Secret of Happiness-Daily Meditation-August 5, 2021
Today’s Quotation:
The real secret of happiness is simply this: to be willing to live and let live, and to know very clearly in one’s own mind that the unpardonable sin is to be an unpleasant person. -Galen Starr Ross
Today’s Meditation:
It’s almost a contradiction in terms to say “simply” “live and let live.” For most of us, that seems to be one of the most difficult things in the world to do, for we all see better than others which are the best ways to live, and which are the best things to do for ourselves. It seems like the human being was born to give advice and to try to control the actions and thoughts of others, for we sure do spend a lot of time trying to do so.
Those of us who are lucky, though, see early on just how harmful that is to others and to ourselves. We see just how much frustration it causes everyone involved, and we realize that if we don’t try to do that anymore, we won’t have to deal with the frustration anymore.
Then we see, once we’ve stopped trying to advise others of what they should do in order to be happy, just how pleasant life can be when we mind our own business and when we allow ourselves to be pleasant to others no matter what they’re doing, no matter whether we think it’s best for them or not. Most people on this planet can be quite happy living in the ways that they see to be best.
We’re put here to live our lives. The other people in our lives have been put here to live theirs, not to live according to what we think theirs should be like. If we love them and we love ourselves, we’ll let them live the way they see the best fit, and we won’t condemn them for mistakes, whether we could see those mistakes coming or not.
Live and let live. What a beautiful idea.
Questions to ponder:
1. Why is it sometimes difficult to let others make their own mistakes?
2. What are some strategies we can use to break ourselves from the habit of trying to advise others of what they should do or how they should live?
3. How can we advise others how to live if we still don’t have it completely figured out for ourselves?
For further thought:
Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can be felt only if you don’t set any conditions.-Artur Rubinstein
