The Path to Tranquility by The Dalai Lama

The Path to Tranquility by The Dalai Lama

 

 

·         The ancient Buddhist teachings are confirmed by science and studies.

·         The main goals are common with those of Positive Psychology

·         The importance of Positive Thoughts has been preached by the Buddhists

·         For thousands of years Buddhists have known that empathy, compassion are the key…

·         In Buddhism, Bodhicitta is the aspiration to achieve enlightenment

·          for the benefit of all beings

 

“As human beings we all want to be happy and to avoid suffering.

It is valuable to Cultivate a Positive State of Mind

In the Buddhist tradition, one of the most effective ways to do so

Is by Meditation…

Meditation can mean

Continuously familiarizing ourselves with Positive Thoughts”

 

·         The Dalai Lama uses the “Eight Verses for Training the Mind”

·         It contains useful advice to

·         Always consider others as more important than ourselves

·         To face the disturbing emotions that endanger our peace of mind

·         Give whatever benefit arises to others and shouldering difficulties

 

 

“I love my friends, I want more friends, and I love smiles

 

·         There are a variety of smiles, some are

·         Sarcastic, others are artificial

·         They produce fear, suspicion

·         A genuine smile can give us

·         Hope, freshness

·         If we want a genuine smile

·         We must produce the basis for that smile

 

-          We should practice a pure perception of others

-          When we speak of others-speak of their good qualities

-          If you find you slander anybody, imagine your mouth

-          Full with excrement…it will cure you

 

·         If you are mindful of death, it will not come as a surprise

·         You will not be anxious, you will feel like death is

·         Merely changing your clothes

·         You will be able to maintain your calmness of mind

 

-          In the beginning and at the end of our lives

-          We depend on the kindness of others and yet

-          In the middle we neglect goodness

 

-          All the different religious faiths

-          Despite their philosophical differences

-          Have a Similar Objective

-          Every religion emphasizes Human Improvement

-          Love, Respect for others

-          Sharing other people’s suffering

-          All religions have more or less the Same Viewpoint

-          And the Same Goal

 

·         For some, the practice of Compassion and Religion

·         Coincides … but a secular person can be Spiritual

·         Compassion is compulsory for everyone to practice

 

-          Learning to forgive is more useful than throwing a stone

-          At the object of anger…patience protects us

 

·         The main emphasis in Buddhism is

·         To transform the Mind and

·         Transformation depends on Meditation

·         In order to meditate correctly you must have knowledge

 

-          Kindness is the key to peace and harmony

-          People try to acquire status, yet status and fame

-          Do not mean anything

With Gratitude for Bogdan Husanu

Bogdan Husanu

 

This seems to be a happy day for Bogdan.

I wish you would join me in wishing him …Happiness!!

He deserves it!

Some of the proposed goals for this group include

Reading & Posting about Happiness and how we can improve it,

but also –Practicing What We Preach:

 

This is the “Gratitude Exercise „and is dedicated to Bogdan-

I wish to express my gratitude, as a personal feeling,

but also in the name of those who have the chance to meet

and enjoy the company of Bogdan at World Class Downtown…

 

He is a theater director and a very open, friendly man, albeit he has studied in Russia.

I would expect someone learning with the big bear to be aggressive, like the

Former soviets have been doing in the Ukraine, or is it the Russian territory?

 if we listen to the Kremlin version.

Bogdan Husanu was very enthusiastic about sharing,

“preaching” and creating a positive message-

He was very determined to push with the idea of placing positive posters through town.

He is a writer- you can find him on IMDB and also enjoy his

Direction in the production of STORYTELLER-

I have attached the play’s poster here

 

We have managed to apply this only this far:

we have plenty of posters on our group’s timeline

(perhaps too many? Feel free to send feedback)

Bogdan represents the bright future of Romania;

if there were more like him I would place a bet

On our “national shares „growing steadily.

He is a calm, smiling person with a Duchenne type of approach.

We talk in the sauna and at the locker room, not as often as I would like to because our

Programs do not match.

We are lucky to have him in our group, with his good karma.

He suggests the attitude of Buddhist compassion,

with an aura of positive feelings about him all the time

To try a joke which may end up the positive waves he’s sending me:

Sometimes I think he is so good to the rest of us because

he doesn’t keep his eyeglass handy all the time and

without them we all seem all right, even if some,

like this joker here, keep making pranks.

We do not see eye to eye on everything:

I feel very strongly that Russia is an aggressive, military near-dictatorship and

he is more nuanced and tolerant.

This may prove the point-

Bogdan  is a good guy, who keeps his cool,

doesn’t plunge into quick, hot headed conclusions.

My repeated invitations to him are renewed yet again:

We need your presence here more

Until we place the posters throughout the city

 You can use your creativity to motivate us and others in the group and page

“Yes we can”…

 

Perhaps you can “set the stage for a positive event like a

·         Happiness little march

·         visit to my little Eden, brim full with macaws, borzoi and…roses

·         Simple stroll in Herastrau, or Mogosoaia…

 

Once again I wish to express My gratitude for Bogdan.

The Authentic – Duchenne Smile, Positive Psychology and Success

The Authentic – Duchenne Smile, Positive Psychology and Success

 

Positive Psychology has studied how important Positive Emotions are and how different the outlook is for people who smile. These are three tests that are mind boggling:

 

·         Some researchers now believe that genuine smiles are clear windows

·         into a person’s core disposition.

·         University of California at Berkeley psychological scientists

·         LeeAnne Harker and Dacher Keltner analyzed the college yearbook photos of women,

·         then matched up the smile ratings with personality data collected

·         during a 30-year longitudinal study.

·         Women who displayed true, Duchenne-worthy expressions of positive emotion

·         in their 21-year-old photo had

·         greater levels of general well-being and marital satisfaction at age 52.

·         “People photograph each other with casual ease and remarkable frequency,

·         usually unaware that each snapshot may capture as much about the future

·         as it does the passing emotions of the moment,”

 

·         A related study, published in a 2009 issue of Motivation and Emotion,

·         confirmed a correlation between low-intensity smiles in youth and divorce later in life.

 

·         In a more recent study, published in Psychological Science,

·         Ernest Abel and Michael Kruger of Wayne State University

·         extended this line of research from emotional outcomes to a biological one: longevity.

·         Abel and Kruger rated the smiles of professional baseball players captured in a 1952

·         yearbook, then determined each player’s age at death

·         (46 players were still alive at the time of the study).

·         The researchers found that smile intensity could explain 35 percent of the variability

·         in survival; in fact, in any given year,

·         players with Duchenne smiles in their yearbook photo were

·         only half as likely to die as those who had not.

Happiness Improves Your Health and Your Life Expectation- tests prove this statement

Happiness Improves Your Health and Your Life Expectation- tests prove this statement

 

This is one of the best known and fascinating tests I have read about. It is mentioned in the best positive psychology books, from The Science Behind Your Smile by David Nettle to Die Glucks Formel by Stefan Klein (la Humanitas: Formula Fericirii).

 

·         In September 1932, the mother superior of the American School Sisters of Notre Dame

·         Decided that all new nuns should be asked to write an autobiographical sketch

·         These sketches were kept, and they have been rated by psychologists to show

·         The amount of Positive Feeling which they revealed

·         These ratings have then been compared with How Long each nun lived

·         Amzing results: the amount of Positive Feeling that a nun proved in

·         Her Twenties was an accurate predictor of How Long she Would Live!!

·         Of the nuns that still lived in 1991

·         Only 21% of the happiest quarter died in the next nine years, compared with

·         55% of the least happy quarter

·         This shows How Happiness Can Increase a Person’s life

 

Multiple tests show that Happiness results in

·         Physical health

·         More robust immune systems

·         Lower levels of stress-causing cortisol

·         when exposed to a flu virus

·         Happy people are less likely to contract the disease

·         They also recover better from major surgery

·         When one has a happy experience:

·         The body chemistry improves

·         Blood pressure and heart rate fall

Oscars aka Academy Awards test:

·         750 actors and actresses have been nominated for Oscars

·         Those who got an Academy Award went on to

·         Live Four Years Longer than the losers...