The Dalai Lama & 10 Steps to develop a good heart

The 14th Tibetan Dalai Lama believes happiness is accessible to everyone through the power of the mind.  He says this from experience.  He secretly escaped from his homeland as a foreign culture was taking over and attempting to extinguish beliefs and break the Tibetan human spirit.  The Dalai Lama's culture remains oppressed to this day, but the spirit and will of the people are unshaken. 

The concept of happiness has often been difficult for Westerners to define and grasp.  How can things you have be taken away, and people you care about, and you still find ways to be happy? Many people think happiness is a reward for solving some great mystery, some sensation that comes "out-of-the-blue."  Many people have also come to think it must be earned through hardship.

The Dalai Lama is convinced it's possible to train the psyche or spirit, which includes how you think and what you feel.  According to him, you can gradually eliminate thoughts that create your suffering, and then realize you're capable. How can you clarify your own sense of happiness?  Consider ideas I gained by being inspired by this spiritual leader:

1) Manifest a simple willingness to reach out to others.  Intend feelings of affinity and goodwill, even in short encounters or chance meetings with strangers.   Forging uplifting feelings and human closeness contributes to a stronger personal identity.

2)  Tolerate life's daily foibles with flexibility and smiles.  Unhappy people tend to be tense, self-focused and socially-withdrawn. When you're loving and forgiving, the world opens to you.  To loosen up and laugh things off will promote good health.

3) Share opportunities with others.  If you've been stuck in traffic and another person desires to join the cue, when you slow down to give way, you're also sharing positive energy.  Offering opportunities to others will invite unexpected things into your life. You have the innate ability to relieve stress and brighten other people's lives, as well as your own. What goes around reflects back.

4) Learn to be satisfied with who you are and what you have. Whether or not you win the lottery or experience some tragedy or crisis, external conditions are always changing.  This illustrates that underneath it all,  moment-to-moment perception is what shapes who you are.

5) Recall that things could be worse.  Rather than focusing on lack and void, you can increase feelings of satisfaction by taking note people are less fortunate and we're really in good shape.  This points out that your perspective defines you and can override any feelings of negativity. You also recall life is impermanent so your current conditions will not last. They'll soon improve. 

6) Reminisce about favorable conditions.  Thinking about positive experiences of the past and feelings you expect all contribute to reinforce your sense of contentment.

7) Nurture mental discipline.  To develop a calmness of mind and inner stability, you develop the conditions to live a happy and joyful life regardless of your faculties or external conditions.

8) The true antidote to greed is contentment.  Self-satisfaction itself doesn't determine if your desire or choice is positive or negative.  If you ask, "will an act bring you happiness?" you'll learn to shift your focus from what you deny yourself to what you seek and offer to give yourself.

9) Connect with human beings.  Developing a bond can lead to increased sense of dignity and self-worth.  This can be a source of consolation if you lose everything you think is important.  Continuity of a human connection is what matters.

10) Value learning and unlearning.  Take steps to learn why negative feelings and emotions are harmful and how a positive attitude and emotions can heal and energize you.  Realize your outlook resonates back into the world around you.  Recognize how you interpret your present and your future begins and ends in you.