A friend sent me this interview with Jack Kornfield. I found it so helpful because sometimes I get so down about the state of the world. Yesterday was one of them. I felt so much better after borrowing benefits from our call last night. I felt some of it come back when I woke up this morning and I asked my angel guides to help me. So an earth angel friend sent me this article.
Jack says " When we’re deluged by bad-news stories, it’s hard to not feel discouraged or even depressed. But, according to Buddhist psychologist falling into despair is not a response that helps anyone—not you, nor your community or the world. Instead, he argues, we must aim for compassion, caring, and equanimity."
JS: Is there a role for gratitude in finding happiness during hard times?
JK: Gratitude and appreciation are a deep dimension of happiness. Our media and our news tend to focus on the problems—a bombing, an earthquake, a murder, or a conflict—but these are actually anomalies. Each time there is a bad piece of news that gets publicized, there are 100 million acts of goodness that happen in that same hour—people putting a plate of cooked spaghetti in front of their child, people stopping at a red light so you can safely pass on the green, people planting gardens and designing new homes, millions of acts of goodness. Then there’s the beauty of life itself, where even after a rainstorm, we see the lavender reflections of the sunset in the puddles in the street.
If we pay attention with a tender heart, we can see the eyes of passersby—sometimes weary, sometimes hurried—with all of their humanity on display. There are always birds in the sky, and the dazzling display of clouds, weather, blueness, and stars that meets our uplifted eyes. How can we not see the mystery of incarnation and appreciate life?
If you step into the street, and a car comes rushing by, you jump onto the curb to save your life—you care about your life. Every cell of your body carries this appreciation. Gratitude is loving attention that brings into the heart the sense that we belong here in this life. And, with each step, each smile, each gesture, we can add our gift and add our part in small and large ways."
" JK: There is inevitably suffering in every human life, and nothing insulates us from this—no amount of money, success, fame, or accomplishment. But it’s possible to cultivate and develop a sense of well-being, joy, deep happiness, and worth, even amidst the difficulties of life. I’ve been in the poorest refugee camps and seen people move with more dignity, connection to others, and love than in circumstances of tremendous wealth and prosperity.
If you go to work in a refugee camp, it doesn’t help the people there if you are depressed or unhappy. When you are working with people in difficulty, they don’t want you to come with your fears and confusion."
There is so much more good information in this article from the Greater Good so here is the link https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_we_should_seek_happiness_even_in_hard_times?fbclid=IwAR2P07x1Jg0Lo68OZUnt41047Vw183hnB6Gy-dXSRxm2wY2jW82hcx7oMqM