Recently, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Harvard Professor Robert Waldinger sat down together to discuss the topic of happiness.

Happiness is an inside job

Professor Waldinger is the current director of Harvard’s 80-year-old study on happiness, the Harvard Study of Adult Development. This decades-long study has investigated what has made people flourish since 1938. Prof. Waldinger shared in the Harvard Gazette, “The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships have a powerful influence on our health. Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care, too.” In fact, “The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80.”

Prof. Waldinger says that “about 50% of happiness comes from genetics and temperamental factors. About 10% comes from life circumstances, and about 40% can be changed.” 
But how does one go about changing that 40%?

Gurudev says, “There are two ways of looking at life. First—is thinking, ‘I’ll be happy after achieving a certain objective.’ The second is saying: ‘I am happy, come what may!’ Life is 80% joy and 20% misery. But you hold on to the 20% and make it 200%! It is not a conscious act; it just happens.”

“Relaxing through meditation and breathing exercises can handle this. When one is relaxed, one realizes that one is loved, connected to everybody, and a part of the whole universe.” 

A sorrow-free soul

Prof. Waldinger: I saw that you have a program to train medical students and young doctors to be present with people. And you said something very important, "It's the birthright of every human being to have a soul that's free of sorrow." That's an amazing statement to make to medical students who have chosen to face so much of the sorrow of life. I would love to hear you say more about that. A soul that's free from sorrow, how does that come about? 

Gurudev: You know, a broader outlook towards life will make your problems and issues very small. For every sorrow, there is a cause, and the cause is not within oneself; it is always connected to what has happened in the past or what's happening right in front of you. It's related to your passion. Suppose you have a passion that isn't fulfilled, then you feel sad. So when you see life from a bigger context, a broader lens, both passions and your disappointments, all will appear very small.

Prof. Waldinger: That's the way to get over that problem. Then, you find a sense of freedom from within. And that freedom is what happiness is all about. There are stories about ancient Zen Masters in China who meditated by themselves in silence for 9 or 10 years, and they are great stories of enlightenment. To me, it sounds terrible. Silence is good; I mean, it is necessary, but anything overdone, too much done, is no good, and too much socializing is as bad as too much silence.

Gurudev: Yes, yes, a middle path.

Prof. Waldinger: I think about physicians, including myself. How do we help people expand awareness beyond the small self, especially when the body is in pain or when the body is going to die? 

Gurudev: A strong mind can carry along a weak body but not the other way around. A weak mind cannot carry along a strong body. And the mind cannot be exercised at the last minute. When someone is on their deathbed, you cannot say, "Oh, make my mind strong now.” Right? This has to be practiced. It's like building muscle. You know your body can't build muscle overnight.

Cultivating happiness and intuition 

Prof. Waldinger: It's a habit that you cultivate. So when you cultivate that habit of being happy and unmindful of all the little downs that you face, you gain strength. Intuition is something that you're teaching children, right? You're teaching them to tune into a capacity that's there for all of us. It strikes me that we have been taught to suppress our intuition, right? We teach children not to pay attention to those signals, right? And so you're doing something very radical, right?

Gurudev: This is very impactful because children don't have such great cravings or aversions. So, they are still very fresh in their minds, and they can tap into their intuition. They can go very deep and just tap into those aspects in them. We have trained more than 100,000 kids around the world. 

Prof. Waldinger: In Zen, we call this the Beginner's mind, where you're free of concepts and preconceptions. A Zen master said, "In the Beginner's mind, there are many possibilities," and "In the expert's mind, there are few." So, what are you seeing from these children? When you teach these children to tap into this? 

Gurudev: Oh, a lot of possibilities!  

Six ways to be happy

Here are Gurudev’s six practical ways to increase happiness.

1. See the world where there are greater and more significant problems. Then, your problems will appear smaller. The moment your problems appear smaller, you will have the energy and confidence to deal with them or solve them. 

2. Serve those who are in greater need.

3. Look at your own life. In the past, you had many problems. They have all come and gone. Know that even this problem will go, and you have the energy and power to overcome it. Understanding and looking at your own past will give you self-confidence.

4. Most importantly, do some breathing exercises, meditation, and relaxation.

5. In anger, we say, ‘I give up’. Now, without frustration or anger, say, ‘I give this problem up, I cannot solve it; let the Divine help me.’ And know that you will always be helped. Have the confidence that you will be helped; a power in the universe will help you.

6. We are always looking for solutions from someone. We forget that if we turn our minds inward, we can get some ideas and solutions. Spontaneity will come when you take a few minutes to go deep within yourself. There is nothing great in smiling when everything is going the way you want. But if you awaken the valor inside of you and say, ‘Come what may, I am going to keep smiling,’ tremendous energy will rise within you, and the problem will come and disappear.

Start your journey to more happiness with SKY Breath Meditation

Gurudev’s SKY Breath Meditation is one of the most extensively studied breathing practices in the world, with over 100 independent peer-reviewed articles showing a long list of benefits, including:

• Improved relationships

• 21% increase in life satisfaction

• Enhanced optimism

• Increased self-esteem

• More joy

• Healthier blood pressure

• 33% increase in immune cell count

• Enhanced deep sleep and more!

You can learn SKY by registering for the Art of Living Part 1 course today!