Happiness and Ourselves.
THE WALKING MONK – Bhaktimarga Swami: This is my last full day in Canada, on a break-of-sorts, before I depart for America to reconvene the US Walk. It does get exciting knowing Iāll be on the road again. Itās when Iām on that road, that Iām the happiest and when I get the best rest. Yes, I had to say that insomnia hit again – now that Iām not in full regimen. Iām sure if a survey is done, you will find a good amount of people are not happy due to many reasons, one of them being economics- or lack of it. But many folks are unhappy with too much wealth, too!
I did do some research about happiness. It was interesting to find some stats about happiness. For instance, an article from a UK paper, The Huffington Post, maintained by author, Kathyrn Snowdon, found that religious people from all different faiths are happier than those who have āno religion.ā Of all the faiths in the UK, Hindus are the happiest, scoring well above the average and just under the demographic of people who consider themselves to be ‘in very good healthā according to data compiled by the Office for National Statistics.
Christians of all denominations were the second happiest, followed by Sikhs and Buddhists.
In a TED Talk with Matt Killingsworth, it was revealed that if you want to be happier then you ‘stay in the moment.ā
Gallup had interviewed more than a million Americans since 2008, enough to map out happiness. And no surprise; on a state-wide level, Hawaii heads the top ten. But this isnāt about good weather, because Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, and Colorado are next. No southern state made the list.
Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, never conducted a survey on the topic of happiness, but he had proved that those who gave up bad habits and took to chanting became quite satisfied.
āChant and be happy!ā he used to say.
May the Source be with you!