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.
Some of my battles with weight have been very public. But most of them have been internal. Even at my thinnest, when my body was being praised, I wasn't happy with what I saw in the mirror or how I felt about myself.
I'm happy about working; I'm happy about gracing the stage and coming out and making people laugh. I never treat it like a job or feel that way. It's the best thing ever to me, and I feel like a kid in a candy store.
In my experience, it is rarer to find a really happy person in a circle of millionaires than among vagabonds.
Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun.
I used food to make myself feel better, but I felt worse when I ate.
It is a flaw In happiness to see beyond our bourn, - It forces us in summer skies to mourn, It spoils the singing of the nightingale.
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