Happiness

I recently read a book, a spiritual fable about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny, that sold over one million copies. While I found many of the ideas good, one I tended to disagree with was "the power of oppositional thinking."

I do not believe in trying to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. It is the nature of the human mind to judge, become angry, upset, when negative things happen. But sometimes we choose to hold on to these thoughts and think them over and over for days, weeks or even months. The challenge lies in fully experiencing the feelings of disappointment etc. understanding them, letting them go and moving on.

Yoga and meditation afford us the opportunity to practice letting go, each time we realize that we are lost in thought we come back to focus on the breathing and being in the present moment. Extending this practice into our daily lives we can practice letting go, coming back to the present and remembering all of the riches in our lives that money cannot buy.

I love the teachings of Thich Nat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who states this about happiness:

"I have noticed that people are dealing too much with the negative, with what is wrong. They do not touch enough on what is not wrong - it's the same as some psychotherapies. Why not try the other way to look into the patient and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?"

I look forward to seeing you!

Sue-Anne