What is wellbeing? When do you really feel well in your life? When do you truly feel well? When you are very happy, you are well. Even if you are physically ill, you are still well, isn’t it? Even if you are medically diagnosed as ill – you are very happy right now, you are feeling well, isn’t it? So, fundamentally wellbeing means – a certain level of joyfulness. Certain exuberance of life.
Fundamentally wellbeing means – a certain level of joyfulness. Certain exuberance of life.
What is happiness? We can say happiness if this, that – but in terms of life, your life energies are happening in a more exuberant way, than it normally happens. Depression means – life energies have become very low and staid. Happiness means, your life energies are exuberant. There are many ways of describing happiness, but only those who are happy know what it means to be happy. There is nobody who has not been happy. Everybody has been happy. But, the problem is they are not able to maintain it, that’s all.
So, you don’t have to enforce any resolutions upon yourself. Just little tools to make sure that you don’t sink.
#1 Do a daily life audit
See, lot of people who are doing business – they think they are keeping accounts only for the sake of IRS. No..no..you keep accounts not for the sake of IRS – because, if you do not keep accounts you do not know whether you are making profit or loss. That’s the idea of accounts, isn’t it? Whether you are moving forward or backward, to know this, you need an account book.
Why don’t you keep an account book? At the end of the day, just check – am I little more joyful today than yesterday? If you had done this since you were 5 years of age, you would have been ecstatic by now. Profit side! Became like this [long face], because you never kept accounts. One day you checked, when it became very acute – then you see, you are in a big loss.
Every day, every month – just keep accounts. Am I becoming more joyful or less joyful? There are only 2 things – how joyful are you, and how much joy do you give to people around you. This you can keep accounts. If you keep accounts of this – people are keeping accounts of their money, as if they are going to carry it with them. The real wealth of life is, how joyful you are. How wonderful is your experience of life!
Joy is not a goal by itself, but it’s a necessary ambience for life. If you don’t set this one ambience, then whatever you have is just going waste.
#2 Remember, it’s a brief life
Tomorrow, if you wake up in the morning – no, this is not my wish. But, I want you to know, of all the people who go to bed tonight, over a million people will not wake up tomorrow morning. And tomorrow, if you and me wake up tomorrow morning, is it not a fantastic thing? A million people did not wake up. You woke up – is it not a great thing? You don’t seem to think so!
Because the problem is just this – you are living with an idea that you are immortal. When I say, you are immortal – you are not actually thinking you are immortal, but you are not conscious of your mortality. If you are not conscious of your mortality, somewhere you think you are immortal, isn’t it? How many moments in a day are you conscious that you are mortal? If you were conscious, would you have time to crib? Would you have time to fight with somebody? Would you have time to do some rubbish with your life?
Every day, every moment, if you remember – this is a brief life. You will become something truly fantastic, within yourself
If you knew…. if you are conscious that you are mortal, you would do nothing other than what is absolutely needed for you and everybody around you. Don’t think this a negative thing. Death is not a negative thing. It’s the only thing which has added value to your life. If you here forever, you would be unbearable.
If you just become conscious of this one thing, that always you are conscious that – I am mortal. You don’t have to think – I will die today. We don’t intend, we want to live as far as possible. Just you know, one day I will die. Every day, every moment, if you remember – this is a brief life. I am mortal, one day I will end. Just do this for 2 days and see. You will become something truly fantastic, within yourself. Just – this is all.
#3 Take charge of your happiness
This is the fundamental aspect of yoga. The first teaching that came out was that – it is your Karma. That means – it’s your making. Your life, and the experience of your life, is entirely your making. If this one thing doesn’t sink into you absolutely, you will not make the necessary changes. You still think – yes, I know it’s my karma. But you know, my husband, what he did! You can’t fix this.
Karma means – your action, it’s your making, it’s your doing
First, you understand – this is my making. Entirely my making. The moment you see it, you have the ability to change it. I see it, but…you know what they did to me yesterday? Now, you can’t change it. It doesn’t matter, who did what. What is happening within you – your experience of your life is entirely your making. This is your karma.
Karma means, not something that drops upon you from somewhere. Karma means – your action, it’s your making, it’s your doing.
#4 Keep everything aside before going to bed
Before you go to bed, everything that’s not you – keep it aside. They maybe precious to you. You think about it. Your house – is it you? Oh, my house! Alright, you have lots of passion about it, but alright – keep it aside. Your husband – is it you? No, that’s easy – he’s not me! My children – are they me? Oh, little difficulty, but no – they are not me. They are beginning to tell you, if they are 12, they already told you. So, the clothes that you wear – is that you? No. The body that you wear – is that you? No. All these thoughts and emotions – is this you? No.
Everything that is not you, keep it in one heap. Not physically, just do this mentally. Keep everything aside. Let me see. Everyday you practice this. One day when you successfully keep everything aside, that you are not – what you are will be there!
#5 5 minutes every day for love
What you are referring to as love is basically the sweetness of your emotion. You sit here, you could feel love about somebody who is not even here. So, it’s got nothing to do with anybody. It is just a sweetness of your emotion. Now, is your love affair, your ability to love – is it on self-start, or is it on push-start?
You can use another person to stimulate that within you. Or you can be on self-start mechanism.
See, what is this need for love in a human being? Constantly, a human being is longing to be something more, than what they are right now. The thing is, you want to include something which is not a part of you as yourself. That is the whole effort. If it happens emotionally, on the emotional level if you try this – we call this a love affair.
Love is not something that you do – it is the way you are
You are trying to make somebody who is not a part of you, a part of yourself, emotionally – this is a love affair. If you do it consciously – we call this yoga.
For five minutes everyday, got sit with something that does not mean anything to you. Maybe a tree, or a pebble, or a worm, or an insect – after sometime, you will find, you can look upon it with as much love as you hold for your wife, husband, mother, child or dog. Maybe the worm does not know this, the insect does not know this. That does not matter. If you can look at everything lovingly, the whole world explodes into a beautiful phenomenon for you.
You realise, love is not something that you do – it is the way you are.
