Greetings and Milk is back, for now. Well, I haven't been blogging about the 16 topics I was suppossed to blog ages ago. Today I am going to blog about......
Aspiration.
Lemme spell that for you, A-S-P-I-R-A-T-I-O-N. As you can see aspiration is a big word to digest.
What is aspiration?
Aspiration is the profound longing for purpose and fulfilment, joy and happiness, which lies deep – and sometimes buried – in our hearts, and in the heart of every living being. It is the voice inside that urges us to use our life well and to make the best of whatever gifts and passions we possess. The way we choose to respond to that voice will determine all the other choices we make in our lives.
Simply to pick up this book is to aspire. Aspiration is the fuel of change. It feeds on our hope that life could be better or more meaningful, and our willingness to do something differently to make this happen. It is a call to action.
Everyone aspires to be happy, and it is a natural human quality to include others in this aspiration. We want our family and friends to be prosperous and content. We want homeless people to find shelter, hungry people to have food, sick people to have medicine. We want the world to be at peace. The happiest and most contented people are usually those who have found a way to put their aspirations for self and others into practice, and have thereby played an active part in creating a better world. This is the common characteristic of all the role models in this book. Their life stories may seem daunting and out of reach. In hindsight they are towering figures. Yet everything they did consisted of small choices and steps, many of which are possible for anyone.
What can we do to turn our own aspirations into reality? How can we taste and realise our unique potential as human beings?
I'm going to make up for the time I wasted for not blogging so I am going to include other sub-topics of this 16 guidelines to happiness.
‘I’VE OFTEN SAID, THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN ME AND GREATNESS IS ME’
Next up the line.....
Principles. Not the principal that runs the school or the principle of accounts or or the principle of money invested into your savings account, fixed deposit or investments.
Principles give us strength. They provide the foundations from which we get the power and energy to make a stand about the things that matter to us. They give stability to our lives and help us move forward in a purposeful way. The function of having principles is to be our inner compass. They prevent us from being a victim or circumstance. Following what we believe in helps us stay on track.
Basically what I am trying to convey is, choosing to use guidelines or rules to help make tough decisions in life.
"We can not abdicate our conscience to an organization, nor to a government." - Albert Schweitzer, Germany/France
Coming up.......
Service.
Service is the outer expression of a wish to benefit others – to increase their happiness. At its best, it is an expression of caring, sharing, and delighting in each other. When it arises effortlessly and spontaneously, it is beautiful to watch. Service can also be experienced as a duty. Instead of being light and joyful, it feels heavy and burdensome. For most of us, learning how to serve – and to be served – is a lifetime’s task.
In every moment there is an opportunity to make someone else’s life a little bit easier or nicer. Every thought, word and action that flows from us in a loving way has the potential to create happiness. Are we willing to find within ourselves the sensitivity and intelligence, the clarity and conviction that this will take?
The rewards are huge. As we discover and deepen our wish for other people to be happy, we also find the key to our own happiness. Nobody gets left out of the equation. This is the golden rule of heart-felt service that underpins the great spiritual and wisdom traditions of the world. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto yourself.’
‘LIFE’S PERSISTENT AND MOST URGENT QUESTION IS: WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR OTHERS?’
Yet to come,
Loyalty.
WHAT IS LOYALTY?
When life is going well, it’s easy to forget that change happens in an instant. It is the nature of the universe. In an uncertain world, a sense of loyalty and mutual responsibility is often the glue that holds families and friendships together. It can be the lifeline that helps us to feel safe and supported and enables us to function well.
We all want to be accepted for who we are. Not for what we can buy, what we look like or who we know. When we cannot rely on the loyalty of each other, there is anxiety and insecurity, loneliness and heartbreak. It is logical to feel loyalty towards the people we feel close to, especially if we want them to be loyal to us.
But can this feeling of closeness go further? Is it possible to extend the same warmth and support to people outside our inner circle? What can be done to develop an attitude of loyalty and solidarity towards the wider community and, ultimately, towards the entire planet? Some great people, such as the role models in this book, seem able to do this. What would the world be like if we could each extend our sense of loyalty in this way?
‘WE MUST LOVE FRIENDS FOR THEIR SAKE RATHER THAN FOR OUR OWN’
CHARLOTTE BRONTE, UK
Following,
Right Speech.
Words! Love them or hate them, it often feels like we’re drowning in the noise they create – not only in our own ears, or on the page, but in our heads. They have the power to uplift us and to cast us down, to liberate and to entrap. They create friendships and make enemies. They can gain us great wealth and lose us everything we possess. The power of speech is so great that words cannot do it justice.
As soon as a child learns to speak, its life and relationships change. Countless daily choices come next. Whether to speak loudly or quietly, fast or slow. What words to use. When to speak or to be silent. We learn how to use our speech through trial and error, and in doing so create an image and style that will define our personality and shape our lives.
Right speech is a commitment to use words skilfully, in a way that will bring peace and happiness to ourselves and the people around us. It is about using our speech to take away fear, to bring hope, to make people laugh and feel closer to one another. This is how we share who we are and what is in our heart.
‘NOISE PROVES NOTHING. OFTEN THE HEN WHO HAS MERELY LAID AN EGG CACKLES AS IF SHE HAD LAID AN ASTEROID’
MARK TWAIN, USA
hehehe am I going supremely fast, well I'm sorry but I have too,
Kindness.
WHAT IS KINDNESS?
Kindness says: ‘I want you to be happy.’ To be kind means to be friendly, caring, generous, benevolent, considerate, respectful, fair and affectionate. We all know in our hearts when we have received or offered kindness because of the warm feeling it brings. Is there anyone who does not want to experience kindness from another person?
Kindness knows with exquisite wisdom when it is appropriate to say or do something. It is found in the small details. A gentle touch on the cheek or a soft support of the elbow guiding someone across the road. Sustaining eye contact for just that moment longer. Making a telephone call. Remembering the little things that please someone. If we act in a kind way, it may seem that we are putting someone else’s happiness ahead of ours, but in practice it doesn’t work that way. Being kind invariably feels good, lifts our own spirits, and nourishes us in ways that we don’t always acknowledge. Everyone benefits.
Is it possible to imagine a world in which everyone shows kindness to each other? Is kindness something we can learn? What can we do to become more kind?
‘THE POVERTY OF THE WEST IS LONELINESS AND INDIFFERENCE. THERE IS HUNGER FOR
ORDINARY BREAD, AND THERE IS HUNGER FOR LOVE, FOR KINDNESS AND FOR
THOUGHTFULNESS - AND THIS IS THE GREAT POVERTY THAT MAKES PEOPLE SUFFER SO MUCH’
Mother Teresa, Albania
Lastly,
Here is a challenge, a one of a kind which rarely appears. So have fun and try.
CHALLENGE:
When did you last experience a moment of pure and utter delight?
Can you take delight in something that happens today, fully and without reservation? Conclude the day by celebrating these moments instead of dwelling on problems and difficulties.
WHAT IS DELIGHT?
Delight is the delicious taste we get when something good happens. Worries fade away, frustration evaporates, and anger disappears when a baby is safely born or a friend passes their exams, when a problem is solved or a conflict resolved. Delight
opens the heart.
Delight can change our minds and change our lives. It is a tonic that relieves the pain of envy and shifts the blight of depression. It brings us closer to the people we love and eases the difficulties we have with those people who are further away from us. It makes such good sense to practise the art of rejoicing that it is strange we often overlook it. Why is bad news sometimes more compelling than good news? Why are we tempted to dwell on what is going wrong rather than what is going right?
One drags us down, the other lifts us up.
We have a choice about what to feed our heart and mind. If we can learn to dwell on positive stories and accomplishments we can quickly bring more happiness into the lives of ourselves and others.
I think thats about it. Catch you later guys.
Milk