National Book Trust Mumbai Book Fair - My talk on creating a joyful workplace on 1st December, 2013

Hello Friends,

Do attend my talk on "Discovering Happiness at Workplace" at the NBT Mumbai Book Fair at Bandra Kurla Complex, on 1st December, 2013, 2 PM to 3 PM.

Look forward to seeing you all

Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 16 - What exactly is "feeling yourself from within"? What exactly is feeling and observing your pain?

What exactly is "feeling yourself from within"? What exactly is feeling and observing your pain?

Hi Friends,

The intensity and depth of questions that I am receiving from those who are reading this blog and my book, "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" prompt me to dwell more on the questions that I have posed at the head of this post. For, I can sense that many of you are quite close to it, have understood me well, but are missing it by a whisker. So what exactly signifies, "feeling yourself from within" or "observing your pain"? That is most crucial to enable  you to take that first step in a spiritual journey towards HAPPINESS.

Let me focus on it by stating upfront what it is not. It is not a mental exercise. While all of you are certainly using your intelligence to comprehend what I write in this blog, which is also the correct thing to do, the actual steps to be taken thereafter have nothing to do with the mind. Rather you have to be alert and truthful to check whether the mind (often accompanied by the ego) has crept in. The mind just loves to make an entry with its great ability for analysis. 

Now let me try to make this clear with an example that all can relate to. Forget, for a moment, the innate, fundamental unhappiness that we all seem to be afflicted with, something that I have been underlining endlessly. Let us, instead, take the example of the day to day stress that almost all of us feel. Take a day that has been particularly bad - say, you had a tiff with someone, or someone humiliated you, or someone unfairly threw rude words at you. We all witness bad days sometimes.

At the end of a day like this, when you settle to go to bed, adopt a relaxed posture, and just observe how the "unhappiness" is working physically on your body. The mind will love to go to the reasons that probably triggered the stress or unhappiness earlier during the day. Do not fall into that trap. Do not go into the reasons why you are feeling low. The mind just loves that.

Instead, just accept whatever unhappiness or stress you feel; do not fight it. Do not deny it either. Often we feel we are being 'weak' by accepting that we are upset. So we pretend that all is fine. Not acknowledging your feelings is the stupidest act, and takes you far away from spirit and hence, HAPPINESS.

Now, once you have decided that you will not allow a mental analysis, also take care to see that you do not fight with your mind. Thoughts will come. Do not resist them. Yet do not get entangled with them. Be a passive onlooker of the thoughts. Please try what I have described above. You will be able to adopt the correct posture by trial and error. Gradually you will enjoy thoughts come and go, without you getting involved in them.

Having reached this stage, come back to observing what this unhappiness is doing to your body. Just focus your attention to the different parts of your body, feel the muscles, the aliveness. Focus on how you are inhaling and exhaling. Just observe the flow of air, without getting involved in it. Observe your heart beat. With practice you will be able to learn this art of passively observing your entire self. You may be surprised to discover that there is so much of stress in your body. Feel the stress, the pain of stress. If you can actually feel this pain, you have taken the first giant step towards HAPPINESS. Remember, this 'pain' is not physical; it is psychic pain, which we often tend to overlook. If you can hold on to this position, say for 45 minutes, and if your posture is correct, you will actually see the pain dissolve. You will also notice that the degree of your unhappiness has reduced substantially. You can now go to sleep. You feel much lighter next morning. Normally, the morning after a bad day, one feels the worst.

Come on, try it out and come back to me...

Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook/deepak.chatterjee.944
@Deepak33C

Views are personal

FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 15 - BOOK LAUNCH IN DELHI

Hi Friends,

My second book launch event for "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" at Landmark Stores, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi went off very well. I thank all readers of this blog who came for the event and helped me make it a big success. Apart from Ms. Narayani Ganesh, editor of the Speaking Tree in the Times of India, and Kajal Ghosh, Chief General Manager of State Bank of India, Delhi Circle, I was delighted to have psychiatrist Dr. Chandan Gupta with us in the event. He had many years ago treated me for depression and has written the Foreword to my book.

Here are some pictures from the launch event:

Before I come to Series 15, I am happy to give the links to some very good reviews of the book that have come out on various platforms.

Here is a review done by an anonymous blogger, who specializes in book reviews and uses the name "Privy". The blog http://wingstomywords.blogspot.in has had over 37,000 visitors. Do have a look at that blog. The link to the book review is given below:

http://wingstomywords.blogspot.in/2013/11/book-review-are-you-really-happy-by.html

Another review has appeared in Business Standard, All India editions on 5th Oct, 2013:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/pursuit-of-fundamental-happiness-113100401049_1.html

FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS Series 15

I have a thought: to devote this series to the interesting questions that came from the audience at the time of the Delhi book launch, along with my responses. That will help clear similar doubts or questions that readers of this blog might have. It will help since this blog and the book have the same theme, though the text, articulation, emphasis and detailing are different.

Question:
We are often running after more and more of knowledge. Knowledge is available with the click of a mouse or through many gadgets like iPads, smartphones etc. Can endless pursuit of knowledge also be a roadblock in our journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS? 

Answer:
The crux issue here is not how much of pursuit of knowledge can become a roadblock in our journey towards FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS. The issue that has to be honestly addressed here is: what is prompting me to pursue knowledge? As I have mentioned earlier on in my posts, the various distractions and mental exercises that we usually employ to keep our basic inner unease at bay, come into play very slyly. We may think, in all sincerity, that we are pursuing knowledge because it is important. We have to look deep within and question, whether, in the process, we are also keeping our attention away from our inner selves that is painful and unbearable. You need a fair degree of authenticity to recognize what within you is prompting you to pursue knowledge, or for that matter, pursue any other activity or interest. We do a lot of things, seemingly important, but often hidden within us is the secret desire to keep ourselves cut off from our interiors. As I have suggested earlier, no matter what important and deeply engrossing activity you are pursuing, remain aware of your inner self at the same time. Develop the practice of doing most things from being. That helps us stay connected with ourselves no matter what we are doing. I have elaborated on these aspects in my previous posts.

Question:

This is not a question but a statement. One very close family friend whom I have known since childhood, got up and stated that he is already fundamentally happy.

My response:
Before I state what my response was, let me mention here with the benefit of having known this gentleman since childhood. I have never seen ever him operate through ego. He is one of those rare, almost 'ego-free' persons that you get to see once in a while. I have never seen him complain about anything, or ever hold a grudge. Yet he has always been very sincere about whatever he is doing. I have dwelt on this area in my book, "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?", mentioning that you do get to see such naturally peaceful persons. They are, probably, in a naturally surrendered state. But are they, therefore, automatically fundamentally happy? Hence, in my response I left it to this gentleman to come to his judgement whether he is fundamentally happy. One test is whether your happiness is un-caused, just like the basic human unease is also un-caused. Even such naturally peaceful persons, who do not crave or strive for things in life, would find their existence turn richer and deeper if they seek some spirit in their lives by looking inwards. They might discover some pain within themselves, in the process, which was overlooked earlier, and then go through it to a deeper existence.

I am not surprised at people often claiming that they are fundamentally happy. The basic human unease and tentativeness is so deeply embedded and carefully kept under wraps that we mostly do not notice it. We do get hints, though, and I have given many examples of how we often come uncomfortably close to it. For instance, when we feel the pain of boredom, or any situation where we are forced to be with ourselves, like loneliness. We quickly divert our attention, get busy and return to the comfort of our 'normal' experience.

Having suffered the pain of depression and anxiety for so many years until I came out of it, I can state that when I look back, I find those years well spent. They gave me a lot of insight, learning, depth, perception and, thankfully, dealt a hefty blow to the monster within, the ego! May be it is easier to say so as I have traversed a fair bit on my journey, but my suggestion to all readers is to not shun unhappiness of any kind. Our minds are trained to go away from any pain. That's natural. But it only increases the pain. Remember, resistance increases pain; surrender dissolves it. I have mentioned this in my book: the maximum resistance is likely in persons who are successful seniors/veterans, and the least resistance is seen in the youth. How do you react to this premise? I could easily fall into the category, "successful senior". At my stage in life, often opinions and the mental frame of mind get solidified. We could be less open to new thoughts or ideas and are likely to be poor listeners. The younger ones, are more open to new ideas. Most importantly, once they understand something or appreciate the value, they are very quick to adopt it. "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" has a section devoted to the Spiritual Youth. Read on.

Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee

My sincere apologies to readers in the US and other geographies outside India. The physical copies of AYRH? take time to reach the Amazon.com portal through distributors. I will let you know through this blog, the moment that happens.

chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
@Deepak33C

Views are personal

Book launch event in Delhi: 6th November 2013

Hi Friends, 

After the grand success of the launch of my book, "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" at Mumbai on 4th October, I am having a launch at Delhi on 6th November, 2013.

Venue: Landmark Book Store, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi at 6:30 PM

Ms Narayani Ganesh, Senior Journalist from the Times of India, and the editor of The Speaking Tree, has kindly consented to launch the book for me.

Here is the invite...

All friends from Delhi, and their friends, are cordially invited to join the event.

Cheers!

Deepak Chatterjee
chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/deepak.chatterjee.944
@Deepak33C
www.google.com/+DeepakChatterjee