10 Lessons From Dalai Lama That Will Change Your Life
“Be kind when possible.” And maybe it’s always. ”
Once Oprah Winfrey asked the Dalai Lama: “Have you had to forgive yourself for something?” His Holiness replied: “To be honest, my attitude to mosquitoes was not very friendly and calm, as, in fact, to bedbugs.”
Lessons From Dalai Lama
Oprah was incredibly surprised that for the 78 years the Dalai Lama lived at that time, he did nothing else, which, in his opinion, would be forgiven. Forgiveness and compassion for all living beings have always been the two cornerstones of the teachings of the Dalai Lama. So let’s find out how his lessons can change our whole life, if only we let them do it.
1. Show more empathy.
“Compassion and compassion has nothing to do with religion as such. But it has the most direct relation to humanity. Moreover, without them, the survival of mankind would have been impossible. ”- The Dalai Lama
The results of many studies show that when you show sympathy for other people, you experience the same burst of energy and good mood as when you have sex, eat something tasty, or, say, relax in a hot bath. Simply put, empathy is good for your health. So show sympathy for your neighbor and get all the wonderful benefits: reducing stress, normalizing heart rate and improving immunity.
How to show empathy for another person? To do this, you just need to try to understand his feelings and emotions. Talk to him and try to understand what he has to go through. This is a much more demanding process for you than just showing kindness. If you want to show empathy, you cannot do without emotional involvement. By the way, at the same time, you can ask about what kind of help your interlocutor needs. You can apply this to:
- Sick friend
- Someone who has lost their job and really needs support
- To a relative who does not know what to do with his life
- To a friend who has just survived a painful breakup
- The homeless
2. Be kind and help other people. – Lessons From Dalai Lama
“My faith is very simple. She does not need temples or scripture. Our own mind, our heart, must become a temple, and kindness must become our scripture. Be kind when possible. And maybe it’s always, ”the Dalai Lama.
In fact, kindness and generosity cost you not so much, but thanks to them you can become much happier. This is the conclusion Michael Norton and his colleagues at the Harvard Business School came from after a rather curious scientific study.
As it turned out, volunteers who, having received a certain amount, donated part of it to those in need, were invariably happier than those who spent everything only on themselves.
3. Find your happiness.
“The meaning of our life is to be happy”
Dalai Lama
Sometimes our life becomes so hectic and messy that the only thing we want at the end of the next day is the opportunity to be at least a little happy.
When the Dalai Lama was asked about happiness, he replied that modern society is literally overwhelming us with messages about material wealth. And that we see very few messages about forgiveness, sympathy, patience, goodwill and kindness.
But in order to be truly happy, you must devote more time to these values, and not to the accumulation of material wealth.
“No one is able to give us happiness ready — it always stems from our own actions”
Dalai Lama
4. Find peace in the depths of your own soul. – Lessons From Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama advises every day to spend at least a little time alone with themselves. Spend this time thinking about your own life and the fact that you don’t need negative thoughts like anger, contempt, hatred and envy. Try to replace them with positive emotions such as optimism, gratitude, love, and calm.
The Dalai Lama believes that only a truly calm and peaceful mind can become a source of happiness and good health, and in this he is absolutely right.
5. Do no harm to other people.
“If you can help others, do it, if you cannot, then at least do not harm them”
Dalai Lama
If you suddenly begin to “feed” other people with outright lies, spread vile rumors about them, achieve the desired threats and take advantage of the unfair advantage over them, then the negative “return” from all this will sooner or later poison your life, depriving any hope of happiness.
These are just a few actions that can harm others, but try to avoid both them and all of their ilk.
6. Take care of your friendships.
Friendship is the most wonderful thing that can happen to you. Take care of your friends and never offend them – and in return they will generously endow you with trust and affection. True friendship never depends on your position in society or how much money you have.
It is a pity that many people neglect friends so much that as a result, loneliness begins to rule their life. Not surprisingly, all this leads to depression.
7. Do not let modern technology manage your life.
Did you know that the Dalai Lama has over 8 million followers on Twitter? And although he welcomes the ease with which social networks allow us to communicate with each other, he also warns against the excessive use of modern technologies, citing the following arguments:
- Sometimes they penetrate our lives so much that they begin to control it – look at least at the couples in restaurants that spend all their time burying themselves on the screens of their phones.
- If you cannot even spend a day without your phone, who is in charge of your pair – you or he?
- Even if you have a lot of virtual friends, they will not necessarily be able to replace true friendship.
- Virtual communication very rarely helps you show empathy for others.
- If you spend almost all your time communicating online, you will have much less time communicating in reality.
“Technology is our brainchild, and we must control it. If we become slaves of technology, this in no way will benefit us”
Dalai Lama
8. Do not quarrel or argue – it is better to negotiate.
“The path of non-violence means the path of communication and dialogue, which are conducted in words, not fists. Dialogues mean compromise and respect for each other’s rights: only communication and reconciliation can reliably save us from conflicts and disappointments. When both sides meet each other, in the end, there are neither 100% winners nor losers. This is the wisest way to resolve conflicts. The only sure way. ”- The Dalai Lama
No matter what kind of conflict you have to deal with, be it an international crisis or a quarrel with your partner or boss, dialogue is always the key to the most peaceful and calm outcome. Only in this way can you learn the art of compromise and negotiation.
His Holiness advises during the dialogue to recall the past as little as possible, instead focusing on what caused the current problem.
9. Be kind to the earth. – Lessons From Dalai Lama
If we want the human race to survive, it is important to take care of this planet as well as we can. Give garbage for recycling, look at alternative ways to get energy and find out exactly how you can help save nature so that it does not want to recoup on humanity as a whole.
10. Learn from your mistakes. – Lessons From Dalai Lama
“If you lost, but learned a valuable lesson, then you won”
Dalai Lama
When you make a mistake, take a look at what happened with a sober look, and try to understand what went wrong and when. Perhaps you said something wrong or did not think enough of your actions.
Perhaps a mistake has crept into your project at the design stage, and maybe you did not take into account force majeure situations. Even if you encounter a catastrophe and are forced to collect life in pieces after it, you can still extract something useful from it.
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