Buddhism has attracted people from various cultures since ancient times mainly because it offers a practical philosophy for living rather than giving diktats to people. The simple truths highlighted by the Buddha hold true and have a universal appeal even after two thousand years. You don’t have to give up your religion or beliefs to incorporate a more Buddhist way of life. You just need to have an open mind and experiment with the realities of your own life to see if they work for you. Here are 7 teachings that could change your perspective on life.
1. Never Stop Trying
With super fast deliveries and everything available at the tap on the screen, it’s easy to become lazy and give up too easily. According to Buddhism, you must never give up anything without trying a few times. However, that does not mean you keep on trying. The idea is to give your best and give up only when you think nothing works. Once you reach that point where you know you have done all that you can, it’s easier to make peace and not have any regrets in the future.
2. All Answers Come From Within
As part of their preparation, Buddhism students are only given a small amount of information from which they have to solve big problems. This is a very practical approach because, in the real world, no one is going to hand you solutions. You need to make do with whatever you know. Beyond that, it’s all about using your innate knowledge and intuition or sixth sense. Even when the path is not clear, you need to trust the universe or the grand plan and stick to your plan. The answers will reveal themselves in time. So have faith in yourself.
3. Failure Equals Growth
Life is all about balance. Yin and yang; light and darkness; success and failure. They are two sides of the same coin and you cannot have one without the other. Buddhism does not look at failure as something negative but more like something that is necessary for you to grow. To move forward in life, you need to take risks which means there are equal chances of failure as there are of success. Once you accept failure as part of life, you start looking at it as part of learning process and not an end in itself.
4. Learn The Art Of Patience
In a fast-moving world, everyone wants things done yesterday. Unfortunately, not everything in your life is in your control. You need to develop a certain degree of patience if you want to achieve your goals. While time, effort, and energy are something you can put in, the result will take its own time. Learning the art of patience puts you in a calmer state of being. You begin to understand that you can only do so much and focus more on action than the result.
5. Forget About What Others Think
This is not easy in a world where people are driven by how many likes and shares they get on social media. Your entire life is dependent on validation by people around you. This makes your ego increasingly fragile. However, when you release yourself from the opinion of others, your true self gets a chance to express itself better. This helps you get comfortable in your own skin. You’re no longer bound by what the world has to say about you leaving your free to do the things that really matter to you.
6. Happiness Comes From Within
While most people think that their emotions are triggered by an external stimulus, the truth is that everything you experience comes from within. It does not matter what the situation is, your reaction to it is completely under your control. When you begin to work towards staying happy regardless of what’s happening in the world around you, you also realize that you are in complete control of how you feel. And if you want to feel happy all the time, all you need to do is just that: feel happy without letting anyone or anything take it away from you.
7. Live In The Present
How many hours do you spend in a day wishing that things were different? People spend way more time wallowing in the past or imagining a future than living in the present. The secret to living a fulfilling life is to live in the present because both the past and the future only exist in your mind. Essentially, you’re living in a world of fiction while the only reality in here and now. Try to engage with life when it’s happening and you’ll see how your experience of life changes completely.
