The Art of Happiness Summary (Plus PDF)
What is the Purpose of life? Isn’t it a big question but not for the 14th Dalai Lama, he says, the purpose of life is to find happiness. The Art of Happiness will give you ways to find happiness and live a peaceful life.
The book is written by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. Basically, Howard C. Cutler had a deep conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama, and The Art of Happiness happened.
The book has 288 pages and was published in 1998, the year I was born.
Let me first say thank you for reading this. This will be a weekly newsletter, hope you enjoy it. Now I will see you every Sunday at 9:00 AM (IST).
The Art of Happiness Summary
The author has written every single answer that you might be looking for about life whether it’s about how to control anger, how to live peacefully, how to find happiness, or even how to deal with stress and anxiety.
The book is too easy to read. So anyone can read it and take the wisdom from the 14th Dalai Lama who is spiritual leader and head of Tibet.
For me, one of the key takeaways from the book is “never compare yourself with anyone, when you compare yourself, you will have stress, will affect your mental health, and Lower your self-esteem. So it is better if you focus on yourself and not on others”
Now, that being said, let’s go deep down and explore the way to find happiness.
I’m keeping my promise, this is the mini-ebook of The Art of Happiness by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. So download right now and read wherever you want for free. Happy Reading.
Happiness and Suffering is Part of Life
We all know that Happiness is in our hands. Whatever you’re doing right now will be your future.
So if you care much about others opinions then you will have
- Stress.
- Anxiety.
- You will overthink everything.
- Self-doubt.
- You will delay tasks and give unnecessary excuses.
- Your mental health will be disturbed.
As the Dalai Lama says “You don’t have to worry about what people say about you, just focus on what you can and can’t do. Leave everything aside”
Now, if we look on the other side and focus more on
- Being Compassionate
- Kind
- Be in present
- Not worrying about past or future
- Not giving F about other people’s opinions
- Staying close to loved ones.
- Focusing on mental and physical health.
- Asking Questions like, What you can and Can’t change.
- Understanding how we behave in certain situations.
Because of this, you will live a peaceful life. After all, you’re a healthy and good person because you don’t have an ego or you don’t like to hurt other people for your benefit.
Now, this doesn’t mean you won’t have bad days. You will face problems but you will also have a solution to each problem and you will face it rather than ignoring them.
Questions like, whether I can fix this problem or not will free you from stress because you have a clear answer to whatever problem you will face.
So choose what kind of person you want to be. The person who runs away from the problem or face. At the end of the day, you’re what you think and do in your day-to-day life.
So be the person you want to be today, not tomorrow.
Transforming Mind
Our mind is capable of everything, you just have to focus on the things that you want.
The mind doesn’t care whether the thing you want is bad for you or good, so make sure you choose things wisely because the mind can adopt anything that makes you happy.
So the best way to understand our mind is to understand how we behave and react.
About 5 years ago, I used to get triggered by anything.
For example, if I was watching something on TV and someone asked “What you’re doing”
This would have irritated me a lot and I would have said: “Can’t you see I’m watching TV, don’t disturb me”. In my mind, my thoughts would be like “Can’t he see, I’m f*king watching TV and still, He wants to ask such questions, f*king idiot”
Yes, I was that guy but I changed myself when I started reading books and started understanding myself and how people behave.
Today I have more patience than ever, I don’t get angry with anyone, even if someone uses bad language. I have accepted that life is too short to get angry or hate someone.
Just focus on yourself and do what makes you happy.
The awareness of my behavior changed the way I used to live my life and I would suggest you do the same. See how you’re living your life and if something needs a change then make a change.
As The Greek philosopher Heraclitus says “The only constant in life is change” He also says “Everything changes and nothing remains still, and you cannot step twice into the same stream”
Learn Compassion
When it comes to relationships or understanding the person you’re close to, you just have to follow a few things.
- See what the person is going through in life before passing the comment or suggesting something.
- Respect the person you’re talking to.
- Be honest with yourself and the person you’re talking to.
Compassion is nothing but understanding for someone who is suffering.
Things will never stay bad forever, the day will come and you will feel happiness. So whenever you’re suffering or you see someone with a problem, try to see those problems from a different perspective.
When you put yourself in the third view, you will find a solution because now, your problem is not yours.
The Art of Happiness Lessons
- There will be days when you will feel sadness but that’s not the end of the world. Happiness and suffering are part of human lives and we have to accept them and move on with life otherwise, we will stay stuck in the loop.
- Emotions make us human but that doesn’t mean you have to rely on them all the time.
- Focus on what you can and can’t change. If the problem has a solution then go solve it but if you don’t have control over then leave, there is nothing more you do about it.
- Change is the only way to evolve, if you stay in the past for a long time then the death will come and say Hi.
- Guard your mind because there is no need to consume everything.
- Go outside and meet with people rather than staying at home and using social media apps.
- When you face any sort of problem, see it from the third perspective.
- If you don’t know the answer then simply say “I don’t know” rather than giving an excuse about it.
- Shape yourself as water. If something needs to be done then do it, don’t wait for the right time or place.
- Spend time alone and understand how your mind works. This will give you a better understanding of how you’re behaving and reacting.
- The purpose of life is happiness, not money.
The Art of Happiness Quotes
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
“Happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events.”
“Our attitude towards suffering becomes very important because it can affect how we cope with suffering when it arises.”
“In accepting that suffering is a part of your daily existence, you could begin by examining the factors that normally give rise to feelings of discontent and mental unhappiness.”
“By mobilizing our thoughts and practicing new ways of thinking, we can reshape our nerve cells and change the way our brains work.”
“If you want others to be happy practice compassion; and if you want yourself to be happy practice compassion.”
“I believe that the proper utilization of time is this: if you can, serve other people, other sentient beings. If not, at least refrain from harming them. I think that is the whole basis of my philosophy.”
“In Buddhism, the principle of causality is accepted as a natural law.”
“a belief in a policy of kindness, and a sense of commonality among all living creatures.”
“The more honest you are, the more open, the less fear you will have because there’s no anxiety about being exposed or revealed to others.”
The Art of Happiness Review
Buddhists are the happiest people on the earth which is proven by scientists. This doesn’t mean you need to convert to Buddhism. This only means you have to live your life as you did in your childhood.
Religion has nothing to do with how happy you are.
So if you want to understand yourself better then I would highly recommend you to read The Art of Happiness. It’s a wonderful book that will teach you why life is beautiful and how you should keep it beautiful.
Now, this book was written in 1998 and if you have read a few self-help books then you might find this repetitive. Still, do read it to understand and learn the philosophy of Buddhism.
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