The world of Tzu Chi February 2020 (Vol.119)

2020 • 02 56 nspiration By Wu Deng-shan Compiled & translated by Wu Hsiao-ting I s life full of suffering? If you ask your friends and family this question, most of them will probably answer “Yes.” But is life hopeless, like a dark, bottomless abyss into which no sun shines?Most of us wouldn’t go quite so far as to say that.After all, life has its fair share of joy too: good times, relationships, positive moments of gratification. Why then do we tend to think of life as hard and painful? When we are under the weather, we distinctly feel our pain or discomfort.When we are healthy, however, we often take it for granted without realizing that we are enjoying the bliss of good health. In other words, we tend to notice and remember painful things more easily. Studies have shown that this tendency to preserve bad memories may have evolved as an evolutionary strategy to guard against future harmful or life-threatening events. If that is so, it would be a challenge to reverse this ingrained tendency – you would be fighting your own evolutionary history. Even so, should we just succumb to it without making any efforts? I believe that no matter how hard it is, we should all do our best to detect and discover joy in life to counteract that propensity. The good news is that according to experts, even though our brain is not designed to create happiness, we can train it like a muscle to become stronger and more positive. Benjamin Franklin said, “Happiness consists more in the small conveniences of pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life.” We can therefore train ourselves to pay more attention to those things in life that bring us happiness and peace, no matter how trivial they are, and develop a habit of counting our blessings. Family, friends, books, flowers and plants, stars in the sky, memories from our younger days—these may seem commonplace but they can turn out to be a treasure trove of happiness with the help of a positive mindset. Many years ago, I read a magazine article about an old woman who always wore a smile on her face. She had developed a good habit that helped her remain positive. Every morning when she woke up, she made a wish. She wished that it would be a glorious new day and that she would discover new pleasures and adventures in the course of that day. Such positive thinking sustained her and made her become more attentive to the joys in life. I smiled after reading that article, and I decided to learn from her. I resolved to start every day with a positive mindset. I would happily do those things I wanted to do while doing my best with those things I was averse to doing in order to improve my abilities. I would also try to help others as much as I could. Being of service to others enhances our sense of well-being. It takes our minds off our problems and helps us feel less isolated. There are many ways to guide our minds towards being positive. Develop as much compassion for yourself as you do for others. We are not born to suffer and then die. Be nicer to yourself, starting today. We do not have an unlimited supply of energy. It would be a real pity to waste so much of our energy on negative emotions that it affects our creativity and production. Discover Joy in Life * Reprinted with permission from Tzu Chi Bimonthly.