Recently, I attended a talk by
Professor Raj Raghunath, from the University of Texas, Austin, who is also the
author of, “If You’re So Smart, Why Are You Not Happy?” The talk and his book
are based upon how our decision-making processes affect our ability to live happy
and meaningful lives over the longer term.
Yogic philosophy also speaks about
how our thoughts, emotions and actions and are responsible for the decisions
that we make, ultimately impacting the quality of our life experiences and our
happiness quotient. Developing the right mindset means training the mind to be
present, to be positive, non-judgmental, non-reactive and into a state that
Professor Raj referred to as “the abundant mindset” versus the “scarcity
mindset”.
This talk, and a very recent
incident in my life, re-iterated for me the importance of being present and
learning to live our lives free from our individual perceptions.
The truth is that the human mind is
mostly oriented in fear-based conditioning - negativity, doubt, worry,
criticism, anger and so on, driven by our ego and our five senses of perception.
The mind is restless, chaotic, forever judging, perceiving, planning and
comparing this against that. These
constant thought fluctuations affect our emotions, and cause us to speak or act
in ways that do not necessarily support our long-term goals to lead more
fulfilling lives. Further, our incessant
thought patterns cause our conscious energy needed in the present moment to
leak into an imaginary world that is fraught with our individual perceptions
and imaginations. And from here, stems most
of our decision-making which in turn activates the Universal Law of Cause and Effect.
For example, when we are
confronted by a situation, person or event, we become pre-occupied by our
incessant thoughts and perceptions and we begin to form judgments based on
this thinking. Soon, we stop seeing or
hearing what is actually occurring in front of us and within us, as we become absorbed
in our minds. This is an act that is detrimental to our long-term happiness as it results in erroneous decision-making, based on individual perceptions versus
what is actually transpiring in reality.
In any given moment, we either experience pleasure,
pain or neutrality. Buddha taught that
when we become attached to pleasurable, painful or angry responses, it causes
us to act in ways that prevent us from experiencing lasting happiness. Why? Because we become quick to speak or act,
when our faculties of reasoning are clouded by uncontrollable thought and
emotional responses. A situation that could have brought us a lot of happiness
and satisfaction turns into a chaotic and unsupportive outcome.
When you train your mind to be present
and mindful, you enhance your ability to sustain your conscious energy in the present
moment and are able to practice being non-reactive and non-judgmental. This allows you
to see things for what they really are. You
do not let your faculties of reasoning get clouded irrespective of how difficult
the situation may be - you learn to exercise self-control. This contributes to
lasting happiness and more meaningful life experiences, as all your decision-making
and actions stem from a balanced state of mind.
The breath is the single most
important tool to train yourself to be present, as the breath can only take
place in the here and now. The more time
you take to sit quietly with your breath, the more you keep coming back to the
breath throughout the day, the more you will enhance your ability to be present and
to live life with greater awareness.
- Radhika Vachani
