In todays high pressure world sometimes the ideal or goal of real happiness is forgotten about. We try to make other people happy or make them feel happy about us. we look for happiness in  material things, possessions objects and so on. Worse still, sometimes we cherish depression and don’t aspire or fight our way out of sadness to regain our lost happiness.

“If you are happy, it will help you to a great extent. If you are unhappy, you won’t make any progress at all. On the contrary, you will be marching backwards. Real outer happiness is not self-deception. It does not come from wasting time and indulging in pleasure-life. Real outer happiness is something totally different. It comes from inner joy and inner satisfaction.”     -Sri Chinmoy

Everyone wants to be happy. When you see someone that is truly happy, it rubs off on you and gives you joy.  Likewise when you share your happiness it makes you feel happier. “Everyday,” says Sri Chinmoy, “We must try to make at least one person happy.” Children are a great example. They are in the heart, spontaneous, play, jump, run and are happy. There minds aren’t developed in the smile in their eyes and faces spread happiness everywhere.

Sometimes it is surprising, people who don’t have much outwardly can be the happiest people you meet. This is most obvious to me when you travel through some of the so called poorer nations where people are often innately happy. I remember travelling through Myanmar about 13 years ago. The people were really happy. They didn’t have so many financial burdens or first world problems that we have in Western society. Their smiles were genuine. Why was this? It’s because they have qualities necessary for happiness: simplicity, purity, self-giving. They also had spirituality which helped nurture and grow these qualities. It was a deeply Buddhist country and nearly everyone prays and meditates. These people may have been poor in terms of worldly possessions and comfort compared to us, but with true happiness they were truly rich.

How to be more happy?

By embodying gratitude for the things we have. That gratitude brings happiness, joy and fulfilment. It’s proven that gratitude conquers sadness and depression yet we don’t offer our hearts gratitude often enough. Gratitude opens us up to the joy of life.

Selfless service also helps. Revisiting my Myanmar trip, a special moment occurred for me in their main temple in Yangon, the Schwedagon Pagoda. I went nearly every day I was there. The locals go there to receive Lord Buddhas blessings and it is full of countless statues of the great spiritual master, many gold leafed, as is the main pagoda. It is a special place with the golden hues and ambience of centuries of meditation permeating the surroundings. Many lay people would serve the temple. Sweeping, cleaning, looking after the area. Sometimes a line of a dozen people, each holding a brush broom would walk past in a synchronised fashion, all walking in a neat line around the circular pagoda as they bent over and swept the ground. It was inspiring.

Quite often when I sat around a young person would politely ask to come and practice their English in conversation. One young boy told me this sweeping was his favourite thing, it gave home  such joy. Perhaps with our western analytical minds we see someone sweeping for nothing, not getting paid and doing something menial. But his heart was getting happiness and peace in making the area more  beautiful and more inspiring for the pilgrims who visited and it made him happy because it was serving everyone who visited by uplifting the consciousness of the place.

We have to be cheerful and happy. Prayer and meditation pleases the real in us and in the inner progress we make we naturally feel the happiness that goes with it. A few moments of gratitude for this allows happiness to really blossom.

“To be cheerful,” Sri Chinmoy say, “is to be on God’s side.”

How Can I Be More Spiritual and Thus Happy

There’s a famous thought that we are spiritual beings having a human experience rather than a human being having a spiritual experience. There are many ways to be more spiritual.

• Spend time with like minded spiritual people. Spiritual Masters have said to their students when they are going through difficult patches to spend time with fellow aspiring seekers. It lifts you up, inspires you and helps you regain your aspiration.
• Attend a regular meditation or a spiritual group. Being regular in your practice helps discipline your spiritual life. You must do your regular individual meditation practice on a daily basis but going to a collective meditation at least once a week is powerful and uplifting.
• Read spiritual books. These are inspiring and can help you walk on your path of spirituality. Try and read writings directly from spiritual masters that way you know the consciousness of the words are coming directly from a plane of truth and not from our analytical human minds! Sri Chinmoy published over 1500 books and each one can inspire you to dive deeper, fly higher or move forward. Other Masters or their disciples have also written. They can help you tremendously.
• Sing spiritual songs. Soulful music can help you tremendously to feel the depths of your own being. Usually spiritual melodies are haunting and stirring, although dynamism and power can also be there. Some spiritual masters have composed and performed songs while other great souls like Tagore have composed numerous song expressing mans longing for a higher life.

Visit our classes link to find the latest free meditation classes in the Perth metropolitan area.