Thank you very much. Today,
I will talk about how to summon happiness in our lives. Many people think that
happiness comes from things outside of us. In fact, happiness begins from
within us. Happiness is created by our minds. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi explains
this very simply in his book, Messages of Wisdom and Love. I will share
this article with you. (Please read this book on pages of 68 & 69.)
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi said,
“Man’s mind is the creator of all things. In addition, both hope and despair
have been created by man’s mind.” You may think that your mind does not create
your misfortune or troubles, but you should realize that you are the master of
your life.
It is said that Disney’s
movie creators always start a movie by thinking about how unfortunate they can
make the hero in the beginning of the movie because the most gratifying part of
the movie is the progress the hero makes through his misfortunes and ordeals
and how he overcomes them. You are the main character, hero, and protagonist of your
life’s movie. In the movies, there are characters with no difficulties and
misfortune. They are called “extras.” When you try to avoid life’s
difficulties, you are not the hero of your own life’s movie, but an “extra.” By
avoiding life’s difficulties you will not experience joy in your life. Only by
accepting and overcoming challenges will you experience joy in your life.
How do we accept our
circumstances and change our attitude? Rev. Seicho Taniguchi said that we need
to resolve to be happy and resolve to be grateful by saying, “Therefore resolve
now to be happy for whatever the circumstances you can always be happy. Resolve
to be grateful. Then you will be able to be grateful to all people, things, and
circumstances in the universe.” Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi said the same thing in
today’s prayer (1/19/2020): “We must know that whatever we experience, we need it in order
to strengthen our soul and deepen our understanding. We must confront every
experience with gratitude and with a sense of welcome, for every experience is
an important lesson to our soul.”
We must confront every
experience with gratitude. Many people see negative things as evil or bad, but
like the unfortunate events for a movie hero, these things appear for a reason.
So, we have to change our perception and change our attitude towards
unfortunate things.
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi
reminds us how precious our eyes and hands are. He said, “How can you live
without being grateful to your hands? It is a mystery that joy does not well up
within you.” If we remember to be grateful for the small things in life such as
hands and eyes, joy cannot help but well up within you. I have a lot of
challenges. I have setbacks and difficulties in my job, at home, in my health,
and in my life but I am the master of my life. I am always grateful to everyone
and everything.
Some people complain about
their children or spouse. Xanthippe, the wife of Socrates, was one of the worst
wives in Western world. Her name is often used as a pronoun for a bad wife. The
students of Socrates witnessed that at an occasion Xanthippe screamed to him
like thunder and threw water on top of his head from a bucket. Watching this,
his students asked, “Are you okay with what she did to you?”
Socrates joked first
saying, “After the thunder rain always comes.” Then, he said, “You should get
married. If you got a good wife, you can become happy. If you have a bad wife,
you can become a philosopher like me.”
I am not sure this story is true or not but the point of Socrates’ statement
is that we each choose how to interpret negative things in our lives and we can
change our attitude to accept it. We can start recognizing the small things and
being grateful for it and then increase it gradually to recognizing greater
things and being grateful for them. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi said, “If you desire
to rejoice and if you desire to become grateful, you will soon become happy. A
small happiness calls forth a medium-size happiness. A medium-size happiness
calls forth an even larger happiness. An even larger happiness infinitely
summons up greater and greater happiness for us.”
Today, we will practice how
to call forth a small happiness and be grateful. We will use a mirror today.
(Distribute a hand mirror to everyone.) First, look at your eyes. If you frown,
you need to open up the middle of the forehead. With the mirror, you can also
practice a natural smile. While gazing at your eyes, smile with your eyes.
Then, smile with the center of your face. Say to yourself, “I am happy. I am joyful.
I am grateful. I am lucky.” While you are gazing at your eyes and repeating
these words, these thoughts will go directly into your subconscious mind.
You can change the words to
whatever you want. For example, “I am beautiful. I am healthy. I am wealthy.”
If you want to increase your confidence, you can say to yourself, “I am
confident. I am talented. I can do anything because I am a child of God.”
Since we have only a short
time today please continue to practice this at home with your own mirror. Thank
you very much.
