How we find meaning
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
Change is all around us. It is a law of nature. As the world revolves, day turns to night, seasons come and go, food grows and decays, machines are invented and become obsolete, and new clothes once the height of fashion become faded and worn. Across the millennia, even mountains and continents are on the move.
Our search for meaning will depend on our ability and willingness to explore new and unfamiliar territory. This is why it is often called a 'path'. It is a challenge to venture deep into ourselves, to explore our inner strength and longings, and find out how to use them to create a happy and fulfilling life. The process may be tough, demanding and exhausting, but also thrilling, liberating and profound. Who are we? What are we doing here? How can we make the best of the years we spend on this earth?
13 - Aspiration: To seek a fulfilling way of life that avoids harm
Aspiration is the profound longing for purpose and fulfillment, joy and happiness, which lies deep – and sometimes buried – in our hearts, and in the heart of every living being. It is the voice inside that urges us to use our life well and to make the best of whatever gifts and passions we possess. The way we choose to respond to that voice will determine all the choices we make in our lives.
Everyone aspires to be happy, and it is a natural human quality to include others in this aspiration. We want our family and friends to be prosperous and content. We want homeless people to find shelter, hungry people to have food, sick people to have medicine. We want the world to be at peace.
What can we do to turn our aspirations into reality? How can we taste and realise our unique potential as human beings?
14 - Principles: To develop sincere and stable inner values, and avoid harmful influences
If we were each given a blank sheet of paper, how many of us would be able to list the principles that guide our lives? Day-to-day living makes so many demands that sometimes it feels more than enough just to react as best we can to whatever happens, hoping it will all turn out OK.
Principles give us strength. They provide the foundations from which we find the power and energy to make a stand about the things that matter to us. They keep our aspirations on track. Like the spokes of a bicycle wheel, they give stability and help us move forward in a purposeful way. What can we each do to be true to our principles, and use them skilfully to build a happy life?
15 - Service: To help and benefit others in whatever ways we can
Service is the outer expression of a wish to benefit someone – to increase their happiness. At its best, it is an expression of caring, sharing, and delighting in each other. When it arises effortlessly and spontaneously, it is beautiful to watch. Service can also be experienced as a duty. Instead of being light and joyful, it feels heavy and burdensome. For most of us, learning how to serve - and to be served - is a lifetime task.
In every moment there is an opportunity to make someone else’s life a little bit easier or nicer. Every thought, word and action that flows from us in a loving way has the potential to create happiness. Are we willing to find within ourselves the sensitivity and intelligence, the clarity and conviction that this will take?
16 - Courage: To accept responsibilities and challenges with determination and equanimity
Courage is about stretch. It’s about seeing, feeling or realizing that something more or different can be done, developing the determination to do it, and then carrying through despite all obstacles. We know in our bodies when we’ve been courageous. There is a glow of satisfaction and relief. Something has shifted, and we have grown in size.
Courage involves acknowledging our fears, but not being deterred from offering something that goes beyond our own immediate needs and comfort. Most courageous people have decided that the well-being of others is more important than their own, and have allowed this decision to drive their actions and the way they live. Invariably, they seem to find their own happiness in the process.
