Sustainable Happiness
1:22 ~ Transformation is not about change, it really is about altering how you see life. Altering your view of life. When you alter your view of life what you literally do is alter how you relate to your circumstances, you are altering the way in which you view your past, you are altering the way in which you view yourself and the people in your life. One could say that literally your history is transformed in that moment because you see things through a new set of eyes.
8:05 ~ The conversations that you and I are embedded in are universal. You go all over the world and you will find that one group of people doesn’t like another group of people because they don’t fit or they don’t match their view. You and I inherit conversations. We’re born into things. We didn’t make up the stuff we got on this planet, it was already there.
This bias, this discrimination was not personal to me, i was able to forgive a lot of stuff that day, because it had nothing to do with me, i thought that the death and the murder and the hate was against my dad, it wasn’t, it’s what we do when we don’t examine the conversations that are already existing in our world.
I was born Christmas day in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The moment I was born and that doctor picked me up he said “We have here a negro baby girl”. The moment he said those words it defined who I was. Negro has a particular set of conversations that go with it. Baby Girl has a specific set of conversations that go with it. No one has a choice about that. We know who we are, do we not? When you say Gay, Straight, Black, White, Jewish, Doctor, Teacher… there is a world that goes with that. That’s when I got that who I am and what my mission is is “The Emancipation of all Human Spirit”. The opportunity was to begin the work with people all over the world to disappear these conversations that are stopping us from belonging together, because we belong together.
12:17 ~ If you wanna have sustainable happiness in your life you must find a way to get connected to what matters to you, what you really value. That’s happiness, that’s something you can sustain, because it will be with you for the rest of your life. The gift your gonna give the world.
12:47 ~ You must do whatever it takes to operate inside of your values and be true to yourself. Being true to myself is the Emancipation of the human spirit, nothing else is gonna work here.
14:45 ~ For the most part you and I think that our circumstances say weather or not we can have happiness and I’m saying that’s not the case, that’s an illusion. Circumstances have no impact on us when we start to get that you can actually create the circumstances; take the circumstances that you have and use them to create an extraordinary life. Deny the accident.
16:25 ~ When i get my attention off myself and i get my attention on others — That is a ridiculously happy life. Service. Contribution. And that’s who we really are, we are people who really wanna make a difference and really wanna contribute and have our lives matter. That’s sustainable happiness.
17:05 ~
1 – Get in touch with what you deeply care about.
2 – Jolt down a few actions you’ll take.
3 – Take those actions. I think you will be surprised and delighted with what you see.
Balance
Generally, all of us have about the same size skull.
To a large extent, almost every average human being has what it takes to do life. But why is it that one person’s brain sparkles with genius? another person brain’s sparkles with pain, suffering tension, stress, etc…?
Is it a question of higher intelligence?
Is it a question of some magical influence from somewhere?
Is it a question of bringing the necessary balance within yourself so that you become available to the magic of life?
Acute intelligence cannot make this life happen beautifully. Above all, balance is needed. Balance in all levels. Otherwise our body and brains will function against us to a point where the only idea or form of relaxation is either sleep, drink, or drugs– all you are trying to do is become brainless for a period of time because it has become such a nuisance. If you didn’t have a brain, you would be at least peaceful.
What took millions of years to achieve, today has become a nuisance.
What is the greatest miracle within this human frame has become a misery manufacturing machine.
Above all, the most important thing is balance or lack of balance.
This human mechanism which is the most sophisticated instrument on the planet, if you do not pay enough attention to it, if it turns against you, there is nothing in the world that can save you because nothing is more sophisticated than this one.
This should not turn against you.
To bring balance to this doesn’t take too much. It is just that you are doing a few fundamental things absolutely wrong, that’s all.
To bring a reasonable sense of balance you must understand that all human experience is generated from within. At any time, if you feel happy or unhappy, miserable, joyful, in agony, etc… pleasantness or unpleasantness, it can only happen from within.
You can take external stimuli or create your own stimuli, but essentially, it happens from within.
Grasp this one thing.
When you feel miserable, if you think is someone else or something else, you are gone. It’s not gonna work.
All human experience is generated from within. If something is feeling unpleasant, first look at this (human mechanism).
What I’m i doing wrong with this? I’m i sleeping wrong? I’m I eating wrong? is my body chemistry is wrong? something is wrong with this, not with that!
Bringing balance to the system – a fundamental nature of Yoga.
Once there is balance, then you can build a tower on top of this. If there is no balance, whatever you build will only lead to more trouble.
The more basic you are, the better it is. Humanity is seeking to remain basic.
Anything standing up without balance is a big problem.
So the best thing is to lie down, stay close to the ground. If you grow tall, it will be a problem. So remain at the minimum. A whole lot of Humanity has reduced themselves to a minimum possible thing in their lives: “If I don’t get into trouble, that is good enough”
This is a serious waste of evolutionary work. What has happened on this planet in the last few million years to evolve life from a simple form to what it is today- just wasting the entire process.
Mother Earth is not going to let you get away with it. You will pay the price if you try to make life go backwards.
First step is to do something to bring balance:
Everything that I generate from within me in the form of experience, sensations, painful, pleasant, wonderful, horrible, whatever I go through, it’s essentially generated from within me, and nobody else but me.
Others may help, if you are miserable- some people will fuel it and help. If you are joyful- some people may fuel that and help. Different types of people around you assist you, but essentially it is your making.
This is the fundamental aspect of Yoga: The first teaching that came out was that it is your Karma, your action, your doing, your making.
Your life and the experience of your life is entirely your making. If this one thing doesn’t sink in absolutely, you will not make the necessary changes. The moment you see it, you will have the ability to change it.
Once this sinks in, creating the necessary balance will happen automatically.
Once there is balance, then you will want to try many things. Otherwise you will not be the one who flies, only a spectator. When there is no balance, you won’t wanna go three inches above the ground.
If you want to make use of the full scope of this body and brain, of this human possibility, of this consciousness that we refer to as a human being, first understand that the quality of your life is entirely your making, nobody else’s.
Once balance comes, I’m impatient to take you to places where only people with balance can walk, others can not.
Face your Fears
The idea that you are ready for freedom is nonsense. You are freedom.
The sensation of acute discomfort is worth paying some attention to. Be willing to be acutely uncomfortable. You are spending so much energy fearing it. So afraid of hitting ground zero. Instead, invite it to come to ground zero. Willingly tell the mind to throw its best punch. Don’t grapple and struggle with the mind, simply be here, quiet, observing. Just look. Its as though you exist through your eyes only. Don’t participate, just look. Face what you fear. Unless you touch that point it will keep repeating itself. See what happens…
A tremendous amount of energy is spent trying to prevent a calamity that you imagine is going to happen. A lot of energy goes into this. Invite it. Open the door to it. You have your moment to face what you are afraid of. What is burning for you? Do not run, do not hide. Let it come. See what it is.
If you don’t take the opportunity to see what it is, you may be frightened for the rest of your life. After you have seen what it is, you know who is knocking on the door, and you begin to ignore it.
The Golden Rule
Positive Version:
Always treat all others as you would like to be treated yourself.
Negative Version:
Don’t do to others, what you would not like them to do to you.
Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain, and then refuse to inflict that pain on anyone else.
Compassion works. Confusious said implement the golden rule all day every day: you dethrone yourself from the center of your world, put another there, and you transcend yourself. It brings you into the presence of what’s being called God. Something that goes beyond what we know in our ego-bound existence.
We need to manage the golden rule globally. Build a global society where people can live together in peace.
Golden rule is the source of all morality. Great imaginative act of empathy, putting yourself in the place of another.
Rabbi Hillel , older contemporary of Jesus, was asked by a pagan to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching “that which is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor, that is the Torah and everything else is commentary”.
Compassion lies at the root of all art. Compassion at the centrality of all religions.
C.S.Lewis in “The Four loves”:
Erotic Love: When two people gaze spell-bound into each other’s eyes.
Friendship: When two people stand side by side with their eyes fixed on a common goal.
We don’t have to fall in love with each other, but we can become friends. When people of all different persuasions come together working side by side for a common goal, differences meld away, and we learn amity and we learn to live together and to get to know one another.
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“Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” This was one of the guiding principles of life that Confucius taught his followers, five centuries before Jesus taught the Golden Rule with similar words.
It serves as a directive to treat others as one does oneself. The Golden Rule differs from the maxim of reciprocity captured in do ut des – “I give so that you will give in return” – but rather a unilateral moral commitment to the well-being of the other without the expectation of anything in return.[3]
The concept occurs in some form in nearly every religion[4][5] and ethical tradition.[6] It can also be explained from the perspectives of psychology, philosophy, sociology, and economics. Psychologically, it involves a personempathizing with others. Philosophically, it involves a person perceiving their neighbor also as “I” or “self”.[7] Sociologically, ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ is applicable between individuals, between groups, and also between individuals and groups. In economics, Richard Swift, referring to ideas from David Graeber, suggests that “without some kind of reciprocity society would no longer be able to exist.” [8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
The saying of Hillel which introduces the collection of his maxims in the Mishnaic treatise Abot mentions Aaron as the great model to be imitated in his love of peace, in his love of man, and in his leading mankind to a knowledge of the Law (Ab. i. 12). In mentioning these characteristics, which the Haggadah then already ascribed to Moses’ brother, Hillel mentions his own most prominent virtues. Love of man was considered by Hillel as the kernel of the entire Jewish teaching. When a heathen who wished to become a Jew asked him for a summary of the Jewish religion in the most concise terms, Hillel said: “What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man: this is the whole Law; the rest is mere commentary” (Shab. 31a).
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7698-hillel
Here lies the root of Good and Evil.
Making Decisions
1 – Contemplate: When you are not sure what to do, the worst thing is to act spontaneously. Take your time. Sleep on it. Gather data. Dig deeply into this question:
What is the worst that could happen if I choose (A) and can I live with it?
What is the worst that could happen if I choose (B) and can I live with it?
2 – Choose: Choose with a sword —> Create a Deadline. Chop off any other options but the one you know you are going to do. Never turn back and look again at the other things you could have done because it will make you sick, indecisive, and weak. Choose hard: There’s no way back. “Burn the Boats”.
3 – Learn to Fly: Make it work. Successful people don’t make the right decisions; they make their decisions right by always seeing the silver lining. Learning along the way and gathering intangible treasures one can only get by making a decision and seeing it through.
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The term silver lining is used when you want to emphasize the hopeful side of a situation that might seem gloomy on the surface. The common expression “every cloud has a silver lining” means that even the worst events or situations have some positive aspect.
On step 3 – You make it work by focusing on the hopeful side of the situation. No matter how bad it gets, look for the positive aspects.