If someone asked you to give the "best advice you have on you", a one sentence that you would tell somebody else if you had all the wisdom you have now, and you were about to leave the earth; What is THAT advice? What is your legacy sentence?
My Best Advice? GO FOR HAPPINESS FIRST.
I was just reading a post by Richard Branson in LinkedIn and his advise was "have no regrets". I like that, it grounds us in the present.
For me it is all about going for what we really want first, or happiness, not the things we tell ourselves we want.
When you think about it, saying that we want more money, another asana, a deeper practice, or a better job or a wife, less weight, more health, a billion dollars, you name it! ANY of these are only a few "why" questions away from the real thing we do want.
They are symptoms, not the root, they are ideas pointing towards an underlying deeper desire.
Try The WHY Exercise:
For example, if I say I want more money, I can then ask: why would that be? I could answer: so I would not have to work so much, why? So I would have more free time, and why would that be? so I could focus only on things I love doing, why? because then I would be....HAPPY!
Seen in this light, why not go for happiness first?
When we go for happiness first the chips fall where there might, and where they might is around our happiness. They have no choice because that is what we are focusing on and what we focus on expands.
"How happy am I right now?" That is the only question worth asking.
It does not mean, of course, that we gloss over things, it means we get to work on whatever it is that is preventing us from being happy, but the focus is on that, happiness, recognizing how GOOD we have it in this moment. Stopping the complaining which puts focus on things we do not want.
It might be that what is preventing us from being happy right now is a crappy relationship that no longer serves us, it might be it is time to leave that awful job, it might be we need to get on the mat and practice yoga a bit more, it might mean we need more silence in our lives.
When happiness is our guiding light then we see things with discernment. It is as if we climbed to the top of the higher tree and we can see the whole forest, suddenly which direction we are to follow becomes a whole lot clearer.
And I am curious now, what is YOUR one piece of advise? Please do tell in the comments or in Twitter.
My Best Advice? GO FOR HAPPINESS FIRST.
I was just reading a post by Richard Branson in LinkedIn and his advise was "have no regrets". I like that, it grounds us in the present.
For me it is all about going for what we really want first, or happiness, not the things we tell ourselves we want.
When you think about it, saying that we want more money, another asana, a deeper practice, or a better job or a wife, less weight, more health, a billion dollars, you name it! ANY of these are only a few "why" questions away from the real thing we do want.
They are symptoms, not the root, they are ideas pointing towards an underlying deeper desire.
Try The WHY Exercise:
For example, if I say I want more money, I can then ask: why would that be? I could answer: so I would not have to work so much, why? So I would have more free time, and why would that be? so I could focus only on things I love doing, why? because then I would be....HAPPY!
Seen in this light, why not go for happiness first?
When we go for happiness first the chips fall where there might, and where they might is around our happiness. They have no choice because that is what we are focusing on and what we focus on expands.
"How happy am I right now?" That is the only question worth asking.
It does not mean, of course, that we gloss over things, it means we get to work on whatever it is that is preventing us from being happy, but the focus is on that, happiness, recognizing how GOOD we have it in this moment. Stopping the complaining which puts focus on things we do not want.
It might be that what is preventing us from being happy right now is a crappy relationship that no longer serves us, it might be it is time to leave that awful job, it might be we need to get on the mat and practice yoga a bit more, it might mean we need more silence in our lives.
When happiness is our guiding light then we see things with discernment. It is as if we climbed to the top of the higher tree and we can see the whole forest, suddenly which direction we are to follow becomes a whole lot clearer.
And I am curious now, what is YOUR one piece of advise? Please do tell in the comments or in Twitter.
This is so true. It affects everything else.
ReplyDeleteHi Claudia, I follow your lead to make my best advice. Here it goes.
ReplyDeleteFull acceptance to everything in life. Absolutely everything!
When acceptance is the foundation, you can reach higher level.
Also sending you regards from San Diego, Ashtanga Yoga Confluence! An abundant confluence!
Wear an orange hat.....
ReplyDeleteWear your favorite clothing as much as possible
Wear interesting clothing to the supermarket or to pick up Chinese take out
try it at least once a week it can change your century
In conclusion- wear an orange hat but it doesn't have to be a hat or even orange.
Ps: Claudia- love the warrior pose !!
:-)
ReplyDeleteHi Budianto, yes, nice one! :-) Enjoy the last bit of the conference.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha, very good advice J... And I agree, the way we dress has a tremendous effect on everything we do, very perceptive of you to bring it about. :-)
ReplyDelete"Look past yourself" ~ Me
ReplyDeleteVery true...I think mine would be "Know Your Worth" I think that goes hand & hand with going for happiness.
ReplyDeleteLook from within for your happiness.
ReplyDeleteI think you know mine already ;)
ReplyDeleteHm. Thought about this for a while and actually I don't know what it is Kamal... Should I know? You leave me thinking and thinking...
ReplyDeleteNice one, like have no ego, yes.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks for the Tweet!
ReplyDeleteI love that. Know your worth is something that we tend not to even think about that much. I know I have difficulty with it sometimes. Good one!
ReplyDeletesorry Kamal, silly me, it just dawned on me, so much so I had to get out of bed and come and write... Yes, your one advice is "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It:. You wrote the book!
ReplyDeleteHaha, you got it!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. Loved the simple truth of this post.
ReplyDeleteI wang happiness ... remove i and want
ReplyDeleteSee u r happy now!
Great post, so true. We all work our booties off to achieve this magical happiness sometime in the future, silly.
ReplyDeleteThis advice I heard from a woman who took care of many people in hospice. "Hope is a thief." I think it's kind of refreshing, and in a similar vein to your advice.
Claudia! Hope you're having fun on your travels.
ReplyDeleteMy best advice would be: Don't view bad moments as bad moments.
You wrote something similar on another post. I can't remember which one, but I wrote it down:
"I wish I could be more present for those moments that seem one way, but really are just what is."
I tend to hide from those bad moments, but nothing is good nor bad. Just our perceptions of it. Thanks for the insights, Claudia!
Reminds me of Pema Chodron who in one of ther books adviced people to say "abandon all hope"... interesting thought isn't it? And so on target
ReplyDeleteBy the way, it is Claudia responding, is just that James was the last one signed in here...
ReplyDeleteThank you Efrain, oddly enough I needed to hear that, right at around this moment! :-)
ReplyDelete