Secret of Happiness: –   We were not born with the purpose of causing trouble, harming others. For our life to be of value, we must develop basic good human qualities – Warmth, Kindness, and Compassion. Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful – Happier.

Desire: – There are two kinds of desires: 1. Positive Desire – The initial impulse desire shall be curbed but the other level of desire based on one’s essential needs of food, clothing, and shelter, is something more reasonable. 2. Negative Desire – A desire is excessive or negative depends on the circumstances or society in which you live. This kind of excessive desire leads to greed.

Happiness versus pleasure: – Sometimes people confuse happiness with pleasure. True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on pleasure is unstable. One day it’s there, the next day it may not be.

Real Happiness: – A kind of happiness that is stable and persistent is real happiness. A state of happiness that remains, despite life’s ups and downs and normal fluctuations of mood, as part of the very matrix of our being.

The path to Happiness: – First our basic physical needs for Food, Clothing and Shelter must be met. But once these basic needs are met the message is clear; we don’t need more money, we don’t need greater success or fame, we don’t need perfect body or even the perfect mate. – right now, at this very moment, we have a mind or consciousness, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.

Positive Mental State leads to Happiness: – The systematic training of mind – the cultivation of happiness, the genuine inner transformation by deliberately selecting and focusing on positive mental states and challenging negative mental states – is possible because of the very structure and function of the brain. We are born with brains that are genetically hard wired with certain instinctual behavior patterns; we are predisposed mentally, emotionally, and physically to respond to our environment in ways that enable us to survive.

Self Disciplined mind leads to Happiness : – It is felt that self disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering. The definition of negative or unwholesome behaviors is those behaviors, which lead to suffering, and a wholesome behavior as one that leads to happiness. Traditionally, it has been considered the responsibility of religion to prescribe what behaviors are wholesome and what are not. However in today’s society religion has lost its prestige and influence to some degree. And at the same time, no alternative, such as secular ethics has come up to replace it. So there seems to be less attention paid to the need to lead a wholesome way of life.

Establishing Empathy: – One can attempt to increase compassion by trying to empathize with another’s feeling or experience. That empathy is important not only as a means of enhancing compassion, but in dealing with others at any level, if you are having any difficulties, it’s extremely helpful to be able to try to put yourself in the other person’s place and see how you would react to the situation. Even if you have no common experience with the other person or have a very different life style, you can try to do this through imagination. You may need to be slightly creative.

Compassion leads to Happiness: Compassion can be roughly defined in terms of state of mind that is non-violent, non-harming and non-aggressive. It is a mental attitude best on the wish for others to be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility, and respect towards others.