This week the theme in our ‘Yoga Tales for Early Childhood’ is ‘being happy’.
So what exactly is happiness? the Wikipedia definition states ‘Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.’
In Buddhism, it’s believed the four divine states of mind to cultivate, in order to alieviate suffering are ‘Loving Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, & Equanimity”. Sympathetic Joy is when you are happy for others good fortune.
In the yogic texts, the polarities of attachment & aversion & our desire to move towards or away from these states, keep us from finding equanimity that is said to bring peace of mind.
Martin Seligman, who founded the Positive Psychology approach puts it like this –
‘Happiness’ is a scientifically unwieldy notion, but there are three different forms of it if you can pursue. For the ‘Pleasant Life,’ you aim to have as much positive emotion as possible and learn the skills to amplify positive emotion. For the ‘Engaged Life,’ you identify your highest strengths and talents and recraft your life to use them as much as you can in work, love, friendship, parenting, and leisure. For the ‘Meaningful Life,’ you use your highest strengths and talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self.‘
Which one resonates with you and which one do you think brings true, sustained happiness if there is such a thing? Why is it that we so often hear about families & communities living in impoverished countries who seem so happy & content? How do we help our children find this state if we can’t find it ourselves? Maybe you think happiness is overrated? Which ever way you view it, there is certainly lots to explore on this topic for all of us.