Who would you be without the thought that happiness depends on someone else?
Interpretation
Happiness should not be reliant on others; it comes from within.
This quote challenges the notion that our happiness is contingent upon other people, suggesting instead that true happiness is a state of mind that we can cultivate independently. By recognizing that the source of our happiness is internal rather than external, we empower ourselves to claim joy irrespective of our circumstances or relationships with others.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-empowerment, one might say, 'Remember, who would you be without the thought that happiness depends on someone else?'
When you stay present with your children, that’s where abundance is. And when you stay out of their business, that’s where everything you deserve in life is. When you’re in presence, there’s no story, and you are abundance. And you come to trust that space so often that you just eventually hang out as that, because there is nothing that can move you out of it, not even a perceived child or a perceived anything.
It is easy to be swept away by some overwhelming feeling, so it's helpful to remember that any stressful feeling is like a compassionate alarm clock that says, "You're caught in the dream."
We don't attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to be true in the moment.
An unquestioned mind is the world of suffering.
Hurt feelings or discomfort of any kind cannot be cause by another person. No one outside me can hurt me. That’s not a possibility. It’s only when I believe a stressful thought that I get hurt. And I’m the one who’s hurting me by believing what I think. This is very good news, because it means that I don’t have to get someone else to stop hurting me. I’m the one who can stop hurting me. It’s within my power.
I am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.
We cannot have a world where everyone is a victim. "I'm this way because my father made me this way. I'm this way because my husband made me this way." Yes, we are indeed formed by traumas that happen to us. But you must take charge, you must take over, you are responsible.
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
When I look at my life I realise that the mistakes I have made, the things I really regret, were not errors of judgement but failures of feeling.
Since you are not a prophet, follow the way taught by prophets. _x000D_ _x000D_ Since you are not a king, be a loyal subject to The King. _x000D_ _x000D_ Since you are not a captain, do not take the helm of the ship. _x000D_ _x000D_ Since you do not possess every skill, have partners in your business. _x000D_ _x000D_ Be as pliant as dough in the hands of others, that you may rise well.
Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.
Knowledge is great. Competence is great. But the combination of both encourages people to trust you and increases your powers of enchantment. And in this world, the combination is a breath of fresh air.
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