How can we?
Be happy.
When the world is literally on fire.
Seriously.
Another war.
Another tragedy.
Rioting,
Burning in the streets.
AI.
Another reason to worry about the future.
And even when we switch.
Then years off there's that little voice.
What sort of world?
Are we leaving behind?
How can we cultivate happiness in a world suffering?
Isn't that somehow selfish?
I think about this a lot.
Perhaps we've got something fundamentally wrong about happiness.
Perhaps happiness isn't about finding a world in which there's no darkness.
But learning.
To become a light within that darkness.
I always tell this story about.
Ashoka.
He was an Indian king.
And he conquered an empire.
And one day witnessing.
Battlefield.
The bodies.
The absolute catastrophe he'd left.
Behind them.
He saw a Buddhist monk.
Stepping over bodies.
And he demanded.
Bring that man to me.
And he asked him how he was happy.
How can you be happy amongst all of this?
Even though we eat just glue sticks.
And the monk went on to teach him Buddhist Dharma.
And he went to spread that all over the world.
Happiness,
It doesn't mean we ignore what's happening in the world.
We don't ignore suffering.
We don't pretend everything's wonderful.
We don't spiritually bypass all of this.
We can acknowledge the darkness.
Without allowing it to consume everything.
We can hold sorrow in one hand and joy in the other.
And not collapse under that pressure.
Happiness and compassion aren't opposites.
We don't have to choose between the two.
As they said,
King Ashoka,
The Conqueror.
Over 2,
000 years ago.
He was so invested in the world.
So invested in being the main man.
Causing enormous suffering,
Death,
Displacement.
And because he was in that darkness.
A darkness of his own making.
He was able.
To find light.
So imagine that kind of transformation in your life.
We try to conquer our world,
Don't we?
We try to get everything right.
But there's something far more important.
He had spent his life trying to conquer the world and then discovered that the most important territory he could ever conquer.
Was his own heart.
And that's not about becoming this perfect.
Unrealistic becoming this perfectly loving being.
It's about.
.
.
What kind of person do I want to become in this difficult time that's shown up right here and right now?
Without judging ourselves.
It's like a light,
A candle.
In a dark room,
The candle dissents.
Argue with the darkness,
It doesn't try to eliminate it.
It simply shines.
And the darker its surroundings.
The darker the room,
The more noticeable that light becomes.
The more powerfully it burns.
Because that's something we can learn from.
We can't control.
All of the darkness in the world.
But we can decide what we bring into it.
Our kindness.
Or patience.
Of compassion.
Our ability to listen.
Our ability to bring some joy,
Just a little.
Into another person's life,
Into a neighbour,
Someone here right now.
Perhaps.
.
.
The light doesn't shine despite the darkness.
Maybe we need.
Some darkness.
To set that light a fire in ourselves.
And be careful with the news.
Endless scrolling through suffering doesn't help anyone.
It just leaves us frightened.
Angry.
Powerless.
We need to protect our attention.
We have to be careful that our compassion doesn't become another casualty.
Of our consumption of the news.
And that's so easy to do.
Switch off sometimes,
Just return to the breath.
McKinley.
Reconnect to life.
As it is here and now.
Become a light in somebody else's life.
It doesn't have to be a grand gesture.
Just listen properly.
Make somebody laugh.
Be patient with somebody who's driving you crazy.
Of a kindness.
When you could instead be really irritated.
The world isn't only changed by powerful people.
Is changed by how we treat the person standing in front of us.
And what if,
Instead of asking ourselves how we can save the world,
We occasionally ask,
How can we make this little corner of the world a better place?
That we are standing in.
A kinder place.
Protect your joy.
Don't wait for everything to get sorted out.
Probably never will.
Go for a walk.
Watch the sunsets paint.
Listen to Birdsong.
Have a laugh with someone you love.
Don't feel guilty about experiencing beauty.
The people suffering in the world don't benefit from the rest of us becoming.
Incapable of experiencing beauty.
Happiness is.
An act of courage.
It's not about being cheerful all the time.
It's not about thinking positively.
It's not about pretending that the world is okay or will be okay.
About refusing to abandon our humanity.
We can cackle.
Can care deeply about.
Suffering.
Without clamping down on our capacity to live.
We can be compassionate without being consumed.
Perhaps our challenge is.
.
.
Similar to Ashoka's.
But on a smaller scale.
We're not out to conquer other people,
To bend the world to our way.
But to transform the way we meet the world,
Our world,
The one we inhabit.
Slow down and let silence do some of that work.
We can't stop every war.
And we may not know what the future holds.
The darkness is something we simply cannot control.
But we can decide what we bring into it.
Be a little more patience.
A little more compassionate.
More awake.
Alive.
Don't wait for the world to become a better place before allowing yourself to experience joy.
Go outside.
Notice the line.
Make something beautiful.
Be kind to somebody.
Especially yourself.
The world needs people who care.
But it also It's people who haven't forgotten how to live.
And perhaps.
.
.
That's how we begin to change it.
Not all at once.
But one little heart.
Opening.
That's a sign.
May you be truly happy.
Don't wait for the world to give that to you.
It's a path of.
.
.
Frustration and disappointment.
Be that little heart that opens now.
Peace.
