Sadhguru examines why joy is our core responsibility and answers a question that is common but also pressing for many: "How to be happy in life?" ". He gives 10 tips to make it a reality.
Sadhguru: When you are basically happy, when you don't need to do anything to be happy, then every dimension of your life - the way you view the world as well as yourself, the way you express yourself - changes. You will no longer have special interests because, whether or not you do something, whether or not you get something, whether something happens or not, you will be joyful by nature. When you are joyful by your very nature, your actions reach a whole different level.
10 tools for a happy life
# 1 See that joy is your core responsibility
The first and most fundamental responsibility of a human being is to become a joyful being. Being happy is not the ultimate aspect of life, it is the fundamental aspect of life. If you are not happy, what else can you do with your life? Other great possibilities open to you, only if you are happy.
Whatever you do, it is only your inner quality that you are going to impart. Whether you like it or not, this is reality. Unless something of real value is happening within you, you cannot do anything of very great value to the world. So if you are concerned about the world, the first thing you need to do is transform yourself into a happy being.
# 2 Realize that joy is your true nature
It doesn't matter what you pursue in your life, be it business, power, education or service, you do it because, somewhere deep inside you, there is this feeling that it will bring you happiness. . Every action we take on this planet comes from an aspiration to be happy, for that is our original nature. When you were a kid you were just happy. It is your nature. The source of joy is within you; you can take it over.
# 3 put things in perspective
Today, this morning, did you see that the sun has risen wonderfully? The flowers have bloomed, no stars have fallen, the galaxies are functioning very well. Everything is in order. The entire cosmos is going wonderfully well today, but it just takes one thought that crawls like a worm through your mind to make you believe that today is a bad day.
Suffering occurs primarily because most human beings have lost all perspective of what this life is. Their psychological process has become much larger than the existential process, or to put it bluntly, you have made your little creation much more important than the creation of the Creator. It is the fundamental source of all suffering. We missed the full sense of what it means to be alive here. A thought in your head or an emotion in you determines the nature of your experience at this time. And your thoughts and emotions may even have nothing to do with the limited reality of your life. All of creation is going wonderfully well, but one thought or emotion can destroy everything.
# 4 see the mind for what it is
What you call "my mind" is actually not yours. You don't have a mind of your own. Take a close look at this, please. What you call "my mind" is just society's garbage. Anyone and just about everyone who meets you ends up cramming something in your head. You really don't have a choice as to who to receive and who not to receive. If you say, “I don't like this person,” you will get a lot more from that person than from anyone else. You don't really have a choice. If you know how to process and use it, this trash can is useful. This accumulation of impressions and information that you have gathered is only useful for survival in the world. It has nothing to do with who you are.
# 5 Go from the psychological to the existential
When we talk about a spiritual process, we are talking about moving from the psychological to the existential. Life concerns the creation that is there; you have to know it absolutely and experience it as it is, not to distort it as you wish. If you want to step into existential reality, to put it very simply, you just have to see that what you think is not important, what you feel is not important. What you think has nothing to do with reality; it doesn't matter in life. The mind is just chatting away with some nonsense that you have collected elsewhere. If you think it's important, you'll never look past it.
Your attention naturally goes in the direction of whatever is important to you. If your thought and emotion are important, of course all your attention will be directed there. But it is a psychological reality which has nothing to do with the existential.
Suffering is not poured out on us; it is made, and the unit of manufacture is in your mind. It's time to shut down this manufacturing unit.
# 6 stop looking, start expressing yourself
Today, we pursue happiness so vigorously that the very life of the planet is threatened. Don't be looking for happiness. Know how to express your happiness in the world. Look back in your life and see, the happiest times in life are when you expressed your joy, not when you were looking for it.
What you save will never be your quality. What you distribute will be your quality. If you save your joy, at the end of your life nobody will take you into account: “She kept every bit of joy in her, she is the happiest dead person. They will say, "This horrible creature has never even smiled in her life." But if you would dispense your joy and love every day, people would say, "Oh, she was a joyful and loving being." "
# 7 Smile!
When you wake up in the morning the first thing you should do is smile. Whose ? To no one. Because just the fact that you woke up is no small thing. Millions of people who slept last night didn't wake up today, but you and I woke up. Isn't it great that you woke up? So smile, because you woke up. Then look around and if there is someone, smile at them. For so many people, a loved one didn't wake up this morning. Everyone who is dear to you has woken up - wow! Isn't it a great day? Then go out and look at the trees. They didn't die last night either.
You may think this is ridiculous, but you will know the reality of it when someone you care about doesn't wake up. Don't wait to understand its value. It's not something ridiculous, it's the most precious thing - that you are alive and everything that matters to you. When so many people did not wake up on that disastrous night, and so many loved ones did not wake up, you and your loved ones woke up. Isn't it a fantastic event? Appreciate it and at least smile. Learn to look at a few people with love.
# 8 Remember to smile!
For many people, it only takes an hour to forget about all this and very quickly their reptilian brain wants to bite someone. So give yourself a dose once an hour - a reminder of the value of life. If you are very unresponsive, remember in every half hour. If you are horribly callous, remember it every five minutes. It only takes ten seconds to remember it. You could do it in just two seconds too: “I'm alive, you're alive. What more? "
# 9 transform what's on the inside
Right now, the quality of your life is not determined by the clothes you wear, the degrees you have earned, the family background you come from, or the bank balances you hold. Rather, the quality of your life depends on how peaceful and joyful you are within yourself.
It is certain that a person who has no food and who is deprived of the basic needs to survive can be physically unhappy. This must be resolved. For these people, we have to deal with these things first. But for most of the others, they have an endless list of needs. Do you think the man driving the car is happier than the man walking down the street? No. It is not determined by what they have; it depends on how they are at that time.
# 10 stop comparing yourself to others
Most people are not unhappy because of what they don't have; it's just because they compare themselves to someone else. You are driving a motorbike, you see someone in a Mercedes and you make yourself miserable. Someone on a bike, he sees you on a motorcycle and it's a limo for him. Someone walking down the street looks at the bike and is like, “Wow, if I had just that, what would I have done with my life! It's a stupid game and it continues.
All people who depend on external situations to be happy will never experience true joy in their life. It's definitely time to turn inward and see how to create personal well-being. From your own life experience, you can clearly see that true well-being will come to you only if your interiority changes. If you depend on the outside to bring you joy, you have to understand that the outside never gets 100% the way you want it to. When it's real, at least that person - you - has to behave the way you want to be. If you got to be the way you want to be, the natural choice would be joy. It is not something you have to look for. If you go back to your original nature, joy will be your only way of being.