Wise Selfishness

“Wise Selfishness”: Reflections of Dan Harris’s NYT article regarding what he learned from the from the Dalai Lama.

You Better: A child doesn’t learn without practice and neither do adults. Spend time learning & improving so that you are in a better place to support your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and everyone that you encounter.

Give & Get Happiness: When you give happiness to someone, you will receive happiness in return. One can practice this by spending time with someone or by giving them a physical gift. The more we practice giving happiness to others, the more we will share in their happiness. Practice gift giving every day and make yourself happy.

Loving Thoughts: Think of someone you love and think these four thoughts. May you be happy, be safe, be healthy and live with ease. Then, move these four thoughts to other people, to yourself and to the world. Daily practice of these thoughts will increase your connectiveness with others and increase your happiness.

Positive Talk: Intentionally increase your interactions with positive people and work towards a daily frequency. Then, create daily positive connections with strangers. Every time you smile, say, “Hi,” or make someone happy, you strengthen your social connectiveness and increases your own personal happiness. You are responsible for your own happiness.

Dedication Motivation: Dedicate your positive daily healthy habits to people you know. Healthy food choices, exercising, relaxation practice or something as simple as brushing your teeth can all be dedicated to someone you know. By doing so, you will raise the importance of your self-care and you will be in a better place to help others in your life.

Helper’s High: Train yourself to feel good every day by helping others. The helper & receiver benefit from selfless acts and the actions trigger the same section of the brain when eating dessert. So, indulge and enjoy the helper’s high.