Self-development
Just as we need good quality food to nourish healthy bodies (and not only), we need a fertile ground for our minds to evolve. Philosophy (from Greek Philos = friend/lover + Sophia = wisdom) is vital. Love for learning opens doors and clears cloudy skies, while egoism and fear of failure keep us in the darkness. Allow yourselves to learn from others, accept help, be inquisitive and dubious, ready to change and evolve your mind; It is with passion for learning, patience and perseverance we all ascend the ladder of understanding, and understanding is a path to peacefulness.
Learning about the history of humankind and the planet, studying the self and sociocultural temporality, gives us access to understanding better ourselves in the present and therefore be able to choose and set personal goals that are fulfilling. Opening up to ideas and thoughts of other people and cultures expands our consciousness and frees us from time and space bound conceptions and misconceptions. Our reality is nothing more than the sum of our thoughts, dependent on our social, environmental and personal focus. Plato’s allegory of the cave explains this very well: unless we free ourselves from the chains of an ephemeral, subjective and distorted reality through education and dialectic (discussions based on logical arguments), we remain prisoners to a ‘reality’ that consists of shadows and not ‘real’ forms and ideas. Quantum physics have also demonstrated our restricted perceptibility and the relativity of ‘reality’; such discoveries reveal the magnitude and complexity of cosmos and urge for an open, curious mind that humbly seeks to understand. Every level of comprehension we acquire is another step towards accomplishment and serenity.
All that said, even though education plays a crucial role in well-being, we don’t need to pursue numerous qualifications; there are qualified people that are uncultured as there are ill-educated people who promote themselves as experts. We need to be open to learning, always, as this is the path of intellectual and spiritual elevation. We also need to cultivate an ability to discern false and fanatic ideas and remember that the mind is an ally when it serves logic and not passion or psychological weaknesses. Dogmatic views are nothing but heavy chains that drug us down to a false, disharmonious and meaningless way of living. Having a real discussion where we listen to what the other says and allowing ourselves to even change opinion, is a door to an enlightened mind. Feeding our minds with good quality culture, music, art, reading and thinking gives us incomparable pleasure.
Meditation & Positive thinking
Thoughts can make us happy or unhappy. They govern our lives, define our whole being. Naturally, they revolve around our experiences, the sensory stimuli we are exposed at and which delineate our memories, mental associations and resulting feelings. Unfortunately, modern life is overburdened with negative sensory stimuli (e.g. scenes of violence, deafening sounds, unpleasant smells etc) and negative feelings (fear of failure and exclusion, jealousy, lack of safety in a competitive environment etc). An easy, universal tactic to escape from thoughts and worries that stress us out is to concentrate on external stimuli; this is why TV, for example, is an ‘addictive mind pill’. However, watching scenes of violence are anything but calming to the mind. After all, if there is an appeasing feeling in not thinking of what worries us it usually lasts only for as long as the external stimuli last.
It is only natural that we cannot feel content and happy unless we have a peaceful mind. Meditation is exactly this: the art of calming the mind. It is the technique of concentrating on the ‘inside’ rather than the ‘outside’, which allows us to really rest and come closer to our true selves; to escape from external influences that drive us away from self-fulfilment. True peace of mind transcends time, space and causality helping us to eliminate stress that relates to a temporary and biased ‘reality’. Meditation calms the mind and as a result also the body, and leads to positive thinking and peace.
In short, if you want to be healthy and happy, ensure you have positive sensory experiences and think in a positive manner. Meditation is key to a peaceful mind.