I’ve shared with you before, the words of wisdom from Bhante Wimala, a Sri Lankan monk, now based in New Jersey, who works tirelessly helping the destitute and disaster victims.
Allow me to share with you again, his New Year message to all his friends.
First, life is full of imperfections and we can not wait until everything is perfect to be happy. We can be happy or at least we can prevent ourselves from becoming unhappy by learning to accept imperfections and having a positive attitude to deal with them. You do not need to be unhappy to deal with imperfections and difficult challenges in life. Being unhappy does not help you to solve your problems.
Second, recognize the power of your intentions and the power within you to make choices. You can choose to be happy or you can choose not to be unhappy. Make an effort to use the power within you to guide your mind and intentions.
Try to be less selfish because selfishness is one of the most common causes of unhappiness and pain. Are you a person who is unaware how your selfishness hurts yourself or others around you? Please take a moment to think of that. When your efforts, energy and thoughts bring happiness to others in turn they bring you a special kind of happiness.
The most important ingredient for happiness is inner peace. When you lose peace of mind you lose a lot out of life. A chaotic mind breeds unhappiness and pain and is the worst enemy of happiness, so strive to cultivate inner peace. Take at least a few minutes every day to lead the mind into a state of peace or place of quietness.
In this animal charity work that we do, I guess we see more imperfections than those involved in human charity. This is partly because we do not have the support of the majority. A person helping a destitute human would immediately receive other humans’ support and approval, but a person helping a stray cat or dog might not. We are up against those who think animals should be relegated to second rung in this ladder of existence.
But that’s the way it is. That’s why life is “imperfect”, and we just have to live with it, do our best to inspire others to change their mindset by first setting an example, never wavering from what we believe to be right, and at the same time, being willing to learn from those who have done better than us.
And, most importantly, at the end of the day, we must be able to return to a place of inner peace, to rejoice in the day’s work that we have done the best we can, and this is the best we can do, given our capacity and limitations.
Peace and happiness to all beings.
May kindness always reside in your hearts, and may it translate into actions that would bring happiness to all beings.
Happy New Year!