Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind.
Interpretation
True happiness is determined by our mindset rather than our financial status.
Ajahn Chah's quote emphasizes that our experiences of happiness and suffering are influenced more by our mental understanding than by material wealth. It suggests that regardless of our economic situation, cultivating the right perspective can lead to a fulfilling life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about mental wellness, you could quote this to emphasize the importance of mindset.
Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind.
Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
I don't know what good it is to know so much and be smart as whips and all if it doesn't make you happy.
If we endure all things patiently and with gladness, thinking on the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, and bearing all for the love of Him: herein is perfect joy.
You ask me whether I am in good spirits. How could I not be so? As long as Faith gives me strength I will always be joyful. Sadness ought to be banished from Catholic souls... the purpose for which we have been created shows us the path; even if strewn with many thorns, it is not a sad path. It is joyful even in the face of sorrow.
Eventually, I realized that there was only so much that I could put in the way of my happiness, and acting made me happier than anything else.
You look ridiculous if you dance You look ridiculous if you don't dance So you might as well dance.
Many of us grew up with a kind of puritanism against shopping. But shopping can be much more than how it is cast. If you are bored or you have problems, it can be a way of lifting your spirits, by doing something light and superficial. Why not?
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