Unlock The Secret To Inner Happiness With This Simple Buddhist Belief

Never underestimate the healing power of these 3 things: music, tea, and tranquil locations.

Last week recognized the importance of mental health awareness, and since every mind matters, there seems no better time than now to take five, reevaluate our emotions and look at how we can improve them.

First things first, happiness starts from within. That much we know. Nevertheless, the mind is a complex thing, and with the imposing demands of modern life adding to the equation, working out how to access that mood-boosting emotion can often become a tricky task to master. Especially when so much of our time is swallowed by an endless cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat. Self-criticism, self-doubt, and depression can therefore seem like an inevitable consequence of such static times.

However, there is a way to turn things around.

Shōganai is a Japanese word with cultural roots in the Zen Buddhist belief, loosely translated as “it can’t be helped.” It’s a philosophy that teaches how difficult times are a natural part of life and that acceptance of them will fair us far greater than avoidance.

This is because not everything that happens in our lives is within our control, and the sooner we learn to accept that fact and stop giving ourselves a hard time over it, the sooner we will work out ways to restore our emotional stability.

Gaining inner peace begins by organizing and prioritizing our mental welfare and learning to let go of the things that can’t be helped while investing in the positive things that can. Even if those things are only small, they’ll still make a big difference.

As the great philosopher Nietzsche once wrote, “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

So cut yourself some slack. You’ve come all this way. Be proud.