bert 1
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3
4
Still unhappy, I gather.
2
3
4
Yeah.
2
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4
Why do you think that is?
2
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4
I don’t know. Because I don’t have what I want, I guess.
2
3
And what do you want?
2
3
3
Well, a job that pays better.
2
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4
therapist 1
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3
A less angry wife.
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therapist 1
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3
A son who can pass Math.
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therapist 1
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3
And a reason to smile occasionally.
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therapist 1
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4
Any suggestions?
2
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4
Yes. Redefine happiness.
2
Redefine how?
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3
Stop thinking of happiness as getting what you want.
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bert 1
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3
Try thinking of it as having what you need.
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4
What difference would that make?
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3
Would you rather be underpaid or unemployed?
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3
The former.
2
3
Would you rather have an angry wife or live alone?
2
3
3
Again, the former.
2
3
Would you rather have a Math dunce for a son, or no son at all?
2
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3
I’ll take the dunce.
2
3
Congratulations. It seems you already have what you need.
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3
bert 1
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bert 1
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3
4
Plus a reason to smile.
2
3
*************** * * *
Want more?
People are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
~ Abraham Lincoln
*************** * * *
The Second Noble Truth of Buddha is that craving anything is suffering.
Often it is translated as “the cause of suffering is craving,” but I think that misses the point.
Cause sounds like something happens first and produces a particular result. It could be construed as “crave now, suffer later.”
I believe it is “crave now, suffer now.”
I once heard someone say that a sign of enlightenment was the ability to say (and mean it) in any moment, “Well, this isn’t what I want, but it’s what I got, so okay.”
~ Syliva Boorstein, It’s easier than you think: The Buddhist way to happiness (HarperCollins, 1997).
