HAPPY AND HEALTHY ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIFE
Practicing genuine chi kung contributes to happiness and good health
Question
Considering different roles we have as daughters and sons, as parents to our own children and as workers and citizens of the countries we live in, how can we make sure the choices we make as daughters, or parents to our own children or in relations to our work or business are such that they nurture a happy and healthy environment to all involved?
In all relationships we all want peace, happiness and joy. Is there a way to bring this forth in all relationships?
I want to take this chance to thank you Sifu. It is greatly all thanks to the Shaolin Arts and your guidance that I have a very happy family life, a good and loving husband and beautiful daughters. And a good relationship with my parents. So thank you from my heart!
Sifu Nessa Kahila
Answer
While the different roles we play may lead to different results, we can ensure the choices we make will nurture a happy and healthy environment to all involved if we have a happy and healthy attitude towards life.
In other words, although the choices a child or a parent makes, an employee or an employer makes, or an ordinary citizen or a country leader makes, may not be the same, whether the decisions made will lead to a happy and healthy environment to all involved depend on whether the persons making the decisions have a happy and healthy attitude towards life.
The choice a child makes may be different from that of a parent. Similarly an employee and an ordinary citizen may make choices different from those of an employer or a country leader. But irrespective of whether the decision maker is a child or a parent, an employee or an employer, an ordinary citizen or a country leader, or of different classes of people, if the decision maker is happy and healthy towards life, the effect of his decisions will be happy and healthy to the people involved. If the decision maker is sad and sick, the effect will be depressing and sickly.
Having a happy and healthy attitude towards life is, therefore, very important. This is also the attitude we practice and cherish in our school.
Let us take some examples of a child and a parent.
Suppose a child sees a toy and he beseeches his parent to buy it, and suppose the parent is poor. But both the child and the parent have a happy and healthy attitude towards life. Their conversation can be as follows.
“Ma ma, I love that toy. Can you buy it for me?”
“I’d love to, darling. But ma ma do not have sufficient money. I would use the money for food, which is more important for you.”
Although the child may not have the toy, but the choice made will contribute to a happy and healthy environment for the child and the parent, as well as other people who happen to come into their lives.
Now, suppose the child and the parent have a sad and sick attitude towards life. Their conversation can be as follows.
“Ma ma, I love that toy. Buy it for me.”
“Don’t you know that I can’t afford to buy the toy, you stupid boy. You have to go without the toy.”
The child may sulk, or may scream. The parent may be angry. Their attitude will not contribute to a happy and healthy environment for the child and the parent, or for other people.
Now, suppose the child has a sad and sick attitude towards life, but the parent has a happy and healthy one. This is a hypothetical example for comparison. Parents with a happy and healthy attitude towards life usually have children who also have a happy and healthy attitude. Their conversation can be as follows.
“Ma ma. I want that toy. Buy it for me.”
“I’d love to, darling, but I don’t have enough money. I’d rather save the money to buy you food.”
The child may sulk, or he may scream, but he won’t be happy. He may not be clinically sick, but he is spiritually unhealthy. Other people meeting the child may be negatively influenced by him if they are spiritually weak. If the other people are spiritually strong, they may attempt to make the child less sad and less unhealthy, or even change the child to become happy and healthy.
On the other hand, the parent will be happy and healthy, despite having a sad and sick child. People coming into contact with her will be positively influenced by the parent.
Suppose the child is happy and healthy, but the parent is sad and sickly. This, again, is a hypothetical example for comparison. If parents have a sad and sick attitude towards life, their children usually follow the parents’ example. Their conversation can be as follows.
“Ma ma, I love that toy. Can you buy it for me?”
“You stupid boy. Don’t you know that I can’t afford to buy the toy?”
The child will not sulk, or will not scream. He may even say, “That’s fine ma ma. I can still play without the toy.”
Hopefully the child can influence the parent. Other people will be inspired to be happy and healthy when they meet the child.
On the other hand, the influence of the parent will be negative for those who are spiritually weak. The parent should learn chi kung or kungfu from our school.
It is worthy of note that to have a happy and healthy attitude towards life does not depend on financial position. Even when one is poor, he (or she) can be happy and healthy.
Yes, there is a way to bring forth peace, happiness and joy in all relationships. Practice chi kung or kungfu, or both, from our school.
Why does practicing chi kung or kungfu, or both, from our school bring forth peace, happiness and joy in all relationships. The answer is both extrinsic and intrinsic.
Extrinsically, peace, happiness and joy are the qualities we cherish, teach and practice in our school. We teach students to have a happy and healthy attitude towards life. We also teach students how to transfer what they have learnt in chi kung and kungfu to make their lives peaceful, happy, joyful and healthy.
Intrinsically, the practice of our arts enables our students to be peaceful, happy and joyful as well as healthy, even if they were not extrinsically taught so, but actually they are. Before any student can learn from us, he (or she) has to follow and practice our Ten Shaolin Laws, which contribute to high moral values and peace. Every time we start our practice, we smile from the heart, which contributes to happiness and joy. Every time in our training, we experience energy flow, which contributes to good health.
It is no surprise at all that you have a very happy family life, a good and loving husband and beautiful daughters, and a good relationship with your parents and in-laws. All of them, except your daughters who are still small, practice our arts. Although your daughters have not practiced our arts formally, they have done so informally. More significantly, they have very good influence from you and your husband, and they are chi kung babies, which definitely make them peaceful, happy, joyful and healthy.
Having a happy and healthy attitude towards life will make others happy
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on Happy Family Life in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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