Chetan Prabhakar
Were we not born special and unique? Were we not one of the types? Were we not happy with the way we were and what we had in our childhood? But, then, slowly and steadily, we started getting conditioned to fit into the mould society has created, and, in such pursuit, we started running and left our true selves somewhere behind to become something in order to fit into the society.
In the pursuit of becoming, most of us might be able to get desired jobs, businesses, money, power, fame etc., however, have we become truly happy after getting all what we thought would make us happy? With all the achievements and possessions, also comes the fear of losing them and the uncertainty of future. Do we not sometimes get up in the middle of the night out of fear or anxiety?
You sure would agree in the affirmative. The primary reason for this occurrence is because our minds are scattered and unconquered; which are behaving like a drunken monkey, who holds us back from enjoying what we have achieved and available in the here and now. Verse 6.6 of Bhagavad Geeta says:
“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.”
So, if we wish to be truly happy, we need to conquer our mind, and how can we do that? we can conquer and tame our mind by getting into the practice of Mindfulness. The practice of Mindfulness helps us to conquer our mind, which enables us to live in the present moment and experience its bliss, through various easy and simple tools.
Mind is a good servant but a bad master. Through the practice of mindfulness, one can derive from the mind, what best it can do, that is to be a good servant. Neuroscience has also affirmed the benefits of mindfulness. Mindfulness perfectly aligns the body, mind and spirit, which is all it takes to be fully alive in the present moment and with a concerted focus.
Mindfulness is a profound art, yet is simple in essence. All it takes is alignment of the mind, body and speech to reap the best from life and from yourself. It can be resorted to at any place, any time and in everything we do, such as listening, writing, eating, walking etc. and our happiness is increased manifold only if we are mindful and/or aware of our breath and the activities we perform.
And once, we have developed the habit of being mindful of our breath and the activities we perform, we will reach at a point, where we will become mindful of our thoughts, feelings, emotions and perceptions and, then, once become aware of them, we can easily convert the negative feeling, emotions, thoughts etc. into positive ones, which will help us in maintaining mental hygiene, leading to increased concentration levels and focus. The results are obvious, increased productivity, elevated levels of happiness and the result is; improved quality of life.
Mindfulness is a practise to keep oneself completely present in the moment and reap its joys. There is no suffering, it is ocean of happiness, which is endless. If we closely observe, suffering is only a by-product of living in the future or in the past. However, if we keenly notice, the present moment is a wonderful moment, where there is no suffering and most of the conditions for happiness are present.
Happiness is a habit, which has to be cultivated and nourished, and the simplest and most practical skill to cultivate and nourish happiness is Mindfulness.
There is no age barrier to happiness, then neither there is, to this art. It is every human’s birth right to be happy, as, happiness is the prime purpose of our life since all our endeavours are in the pursuit of happiness, as such, Happiness is Godliness.
(The author is Founder & Mindfulness Coach Sachetan (School of Conscious Living)
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