How To Enjoy A Happy Life

"Don't Worry, Be Happy," sings Bob Marley. But happiness appears to be a lost art. The stress of day to day living has made us worried and very unhappy. Our scarce resources don't seem sufficient to balance the demand.

Yet is worry itself only an illusion? A bad habit? A self-defeating way of thinking?Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful. It is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from stress. Worry, on the other hand, creates stress, which itself is linked to heart disease, cancer and stroke. How can you embrace change, stop worrying, and feel happy?

Make A Decision To Be Happy"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be," said Abraham Lincoln. To be happy is relatively easy. Just decide to be a happy person. Abraham Lincoln observed that most people can choose how happy or unhappy they want to be. Wouldn't you rather be relaxed rather than tense, bright rather than gloomy?

The choice is simple: choose to be happy. Happiness, then, as Abraham Lincoln pointed out, is actually a decision. It's not based on a perfect equilibrium in all your affairs. It's based on a choice to adopt an optimistic view. If you're going to wait for everything to be perfect before you give yourself permission to be happy, you may catch a window of opportunity only once or twice in a lifetime.

Improve Your Relationships. One certain way to be happy is to make all your relationships positive ones.Social networks are essential for happiness. People are different, accept them the way they are. Avoid clashes. Shun arguments. Let go of resentments. If an argument seems inevitable, try and understand the situation from the other person's perspective before you lose your temper. Often, this expansion of perception, is enough to end disagreements and misunderstandings.Happiness is our natural birthright.

Everyone has that capacity. Increasing it can make life wonderful. You'll also feel healthy, think clearly, and do everything better. Adopt An Attitude Of GratitudeBeing grateful is a great attitude. We have much to be thankful for. Thank the sun for rising, the sky for its beauty, and the meadows and hills for bright,living colors. Thank the air and the water for sustaining your life; the food placed before you for nourishing you; the work given to your hands to do to provide all your material needs.Thank the people who think you're special.

There is no limit on things to be grateful for.Avoid MalcontentsLife is a challenge and many people develop a peculiar joy from sharing their "ain't it awful" stories with you.Somehow, after listening to them gossip or whine, you suddenly feel empty and defeated. While you may enjoy offering a friendly word of advice, prefer to spend your time associating with happier people.If you can't get enough bad news, then turn on the radio or television.

People who are miserable can sap your energy. Do you really want to spend your time with them? It's just as easy to find uplifting joyful companionship and tune into information that is informative and inspiring. Avoid Ugly EnvironmentsAvoid exposure to negative elements like loud noises, toxins and hazardous places.Tune In To The InfiniteA spiritual perspective can tune you into the big picture. All of life is evolving before your very eyes. Relish the adventure of being here, now.

Do things that remind you of your own spiritual nature. For some, it is walking out in nature, for others it is a formal practice like meditation, contemplation, orjoining a like-minded group.Manage Your Time Manage your time. Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can make every part of your life work better.Time management involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do and prioritizing. With just a modicum of effort, you can develop efficient personal time management skills.

Make Time For HumorWatch funny movies, listen to and share jokes, and do things that make you feel silly and light-hearted. Life has its hilarious side as well.Share Your AffectionExpress your feelings, affections, friendship and passion to people around you. They will most likely reciprocate. Try to release pent up anger or frustration. Be slow to anger and quick to forgive. It makes life for everyone, including yourself, so much easier.Do Work You LoveWorking hard brings tremendous personal satisfaction. You feel competent when you finish your tasks. Accomplishments are necessary for all of us. They give us a sense of value.

Work on things that you feel worthy of your time. Love what you do and do what you love. It's a great way to make more money because your energy is aligned with your desires.Enjoy Learning New ThingsLearning is a joyful experience. Try and learn something new every day. Learning broadens your horizons. It also improves what you can do and be in the future. Get In Touch With Your BodyRun, jog, walk, exercise, make love. Get in touch with your body. Be present in your body. Feel alive in it.

These are just a few simple things you can do everyday to be happy. Once you think about it, you can come up with quite a few more.The best place to start right now is to remember the quote from Abraham Lincoln, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."The pursuit of happiness may be easier than you think.

Meditation For Beginners

This content is the preface of the book “Meditation For Beginners” by Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji. For more info log on to www.tejgyan.org)
Ignorance is the disease; Understanding is the remedy,
Unawareness is the problem; Awareness (self-awareness) is the solution.…................................................................Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji

Attention is not meditation. Meditation is not Concentration. Meditation is cont contemplation. The word ‘meditation’ originated from spirituality. In India, spiritual seekers understood the deeper aspects of ‘meditation.’ But today the word ‘meditation’ has become commonplace and is being used without its deeper meaning. It has therefore lost its significance. In Hindi language, the connotation of the word meditation and the word attention has become the same today. “Dhyan” is understood as attention, not as deep inner meditation.
Meditation is an attribute. It is an attribute of the Witness. The Witness that is called differently by different people… God, Allan, Self, Self-awareness, Consciousness, etc. Meditation is that source which is present even in deep sleep – self-awareness – even in the state of unawareness.

Meditation simply means ‘doing nothing.’ For some people ‘doing nothing’ is very difficult. How can we do ‘nothing?’ Someone asks you, ‘what should I do to get sleep? What can be done to get sleep faster?” Then the best answer to tell him, ‘you have to do nothing to get sleep. Just go and lie down. If you try to get sleep, then sleep shall not come to you. You can sleep very easily without making any effort.’ In the same way, meditation is also a process in which there is no need to do anything. You simply have to be present.

The techniques, which have been designed to kick start meditation or improve concentration, have also been called ‘meditation.’ These so-called meditations or concentration practices is a path to self-meditation. Self-meditation means meditation of the ‘Self’. This is the real aim of meditation. Just improving concentration is not the goal of meditation. The word ‘Self-Meditation’ is more appropriate than the word ‘meditation’. Concentration is ladder in the path of meditation. Concentration improves with meditation. But if someone is meditating with the aim of improving concentration, then he is taking the least benefit of meditation. Many a times it so happens that someone begins on the path of meditation to attain ‘Self-Realization,’ but he becomes very happy with improved concentration having gotten some powers and strays away from his real goal.

Meditation has also been understood as a Yogic Practice. Meditation (awareness) is necessary in every field of life. No work can be done without meditation. Meditation is essential for all activities of life. All your senses affect the body. Whenever your senses are directed externally and are involved in external things, then all the energy of your mind gets exhausted in the external objects. Therefore, it is necessary that you have some control over your senses. Meditation enables this. Through meditation, it is possible to direct the energy, which is being consumed in the external world inward. To shift the mind from external objects and stabilize it inside is the beginning of meditation.

This book has been written for beginners of meditation. Yet it can be useful for everybody – even for those who practice meditation regularly. While reading the book, practice regularly by following the instructions that have been given in the last chapter of this book ‘The Method and Technique of Meditation.’ Just as you can’t learn swimming only by reading a book on swimming, similarly you don’t get the benefits of meditation, you don’t get absorbed in meditation only by reading a book on meditation. Therefore, practice is necessary. Congratulations to you for your decision to make ‘meditation’ a part of your life. ….................................................Sirshree
For complete information, and true experience read and practice the book “Meditation for Beginners” by Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji.Log on to www.tejgyan.org

Sometimes Prayers don’t yeild expected results, Why?

(Translated in English from the original Hindi version from excerpt by Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji)
Once ones prayer completes, the state of his conscious mind reflects, the quality of prayer. As after having food, the satisfaction one gets cannot be conveyed by words, similarly one who is praying can himself feel and experience that the prayer happened today, gives a feeling of completion or no.
Prayerer knows this from inside. His conscious, intuition tells him the result of his prayer. He understands by heart and his state of mind, the completion, or incompletion of his prayer. There is no debate of any kind inside him, because this or that if feel prayer is complete. Inside here only exists is satisfaction which tells him, prayer is completed and completed by heart.
Many people have a wrong belief, or are under a wrong impression that Prayer does not yield results. The truth is we don’t see the results the manner in which, we like to see the results of the prayer, but certainly prayer always bears fruits, yield results, therefore we should continue praying. Let’s understand with this example;
One person was continuously praying for the life of an ailing old man, who was on his deathbed, counting his last few moments. Anyone seeing him could feel that death would entangle him any moment. After 3-4 days, that old man died and the person who was praying said, ‘My prayer didn’t yield result, I had prayed from the bottom of my heart and yet the old man died.’ If we observe this scenario from another angle, a different picture can be seen, that it was because of this person’s prayer only that the old man could live 3-4 days longer. This scenario proves that praying was continuously working for him.
Similarly, there are many things unknown about the Prayer. Nobody knows or understands what type of Power, Prayer is generating, because this cannot be seen, this is unseen. For example, when you operate the television with a remote control, you cannot see but everyone knows that there is some connection between the television and remote control. Similarly, direct results of the Prayer are unseen, cannot be seen but its effect is continuously happening. Still many people have a wrong belief, or are under a wrong impression that if not all, sometimes, Prayer does not yield results. This has two answers PRAYER and WANT.
First Answer – When we pray, desiring something, sometimes a desire should not be fulfilled. Sometimes an unfulfilled desire will remind you that your desires have always been fulfilled. The Sun rises everyday and one day if it does not rise, people will say, ‘Oh! The sun didn’t rise today’ that means all these days the sun rised, no one remember it, and the day sun didn’t rise, reminded of sun rising everyday. When a person’s breadth is about to stop, reminds him of he is breathing continuously. Sometimes breathing should stop, Sometimes all should happen. If sometimes these happen, don’t worry.
The Sometimes that happens, happens something different, this is that imbibes Awareness; otherwise it’s always unawareness’ surrounded. Everyone is Ignorant, that’s why no one thinks about Ignorance. One day when something different happens, leaves you astound, opens your eyes and imbibes Awareness. One night you find a Burglar in your home, you heard something rare and instantly got up from your bed. However, if this rare sound is heard everyday, the person will be in deep sleep even if the burglar comes. That’s why sometimes; different environment have to be created. If sometimes prayer does not yield result, don’t worry.
Second Answer – Sometimes Prayer is not been Listened or being Listened late, the reason being most of the times we pray in ignorance. We don’t know if we really need the thing or no for which we are praying.
For example, when people go to a Mall during festivities, purchase many things. On seeing, many things at one place and time people also purchase many things that they don’t require. After coming home, they get to know, ‘oh! This thing could have been purchased from so and so place at a very cheaper price’ … ‘Oh! This thing was not required.’ … ‘This was already in my home, I unnecessarily bought it’. This way people also buy unnecessary things at a Mall during festivities and further think, ‘will the shopkeeper take it back… lets make a try… may be he accepts… and takes it back. This way unnecessarily one is wasting time and money.
Some people repent, ‘now I have already purchased it… when I had this already at home… and am wasting additional space for it also… now the person will neither use that nor will he every feel like giving it to others. Most of them have many old unwanted things lying in their home, which they neither use nor give it to someone. Unnecessarily clean it, keep it, every time.
Similarly, most of them ignorantly pray for a thing, not knowing if it was really needed, so it is good that particular prayer does not yield result, that time that particular thing was not required. God by not fulfilling the prayer gives us an opportunity to rethink and ask our selves, ‘do I really need this thing for which I did pray, ‘did I need it or no’.
You could also try to understand this in another way. Many a times we pray, we only Order for it. Then we ask God, ‘can I cancel my order?’ Then God keeps your Order on hold, gives you an opportunity to rethink, ‘do I really need this, or should I cancel the order?
Understand this scenario; whenever any of prayer does not yield result ask yourself, ‘should I cancel my Order? Do I really need it?
Let us try to understand this prayer scenario with another example. You have gone to a Fair and you felt you should purchase a particular thing and did not purchase it. You could not take your decision there at that time. And when you come back home you say, ‘I should have purchased it… today was the last day… now I cannot purchase it also. Don’t know further, when this fair will be stalled… when will I go… how nice it would have been if I had purchased it… that time I did not feel that I should purchase… and so on…
Similarly, most of times, we don’t feel the necessity of prayer or you may feel what the necessity to pray for these things… I don’t like to pray for such small things… and later you feel that there was a need for that thing. The things, which we have always ignored, are the ones much needed.
Hence always remember you need to have faith when you pray, you need to have that required conviction, otherwise most of times we make this mistake (when prayer is unheard) of double-checking. Always checking ‘is my prayer complete. Infact you should ask yourself, ‘why did my prayer yield results?’ … What was missing in that? Etc. When you ask your self, you will understand your own behavior – are you faithful or are you doubter. Doubter is one who is always is doubts. You will understand that your prayer was about to yield results, that thing was coming to you, but your because of your doubts, that thing got stuck, stopped before reaching you. There are so many such things stuck, stopped around you. If we respond, these things will start coming to us, which were not coming. When you should have continued prayer, you stopped it.
Prayer and Result; lets try and understand this with another example. One day a man had a thought of digging out Diamonds. He purchased the required digging machine for that as well. He did not get any diamonds even after a long time and far too deep. Now he started thinking, I have not able to find any diamonds, this is not working for me, fed up of it, and he decides to sell those machines to a broker. On getting so many machines, broker thought, ‘I have got these machines as such a lower price, let me try and dig out’. The broker had digged out just 3 feet deep and 3 feet below he started getting diamonds. The person who had these machines first, who had worked so hard, if he had waited for another 3 more days, digged out 3 more feet deep, he could got all those diamonds which the broker got. On understanding this lesson, he started trying until he succeeded in all other works. Whenever he starts a new work, he is reminded of this lesson, not to make the same mistake, which he did in diamond digging. After this AWARENESS, his tremendous growth in his business and had success all his life. He lost the diamonds but learnt the best lesson of life.
Similarly, in Prayer, people don’t have patience, loose confidence. Hence, whenever any of your prayer does not yield result, means you are missing something, something is missing in you. In such times, you have had patience, you would have had patience for life, made your prayers complete and bear the fruits. There are multiple reasons for the Prayer not yielding results. Life is teaching you lessons. You are been taught various lessons by means of each prayer.
Most of the times, we doubt that our Prayer did not yield result. For example, you are at hotel, you have ordered for a particular sweet, which is round, circular in shape, and the waiter gets your dish, which is square, then you would feel this is not what I have ordered for. You always have in mind that particular sweet has to be round, because you have always seen that sweet in round shape. Therefore, you always try to see it in round, now that the square one is in front of you, same taste, but still the square shape distracted your eyes. Its good that we don’t have 4 eyes otherwise, how much would they be distracted.
Similarly, at times, Prayers have yielded results, but what if you don’t have the eyes to recognize it? You may feel my prayer did not yield result, was not complete, but see ahead, just open your eyes, Prayer has already yielded results. You have received the answer, and you are questioning on and on, repeatedly, infact it is important to recognize the answer. Once you understand the answer to your Prayer, then will it come into action. On receiving the answer, things start happening the way it should.
Are you the only one Praying, there are millions of people praying in the world. Every one has their own understanding. There are multiple features to be understood about Prayer. How can you understand about Prayer, without understanding all its features?
Most of the times, one who is praying does understand or does not know what is good for him, hence he does a wrong prayer. Prayer is not being listened to in such scenarios to make him understand.