7 Steps To Being Happy According To The Hindus
Hindu legend says that the only happy man lived in an ancient kingdom. In this place there were people who were full of money but who could not enjoy their possessions. They always wanted more. That’s why they invested almost all of their time in doing business to increase their fortune. Others, on the other hand, were very poor. They weren’t happy either, because they dedicated a good part of their lives to dreaming about everything they didn’t have.
When there was a rumor that there was a man who was completely happy, everyone was very interested. It was said that this man had a safe, and that inside it were all the secrets to achieving happiness. The rich came to him and wanted to buy the safe from him, but the man didn’t sell it. The poor begged him, but the sage did not yield either. They even tried to steal the safe, but no one succeeded.
After a while, a child came to talk to the man. The boy said he wanted to be happy too. Seeing the child’s innocence, the happy man was moved. He said that happiness was like a staircase and that each step towards it required new learning. That’s how he showed the 7 steps to being happy.
Step 1. Cultivate self-love to be happy
The man in the vault told the child that the first condition to be happy is to love yourself. Self-love means feeling deserving of happiness. For that, we have to give value to our life. Taking care of health and physical well-being.
It is also necessary to understand that we are unique in the world. This means that each of our virtues and our faults are the result of a unique story in the universe. We are neither more nor less than anyone else, just the effect of millions of unrepeatable causes.
Step 2. Act, put into practice
One of the things that makes people most unhappy is thinking about being better, or about a better life, but just leave it in thought. This only leads to frustration and guilt. If you believe you can or should do something, just do it. You don’t have to ruminate so much about it.
It is also important that actions are consistent with your words and, of course, with your thoughts. If you think one way but act the other, it will only create confusion. On the other hand, when there is harmony in your inner world, everything flows easily.
Step 3. Banish envy
Those who live thinking about the achievements of others before their own achievements build a path to bitterness. You never know what the other person had to go through to be what they are or have what they have. Therefore, you are nobody to judge whether the person deserves it or not.
Instead of thinking about what others do and don’t achieve, get busy with what matters in your life. If you let envy rise in your heart, you will suffer. And it will be a useless and destructive suffering. If you can be happy with the achievements of others, your happiness will be doubled and you will have more strength in your heart to reach your goals.
Step 4. Fighting the grudge
Sometimes we receive such strong affronts that the pain is rooted in the heart. Over time, the pain turns to frustration. And the latter turns into anger. The person ends up having a very negative feeling and this ends up paralyzing him.
Anger is another one of those useless feelings that hurts a lot who feels it. Life has its own logic. So, when faced with an affront, you must think that whoever caused it will find justice on their own. Sooner or later each one reaps what he sows. Therefore, each one must strive to forgive, forget and leave behind.
Step 5. Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you
According to the Hindus, anything that is illicitly taken from others has serious consequences. In time, whoever committed this act will lose something that has much more value. Not respecting the assets of others also makes you lose what you’ve got.
This does not only apply to material goods. It’s also about appropriating ideas, affections, or benefits that don’t correspond to you. For Hindus, this lack of respect for what belongs to the other is the beginning of a person’s emotional and material ruin.
Step 6. Eradicate abuse from your life
No living thing should be harmed. This includes people and, of course, also plants and animals. Whoever manages to relate to life in a loving way, manages to be happy. All living beings are a source of joy and well-being, and that is why they should be valued.
This, of course, involves a radical refusal to be mistreated. It is good that you are firm to reject any situation or person that mistreats you. No form of maltreatment is “for your good” or for someone else’s good. To evolve or correct errors it is not necessary to undergo destructive treatment.
Step 7. Give thanks every day of your life
This is very simple and has a very powerful effect on your emotions. Every day you have reason to be grateful, don’t doubt it. If you get into the habit of having the word “thank you” the first word of your day, you will see how your life will fill with color.
This simple ritual changes lives. When it becomes a habit, it puts you in a position of goodness and good will about everything. It makes you feel happier and makes you a more generous person. In addition, it allows you to see more clearly the value of your life.
We’ve already said that the seven steps to being happy are like a staircase. One step is reached after another. They form an evolutionary process that leads to inner peace. This peace is the only essential condition for you to be happy. And to be happy is to reach a state in which a person accepts, with nobility and intelligence, all the twists and turns of life.
