Friday, June 5, 2009

Happiness Journey

As per my blogosphere friend's request, here I am, blogging about the journey of Happiness through different stages of life - as understood from Dr Deepak Chopra.


Dr Deepak Chopra specialised in internal medicine and was practising in California, before he took up Ayurveda. Further, he started concentrating more on the mind - body connections and advocates self-awareness and meditation as primary factors in both illness and healing.


There is this show in NDTV Good Times called "Happiness - A Journey with Deepak Chopra" which greatly appealed to me. And, this show is aired on Mondays & Saturdays 7.30 pm IST. Generally, 7.30pm shows in NDTV GT are about yoga, meditation and the alternate methods for peace and health.

In this series, Dr DC talks about finding happiness in various aspects of life like - love, work, death etc. The thoughts shared were simple, yet carried a profound meaning to it. I'll try my level best to remember Dr DC's thoughts and write them down.

  • There can 101 ways to beat stress like meditation, swimming, yoga and many more. But the most powerful ones are those times spent with your friend / spouse / partner doing some activity, where MONEY is not involved. Play a game of tennis or badminton, walk a few miles - any activity with a buddy is sure a great stress buster. When money is not involved, it brings in great happiness to play with friends and hence greater relief from stress.
  • As Lord Krishna advocates in his Bhagvad Gita, an employee also should live the life of KARMA YOGI. It means that - Just keep doing the work about which you are passionate about, but don't await the outcome of your work. If you love what you are doing, then the end result should never matter to you. Great musicians, artists have all created wonders - but never with the intention of selling and making money. If it happens later as a gradual process, then learn to accept it. But, the point is, Be passionate about your work, Work more passionately, Never think about the outcome. By living the life of Karma Yogi in the work place, the employee is totally satisfied - you can never find a more satisfied and happy human being at work.
  • The human body is made of matter, as are all the things in this earth. So, why do we think that the human body is destroyed after death ? Matter can never be destroyed. It just exists in different forms. By thinking that the person who died, is existing in this earth in some other form, will bring in some serenity to the mind. Its all in the mind - what you make your mind to think, is what you'll feel later.
  • When two people meet and talk, each person starts to exist in the conscience of the other. This kind of communication through the conscience is very powerful and intent. It also helps in feeling the other person's presence, even when they are not near us. This feeling is a great happiness contributor, when the other person meets with death.

Dr DC's thoughts and expressions were many more, which I am having trouble in bringing them to memory. Once, I do it, I'll be sure to write them also.

Finally, our happiness is within us. Nothing outside can affect this happiness within. We are responsible for our own happiness. How we react to situations, how we work passionately, how we treat our friends, how are we treated by our enemies - anything and everything should not affect our inner happiness.


4 comments:

Swaram said...

U have captured the essence beautifully Uma. Thanks :)

Reflections said...

Thanks Uma for this post!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite a lot of doubts have been clarified beautifully in this post...esp abt being karma yogi & abt how when we cease to exist in 1 form, we take another form.

And finally like u said "Its all in the mind - what you make your mind to think, is what you'll feel later."
The state of mind does have a lot to do about how one goes abt making decisions & living their lives.

Will try to catch tht show:-))!!!

UmaS said...

Thank u dear friends !

BTW, Nancy, yday was the last episode of that Happiness show. OOPS, I didn't know abt it before I posted this blog. Sorry, guys.

Butterfly said...

What? The show ended? stuff on happiness should not end. Maybe it should take another form!!! :D Nice write up. I like such positive thoughts. The hard part is hanging on to it.