking in the rear view mirror. We hold on to past
memories and interactions. We are like birds holding on to branches and small
twigs. The alternative and the way to happiness is to deal with and live
in the present. That is learn to let go of any negative feelings about people
or situations that surround me, as if nothing has ever happened. We have
equal vision for all. This brings us the gift of happiness in life.
Positive thoughts on the other hand, have the power to reprogram the brain.
The biggest obstacle that stops us from becoming happy is our ego. There is ego
of physical beauty, family, wealth, position, country, language and culture.
It has become our habit; it is everywhere and doesn’t let us go very easily.
There is also the subtle ego of desiring respect. The sign of this is
that we feel 'insulted' a lot. How can you be happy if you feel insulted all
day?
The change to happiness is simple. Start by seeing the best in others.
Think about all things that you have, rather than thinking about what you don't
have. Change to quality thoughts. With good quality thoughts we experience
pleasure, happiness and self respect. We recognise our own skills and
abilities. We have a considerate and thoughtful manner. Let these quality
thoughts that you have become a practical part of your life. If you think that
something is the right or a good thing to do, do it. Don't just analyse the
thought and attempt to understand it but, do it. If you think too much
then small things become too big. If you don't think too much then a big
thing becomes small. Use your thoughts to keep things in perspective.
This brings happiness. The problem is that we have developed the habit of
thinking too much. By this I mean we spend and inordinate amount of time
debating with ourselves, trying to work out how our thought will be received by
the other person. Is it logical, dangerous, acceptable, too strong, hurtful etc
,etc, etc. All this stops us from being real. Takes away the real
authentic person we are. We instinctively know what to do, and we also know
immediately if something doesn't need to be done. We have learned to bend like
the wind and make an effort to keep everyone happy. The result is we are
separated from our true selves and therefore lack happiness. A determined
thought means just that, not changing the mind, being true to ourselves and the
feeling we had at the time.
But beware we are talking about a change in your lifestyle to let the quality and positive thoughts emerge. We are not talking about suppressing the negative or quantity thoughts. That is wrong and can only bring harm. It is impossible to remain happy and lead a meaningful life if you live in a world of suppressed thoughts. Suppressing your negative or quantity thoughts is another way of cheating yourself and is in fact a quantity rather than a quality thought..
Our thoughts create an atmosphere in our immediate surroundings as well as spreading vibrations in to the far distance. The quality of our thoughts and the concentration of those thoughts in the atmosphere will create much more impact than our words. If you have the habit of thinking good thoughts then you will become an unshakeable pillar, a tower of happiness, no matter what others say. This is the power of thought.
Happiness is our birthright and our greatness lies in remaining constantly happy. Therefore, one of our tasks is to never lose our happiness. Problems will come and go, but our happiness should not disappear. Problems come from external sources and as a result they naturally come and go. Happiness is our own property. You always keep something that belongs to you with yourself. Therefore, even if you lose everything, don’t let go of your happiness. Take care of your head and that will naturally take care of your heart. However you cannot take care of your head simply by adopting a particular set of techniques a couple of times or by following a ritual for a few weeks or so. No, Change takes time. This doesn’t mean that you can do nothing. As we have discussed earlier, our thoughts are very powerful and therefore we can start by making the effort to think positive, qualitative and powerful thoughts instead of negative, quantitative or defeatist thoughts. It is more powerful and productive to put all your effort in creating a new behaviour rather than attempting to stop an old one. By the very nature of working to think positive thoughts you are naturally not thinking negative ones. The aim is to give yourself the experience that positive thoughts work and that you are capable of controlling your thoughts. This is not something new to you. You know that experience gives confidence and builds esteem. In every aspect of your lives, your jobs or profession, you live by the power of your experience. You may have studied a lot, have an important job but you know that once you have experienced something it remains in your intellect longer.
It is important that you don’t force yourself to change because you think you ought to or must or because you feel it will ‘make you a better person’. There's no benefit in that because you will not stick to the task. You will make a great deal of effort at the beginning but when it becomes difficult or change does not happen at the speed you want you will stop or look for another technique. Only when you really feel you want to achieve happiness . When you realise life is not working for you at the moment using the methods you are using will you put in the effort to change your thoughts .You can only change successfully when you can see that there is great benefit for the self.
Consider your thoughts to be invaluable treasures
and use them in a
worthwhile way.