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Today's
Meditation:
What a
beautiful perspective-- the idea of creating happy moments
for others is a great way of looking at the world and its
possibilities. It's of course possible to get and
keep and hold on to and do things for our own
gratification, but we forge a much deeper sense of
happiness and contentment when we focus on doing things
for other people who really could use a helping hand or a
positive contribution to their lives. And it's true
that the more we do for others, the more we contribute to
our own lives.
We
live in societies that have created an entire way of life
based on self-gratification, for other people make money
off of me only if I spend my money on things for
myself. We've got to make ourselves
"happy" in order to make others rich.
While there's nothing wrong with taking care of ourselves
and making sure that we're okay, we've been convinced--
especially through advertising-- that simply
taking care of ourselves isn't enough. We have to
pamper ourselves and buy the luxurious clothes and the
expensive meals if we want to be really happy.
Unfortunately,
though, we aren't happy. We worry a lot (especially
about money) and we compare ourselves with others and we
compare our happiness with that of other people because
we're insecure and we don't know why. We make a show
of giving in order to make ourselves feel that we're doing
something great, when true giving isn't something that
should be quantified or compared or shown off.
We
can make ourselves happier by doing what we can to make
others happy. We can drink from the cup of happiness
when we offer the cup to others, first. If we want
to be happy we must look outside ourselves and do what we
can to contribute to the well-being and happiness of those
people with whom we share this planet. If our goal
is to be happy, then our goal should be to do what we can
to ensure that others are happy, too.
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