Happiness is the result of inner maturity. It depends on us alone, and requires patient work, carried out from day to day. Happiness must be built, and this requires time and effort. In the long term, happiness and unhappiness are therefore a way of being, or a life skill.
Interpretation
Happiness is cultivated through personal growth and effort.
Matthieu Ricard emphasizes that happiness is not a fleeting emotion but a lasting state of being that comes from inner maturity and self-discipline. It requires consistent effort and patience in our daily lives, highlighting that the process of building happiness is as important as the outcome itself.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development.
Happiness is the main object of our aspirations, whatever name we give to it: fulfilment, deep satisfaction, serenity, accomplishment, wisdom, fortune, joy or inner peace, and however we try to seek it: creativity, justice, altruism, striving, completion of a plan or a piece of work.
True freedom means freeing oneself from the dictates of the ego and its accompanying emotions.
We do all kinds of things to remain beautiful. Yet, we spend surprisingly little time taking care of what matters most - the way our mind functions.
Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment.
Knowledge does not mean mastering a great quantity of different information, but understanding the nature of mind. This knowledge can penetrate each one of our thoughts and illuminate each one of our perceptions.
Empathy is the faculty to resonate with the feelings of others. When we meet someone who is joyful, we smile. When we witness someone in pain, we suffer in resonance with his or her suffering.
Pay close attention to the particular thoughts you use to deprive yourself of happiness.
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.
If you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything
There are things around, and I know where they can be got quite easily, but I quite like waking up to the sunshine.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.