reading tan chade meng’s  (google’s “jolly good fellow”, his official title, & personal growth pioneer) book “search inside yourself”, about emotional intelligence.

interesting book.

he talked about a set point for happiness which we can train our minds to reset – that when he was young, the resting state was “unhappy”…if nothing good happened, by default he was unhappy..now it’s reverse, if nothing bad happens, he is happy! 🙂

the important takeaway is of course that one can reset the emotional resting state…& that emotional skills are trainable & free us from “emotional compulsion”. in the book meng quoted viktor frankl “between stimulus & response there is a space. in that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response. in our response lies our growth & our happiness”

the emotional skills also help us develop calmess & a deep sense of well being…so that happiness maybe an “unavoidable side effect” of cultivating emotional intelligence. other side effects may include resilience, optimism & kindness. if one’s resting state is “happy” & “calm”, then one is naturally having a favourable view of life & so optimistic, less reactive to hurdles & failures & so resilient, and also in naturally expansive mood & so kind. 🙂

my blogging is all about happiness…like prayers (i am not christian) my blogging is to constantly remind myself of the good things in life, to relish, treasure & reminiscent. as in an earlier post, “grateful for what we have” opens our hearts, makes us appreciative, caring, generous, see the positives about ourselves & others & not stifled by negative emotions. it also has us enjoying the process, as in an earlier post “live to eat”..

& the recurring theme of perspective…when we change our perspective (reset the point of happiness), we see the world in different light..1/2 full not 1/2 empty…as was said in the same post, 退一步海阔天空 or 山穷水尽疑无路, 柳暗花明又一村…its all about perspective! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy