Happiness

"What is suffering?", asked the man.

"Suffering is when you crave for something which you cannot get. That is when you feel suffering.", answered Ajahn Bhram.


Very true indeed is the word of the wise. We always blame everything else when we feel our life is torture. We would blame our boss, some slow-moving drivers on the highway, the weather.

But how many times did we look at the same thing from a different perspective?

This reminds me of a story from Ajahn Bhram's talk. He was in Ipoh last Sunday evening, his first trip to this quiet little town.

There was a supermarket in town where everyone would shop for their daily groceries there. Little kids and toddlers would follow their mom on their groceries shopping. In the midst of everyone busy buying everyone's stuffs, a kid accidentally dropped a bottle of honey to the floor, breaking the bottle.

Then the mother looked at the child angrily, and scolded out "You stupid child!".

On another occassion, another kid broke another bottle of honey to the floor, breaking the bottle.

Then the mother of this other child looked sternly at her child, and said "That's a stupid thing to do!".

End of story.

It might not be significant as to what is the difference of the 2 scenarios in the story, but let me explain.

The mother of the first child labeled the child as a "stupid child" when the child did something wrong, which the kid might just grow up into someday. Someone who think he really is stupid because that's how his mom taught him since he was a toddler.

The mother of the other child labeled the incident as a "stupid thing to do", which will make the kid realize that that is something he shouldn't have done. He just might not do it again the next time.

Haven't you realize a simple shift in mind will make such great difference in everything?

Staying happy is the simplest thing to do. Just stay positive. Just think positive. When you do, good things will really be attracted to you. Promise that.

Suffering is when you crave for something which you cannot get. Try thinking in another perspective. What you don't have is what you have yet to posses instead. It will come to you someday.


ChiM