I am walking on the path of mindfulness as a pilgrim of love and compassion. I find sustained happiness in mindfulness and I am able to understand myself better.

Life is a journey. The processes and the path we take makes us who are. We can make the journey enjoyable or full of sufferance. If we understand the four universal truth and work with it, we will save ourselves from sufferance.

There is no universal definition of happiness, but happiness is within and not outside of us. We need to first understand who we are, which will naturally guide us to be mindful practitioners. Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh has said, “Mindfulness is a source of Happiness” and given a profound statement, “There is no way to Happiness, Happiness is the Way.” This insightful statement on happiness prescribes how we can live our lives happily.

Happiness has been talked by all great thinkers of the past from Socrates to Dalai Lama as a path, or a process, or an action, or way, or a harmony between thoughts, words and action. We can thus link happiness with karmic actions. For example, if we walked a wrong path, either by thoughts or deeds, we will suffer a karmic outcome and the happiness is deluded. However, if we walked the path rightfully with the right thoughts, everything will fall in place.

Our biggest challenge is the connection with others and the environment around us – the interdependence. If we mindfully learn to disassociate ourselves with what others think about us, or say about us, and not compare with anyone but oneself, we will learn to be ourselves.

I practise a mantra “Be yourself, walk the path of life with right intentions and right efforts, do not compare with others, compete with yourself, forgive others and yourself, say the two magical words every moment you have a chance, which is thank you and sorry.

Learn to practice mindfulness…. I am on this journey for a while now. You are most welcome to practice with me when I have shifted to Bhutan after mid of 2020.