What is Digg?133 Comments
- srodolff, on 10/12/2007, -8/+41Don't worry......
........Be Happy! - sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -5/+38Bahumbug.
- ericmoritz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26zybch: I have a 9-5 job, pay taxes, etc and I'm pretty happy. I'm by no means the happiest man but practicing Buddhism has help quite a bit to deal with everyday stresses.
- isellmacs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23@armbar
It's closer to defeating stress than simply de-stressing. I'm a Zen Buddhist myself, so I understand exactly what they are talking about, and practice those same mental perspectives all the time.
"Happiness is a skill that takes time and effort" is an odd way of putting it, but 100% accurate.
The sub-consious mind will do whatever we want it to do. Most people completely ignore it, and so it tries it's best to do what it thinks we want it to do, even if we aren't being honest with ourselves.
The true trick to being happy is very simple, so simple that it makes it difficult. The trick to being happy is "just be happy" Alot of people will have pre-conceived notions about a given thing, thinking they should be unhappy, or should be stressed. If you think you're supposed to be stressed about something, then you'll be stressed by it. If you choose to be happy and not be stressed by it, then you won't be.
Because this is a skill that takes alot of time and effort to develop, many people will try and won't see any results whatsoever. In a way it's a form of mental conditioning/discipline. This sort of technique works for a variety of things, including stress, but it can also be used for certain activities or even foods you don't like.
If you say "I don't like broccoli" then you probably won't like it. If you start to eat broccoli with the attitude that you want to enjoy it, if you eat it long enough with that attitude you'll notice that it gradually takes better and better, until you really enjoy eating broccoli, even though previously you didn't.
The trick to happiness is very much the same way. Instead of leaving the choice of happiness just up in the air, take charge of your own mind, and choose to be happy. It can take months or even years to really see results, but the results are there, none-the-less.
Patience is a virtue. - azAZ09, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17The trick is to remember there is no spoon
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -18/+35Its easy to be happy if you don't have to actually work for a living and are happy to survive on donations from people thinking the donation will buy them 'points' for the afterlife (or whatever).
Lets see this same guy be happy if he had to work a 9-5 job, pay taxes, rates, household bills, car running costs, a mortgage etc etc etc. You know, the things that 'normal' people have to do. Lets see him be happy after all that *****! Good ***** luck! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17I do agree but the article gets more into meditation and such. I don't think he just set out to be happy, it was just a good side effect of meditation as a buddist monk (or meditation period) as the article said.
- xedd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14"What if someone interferes with step B?"
Move out of your parent's house. - Kranklin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15SERENITY NOW!
- rockforever, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17I think ive been chronically depressed for about 2 months now. I used to be the happiest person i knew. A little sadness is ok, depression sucks.
- uberdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Step one: Turn off your computer
- Xanadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13"ManHoles 7: Doing Hard Time"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Step two: Press any key to continue.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13duggmirrors, you are an *****, stop spamming
- mage1129, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12@armbar
This article is about how this guy achieved a higher level of happiness. It is very easy to say just take some time out of the day for yourself, but that is not as easy as it seems because most people either do not have the in the day or too stressed out to clear their mind during this period. What this person is offering are ways not to destress but to defeat stress. The difference lies in the idea of accepting stress and learning to eliminate through various perspectives and mental acitivies. - geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10My recipe:
A) find what you love to do
B) Do it.
If you complain you aren't following (A). - flappysocks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10He lives in the Matrix, but unlike the rest of us, *knows* he lives in matrix. Think about it.
- RyandaPimp, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Women definitely like sex as much as men.
- batmanbury, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I'm not sure if everyone is understanding the depth of what is being discussed here. Comments like "its bad to be happy ALL the time" or "we need to feel depressed and anxious sometimes...its human" just have no bearing. The word "happiness" is being used so everyone can first relate to the idea of dismissing negative and destructive emotions. I don't think Ricard is simply "happy" all the time. More likely, he is at a level of consciousness that most people find inconceivable or have never even considered in their lifetime.
- zai-asal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Step four: Profit!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8What spoon?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8What if someone interferes with step B?
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8So is anybody offering free plane tickets and incidentals to go study with Buddhist monks in the Himalayas?
- redneckblues, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Step three: ?????
- JCSaint, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I'm not a buddhist but I have a buddha belly.... anyone wanna rub it for luck? ;)
- dreamlayers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I'd like to read about your method. You should write about it on a web page. That way you wouldn't have to explain it repeatedly, and it might even benefit someone who finds it on their own, without you having to do anything.
- schwack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Dugg for the Dalai Lama reference. I have a couple of his books. Perhaps I should read them. I'm down with the pursuit of happiness, but I have to be at work at 7.
- chownrus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Unfortunately, no one will pay me to sleep, drink beer, or masturbate.
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"Mr Ricard was brought up among Paris's intellectual elite in the 1960s,"
I wonder if Mr Ricard would have developed such a positive attitude if he was brought up in a lower-middle class or poverty class setting with little hope for the future but brutal hard work with little reward and slim chances of overcoming it?
I am not implying that he is a fraud, or that one must be well to do to achieve such a state of mind. However, I do believe he was born into an advantage for this over the average person. - martin308, on 10/30/2007, -1/+6Happy Happy Joy Joy
- Hindu_Wardrobe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Why do they even bother trying to explain?
I'm rarely in a bad mood, and I've tried to explain my "method" of keeping myself in a good mood many times before.
Never worked. Shrug.
I guess it's up to the person to keep themselves happy. Now I'll finish this comment before I attempt to explain my "methods". - fallenone05, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4correction, Evan Stoned, now that's a happy guy
- NoWayDude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Yes but what I want to know is...
Is the world's most happiest man (or any happy person for that matter) married or single? :-) - armbar, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18Seems to me like being happy all the time wouldn't be as good as being happy sometimes. A little depression is good for the soul.
- geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If someone gets in the way of what you love to do, drop them and any other negative people. Or you can just ignore them, but there is no excuse for not doing what you love to do. If for example you want to start a business and it's something you would love to do but someone says "No you can't do it", that person doesn't really care about you and you shouldn't be close to them. Instead, find more positive and supportive people. Eventually you'll be left with fewer friends but they'll be much higher quality friends.
- cw1925, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I thought the world's happiest man was Hefner?
- brundlefly76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Believe it or not, you just made an argument for Zen being a source of happiness.
- shmatt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4wow, you suck. RTFA instead of trolling for once.
"MRI scans showed that he and other long-term meditators - who had completed more than 10,000 hours each - experienced a huge level of "positive emotions" in the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with happiness." - ShaneMcDeath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If there is one thing i'd suggest for schools. First thing in the morning, meditation. By the age of 12 you would have radically different kids to the ones in the none practising schools.
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/print/0,,530733,00.html
From the above link.......
Meditation at school
So far, there is only one school in the country where meditation forms part of the curriculum - the Maharishi School in Skelmersdale in Lancashire. Started in 1986 by a group of dissatisfied parents (all meditators), the school began with one teacher and 14 children. There are now 100 children, ranging from four-year-olds in the reception class to 16-year-olds taking GCSEs.
If the effectiveness of meditation is measured in terms of academic success alone, the school results would seem pretty conclusive: for four out of the last five years, the Maharishi School has been top of the Lancashire league table for GCSE results. It is also in the top 2.5 per cent of the schools in the country, including the top selective independent schools. This performance is even more remarkable as the school is not academically selective and is happy to take children who have not fared well in other schools.
Creatively, they are thriving, too: pupils at the school have now won so many poetry competitions that they're currently under a one-win-a-term rule from the Poetry Society. Clearly, something is working but is it meditation?
Focusing on balance
Derek Cassells, the headmaster, certainly thinks meditation is the key and, interestingly, he regards stress as the underlying cause of all learning and behavioural problems. 'We have a very traditional curriculum but, because we also have TM or word of wisdom for the younger children, they experience a level of rest that is at least twice as deep as deep sleep, twice every day. Stresses and tensions are released and the nervous system is brought into balance. From that balance come all the benefits - such as greater ability to focus - and this produces academic results. These aren't our goal; they're just a side effect. What's important is that the children are so at ease they automatically enjoy learning and they can utilise more of their potential. We just bring out what's already there.'
The teachers all meditate, too. The maths teacher, Mark Gaskell, says, 'If I closed my eyes - as we do every day during meditation - in most schools, when I opened them again, the class wouldn't be there. After this deep silence, the children are very aware, alert and receptive. This is the great benefit for a teacher. In other schools, it's a struggle just to get the class to be quiet and listen, let alone teach them something. Here, they're refreshed and happy. It's easier for them to be creative because they want to learn.' The theory is that there is an underlying association between brainwave coherence (brainwaves becoming more synchronised between the hemispheres of the brain during meditation) and learning and creative thought.
Understandably delighted with all this success, Derek Cassells is now keen to encourage other schools to take up meditation. 'People are looking for a better system of education. Extra cramming and more pressure are finally being recognised as the wrong approach and there is more willingness to consider something different. We have been talking to a range of schools who are interested in using our methods.' - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"Drugs, never do lots of drugs"
Fix'd - xutopia, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Perhaps she's doing you a favor.
If you listen to her now you'll have more time to accomplish something substantial in the next couple of years instead of wasting it for empty accomplishements devoid of any need for skills.
If you prefer to ignore her you might find yourself with a dumb look on your face when she leaves you for someone who's actually interesting. - hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3if i want some new perspective i go to this site & pick a story title that appeals
choose the next one from the 3 at the end
3 stories total
http://www.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/whytell.html
reading the reactions from others to a story helps me realise there so MANY different ways
of understanding even the simplest of ideas
the guy who runs it is a clinical psychologist
http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/suler.html - mage1129, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I forgot how finding ways to become happy is propaganda, damn this happiness eichman
- ericmoritz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This guy cowrote "The Quantum and the Lotus", it's a great book
- yakoff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Quantum physics. If you can visualize it, it is.
- vsaint, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Must be all that buddha.
- yukevster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@isellmacs
I've been practicing Zen Buddhism for several years and I'm not sure where you are coming from. I want to clarify what you said..
"The sub-conscious mind will do whatever we want it to do. Most people completely ignore it, and so it tries it's best to do what it thinks we want it to do, even if we aren't being honest with ourselves."
Hmmm? As far as I can tell, in most Zen teachings there is no such thing as 'sub-conscious mind'. There is consciousness and unconsciousness however. You may be talking about Ego/conditioning perhaps? There is Ego (basically the 'thinking' mind that yabbers away all day inside our heads telling us this and that, mostly very unhelpful), and then there is 'this', 'now', 'presence', just being or our natural state.
"The true trick to being happy is very simple, so simple that it makes it difficult. The trick to being happy is "just be happy" Alot of people will have pre-conceived notions about a given thing, thinking they should be unhappy, or should be stressed"
Most Zen practitioners would agree that the 'trick to happiness' is letting go of Ego, and it's incessant noise. Once you have achieved that, if even for a moment, you can't be anything else but happy or joyous as that is the natural state when there is no Ego in the way.
"The trick to happiness is very much the same way. Instead of leaving the choice of happiness just up in the air, take charge of your own mind, and choose to be happy"
Yes, and be careful who is the 'I' who is 'choosing' to be happy. Usually it's going to be Ego, once again. From center you can choose only two things, to be with, listen and follow the Ego, or drop it completely and get 'here', 'now'. - streetlamp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Drugs, lots of drugs.
- Hindu_Wardrobe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hmm. Well, I kinda already did.
Long, loooong read. And it's kind of an old "version".
http://nerdiphythesoul.com/blog/?p=360
Again, you probably won't get it. But it makes sense to me. :)
Note that I will write a revised page sometime in the future. - adame, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@4NDr01D
That is not a Fat Bastard quote, and it never will be. Why would someone eat because they're fat? -
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