Saturday, January 5, 2013

Setting Expectations In Life - Secret To Happiness?

Namaste, Hari Om,

''201. Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy.'' -Dhammapadda

To often we are let down by some and fall into emotional states such as depression, anger, and even hatred.

Even expectations from food, objects and places can effect our emotions. If our emotions are affected we often lose sight of our true spiritual goals.

Before we allow our minds to fall into this state we need to calibrate or set our expectations in life.

How do you unlock this secret to happiness? How do we set our expectations so that no event can pull us to emotional extremes?

The answer is easy, its found in the Bhagvadgita as mentioned by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar below.

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Be contented with whatever comes to you

Bangalore, March 03, 2012

Q: Guruji, please talk about gratitude. You have said that the more gratitude we have the more grace flows into our lives. How do I become more grateful every day?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all drop this more. More devotion, more gratitude, more joy, more happiness, we need to drop this, ‘I want more and more. First you are thinking, ‘I want more money, more joy, more happiness and more pleasure.’ Then you shifted your tendency to wanting more peace, more knowledge, more of this and more of that. As long as you are in the run for more, you are not going to settle. Unless you settle, there is neither peace nor grace. Got it?! So somewhere you should take this whole ‘I want more’ thing and dump it and say ‘okay, that is it! It is said in the Bhagavad Gita, ‘Yadrccha-labha-santusto Dvandvatito Vimatsarah.’ Whatever is coming to you, you should have some level of contentment and with contentment comes gratitude. If you are discontent, how can you be grateful? If you are grumbling, you can’t be grateful, and if you are not grateful, how can there be grace? Do you see what I am saying? It all fits one into another. So now, don’t ask me how can one be more grateful? Just stop complaining! Know that this whole life is like a dream. It is all going to end and everything is going to finish one day. This very awareness will bring a shift in you. ‘This story is going to end someday and the curtains are going to fall’, knowing this suddenly a shift happens from the run to having more to contentment. It will come to that. 

Source: http://wisdomfromsrisriravishankar.blogspot.ch/2012/04/be-contented-with-whatever-comes-to-you.html
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This is the answer to 99% of life's problems. Do not get effected by life's turns and bumps. Having single pointed faith will help you climb mountains. Always remain content.

More info and the source for the above picture at: http://phong.com/journal/dhammapada-on-contentment/


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