Happiness and Success P. 34

Basic Qualifications For The Attainment Of A Good Life

There are many reasons why so many people find themselves experiencing more of sufferings, struggle, and downfalls during a lifetime. Depending on which stage of life a person has reached, explanations can be clarified. Since readers of this document will most likely be those who can already comprehend, the following clarifications will start from the educated youth and end with the elderly members of society. There will be similar qualifications at times. But some differences can be identified.

I will not include the very young who have yet to learn basic teachings and who are obviously innocent. They deserve to be forgiven quickly and afforded longer patience and understanding by parents or guardians. Let me start with those who are able to live or think independently. Most need to discipline their tongue, their thoughts, their deeds, and even their emotions. Do they already have the right values ? What kind of attitude are they nurturing ? Oftentimes, the negative attitude of people can start from youthful years to very old age, cursing the darkness almost everyday sometime during the day. They find an imperfect part of the world or something wrong with people, places, or events, and build on the topic as though such imperfections dominate his life persistently. That may be due to the training of mind by

the immediate environment. It can be due to the kind of leadership some people were forced to follow. If the mind was obliged to look at the chaotic aspects of creation, and it had to immerse a body in one problem after another, would it not be trained to look at life as though it is a bunch of problems that cause life to be chaotic ? But suppose a person is more often than not directed to the goodness of whatever there is around him, and some people teach him how to improve on everything he sees, thinks about, feels about, and whatever he does, would that same person not become creative or more productive than people who grumble and worsen the conditions of their realities ?

One of the basic requirements for greater hopes of attaining happiness is discipline.

The knowledge of righteous values can be taught. But for a person who opposes discipline or who refuses to honor whatever was said to be the right values, it will be an uphill struggle against one consequence after another. Respect is one of those overlooked virtues even by people who have grown old. National leaders quarrel among themselves because they find it difficult to respect each other or respect what should be in any given situation. There are even top leaders who condemn other top leaders of another country, making it difficult to settle disagreements to arrive at peaceful settlements.