Saturday, August 17, 2024

Happiness

Some people seek happiness in the world. Some people seek happiness in God. I think both are missing the point. It is a well-known fact that happiness derived from material possessions is short lived. Neither can God make us happy, although He may want it so.

The Dalai Lama says the secret to happiness is love and kindness. We must learn to love each other. Anger never solved anything and will only antagonize the other person further. However, if one reacts with kindness, there is at least a chance of a positive resolution.

This idea is not unique to religion. Dale Carnegie said something similar in his book 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'... basically, something to the effect of "when you argue, all you get is two mad people." By the way, reading this book completely changed my perspective on how to interact with people. I think it helped me understand why many people act the way they do and how I could change my own behavior if I wanted to reduce the friction in my life.

Reacting with kindness is not without cost, however. Always 'turning the other cheek' at some point becomes too exhausting. You have to decide how much of yourself you are willing to sacrifice in order for the other person to get their way. Maybe that is where God comes in; He gives us strength.

"God called me in the morning and asked me would I do good for him alone without reputation." -Florence Nightingale

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