“HAPPINESS cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already here, right now, in relaxation and letting go…” - Lama Gendun Rinpoche.

The thing we all have in common is that we just want to be happy, to be safe, feel connected, valued and nourished. Sometimes not so easy in our modern world, all too often we can find ourselves feeling threatened, unheard, under pressure and undervalued. It can help to remember that in this we are all connected and all the same.

The essence of Buddhism comes from cultivating and resting in our naturally broad and open mind, through meditation. Discovering our real nature, and the happiness that is already there but obscured by our busy minds trying so hard to make sense of everything around us. From this gradual discovery comes stability and the cultivation of a wish to benefit others through kindness and compassion.

The poem Happiness by Lama Gendun Rinpoche invites us to reflect and just let go a little, perhaps not strive so hard all the time. Maybe taking the time to be kind and notice the good things as well as the challenges that face us. He says our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it, and as we relax our grasping, there is space, open, inviting and comfortable. In this space we have energy and balance, and with it choice and possibly the freedom to be whoever we want to be.

Helen Towers, South Lakeland Interfaith Forum member and practitioner in the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism