Habits of Happiness

Matthieu Ricard on the habits of happiness. The key idea I gleaned from this video was the concept of depth to one’s emotional well being. Or having “happiness” or “serenity” as one’s baseline irrespective of the difficulties we may face. The trouble is, without the depth or sufficient resources to draw on to handle these difficulties appropriately, emotionally… we crash. As Matthieu describes: Close to shore, without depth, when we are at the bottom of a wave, we crash into the rock of depression; when we are at the top of the wave, we are on the high of elation. There is no depth. In practice, I describe it as being a dandelion in the wind, blown from top to bottom however current circumstances dictate, be they good or bad. Instead of having consistent steadfastness during emotional turmoil. It is difficult to manage. However out in the ocean, where we have gained the resources and have the depth of water below us, the same waves of difficulty do not crash us into rock below. But we weather the storms, ride the lightning, and enjoy the sunny days of elated highs.