The kingdom of happiness is embedded in our thought processes, feelings and emotions

The country was Japan. It was the Meiji era. A professor was keen to learn the teachings of Zen philosophy. He approached an estimable master. The master offered him a cup of tea and poured it into a cup. The tea was filled up to the brim. However, the Zen master kept pouring in tea. Soon, the tea began overflowing. The professor requested the Zen Master not to pour any more tea into the cup. The friar replied that the professor would be able to learn the pristine tenets of Zen only if he cast away all the self-opinionated beliefs, thoughts and emotions like the overflowing cup of tea.

Past baggage and impressions need to be dissolved and a seeker needs to truly become hollow and empty to acquire knowledge, or else we remain shipwrecked our entire lives and stranded at a particular spot. If not, there is no progression in life.

To be genuinely happy and joyous, the human mind needs to live in the present and not oscillate between the past and the future. The past is full of regrets and unfulfilled desires and the future is gripped by anxieties and fears. True enlightenment is attained to remain only in the present moment.Happiness is a good habit. It increases our self-confidence and aura. William James, an American psychologist, once said, ‘The greatest discovery was the power of the subconscious mind touched by faith.’ Faith is the intellectual powerhouse that provides us with the supreme confidence to be in the present and become successful without being attached to the success.

‘Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things’, PHIL 4:8.

Continuously dwelling on fear, worry, anger, hate and failure, makes an individual depressed and unhappy. Life is the projection of our thoughts. We are essentially what we think and a manifestation of our thoughts. We miss precious moments of happiness by harbouring antipathetic and demonic thoughts in our minds. 

We are subsumed by negative emotions and thought processes. Febrile thoughts such as ‘the world has conspired against me’, ‘I do not get the right breaks’, ‘I do not succeed’, and ‘everything goes wrong in my life’ normally cannonade our minds. Such negativity drains us both physically and emotionally. Negativity, as a result, begets negativity.

The human mind also has an errant habit of postponing happiness. Often, we hear statements like - ‘If I was made head of the organisation’, ‘if I featured on page 3 of the magazine’, ‘if I was married to a beautiful princess, then I would live like a king’. We end up daydreaming and living in an illusory world. Humans just need to live in the now. We all have cleanly forgotten the power of NOW.

Apart from living in the Present Moment, humans need to make positive affirmations - ‘I choose happiness today, I choose love today, I choose right action today and this can be done only now’. By being regretful, we do not count our blessings. It is paramount that we humans feel blessed, grateful, humble and blessed constantly. These imprints and footnotes should be etched deeply in the amphitheatre of our mind. The kingdom of happiness and true joy is embedded in our thought processes, feelings and emotions. We need to handle it with skill and dexterity and not be judgmental. The universe resonates with the positive vibrations in our minds.

(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd. and Chhattisgarh East West Railway Ltd. He is a faculty of the Art of Living; views are personal)