Recently during the Thanksgiving holiday, my son, Jonah, brought a friend home from graduate school to spend some time with the family. His friend is Deepak Ramola.
Come to find out, Deepak is an internationally known personality and has traveled to more than 40 countries. Born and raised in India, Deepak started a foundation at age 16, has given multiple TED talks in the past few years and has authored an education curriculum that’s been adopted in multiple countries (among many other things!). And he’s a warm and beautiful soul to boot! You can read more about him here.
One of the evenings when Deepak was with us, we had a songfest with the extended family. During that evening he taught us a song that was taught to him when he traveled in Bhutan. He told us the story of how the Bhutanese “Minister of Happiness” taught this song to him. Apparently, in Bhutan, instead of measuring “Gross National Product”, they measure “Gross National Happiness.” Thus, they have a Minister dedicated to the spread and cultivation of happiness! Imagine if we had that here in our country!
As I have done more research, the song that he taught us emerges from a song sung at Plum Village in France which was founded by the great Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. The lyrics of the song are:
Happiness is here and now. I have dropped my worries.
Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. I am not in a hurry.
Happiness is here and now. I have dropped my worries.
Somewhere to go. Something to do. And I’m not in a hurry.
In Advent, we are invited to slow down and to seek stillness in order that we might refocus on what is important in life. We are invited to drop our worries and to not be in a hurry – whether we have somewhere to go or nowhere to go.
Perhaps as you go about your day today – and throughout this week – you can be reminded that happiness is being in the here and now, dropping your worries and not being in a hurry. Just breathe in and breathe out.
To hear an acoustic version of the “Happiness” song, you can click here or search on YouTube for various version of it. And play it on repeat…
7 Comments
Mary Aliu
Beautiful story! Let happiness reign!
Mary Heveron-Smith
What an uplifting column! Great story and words to live by, Mike!
Ricky French
I have trekked in Bhutan as you may know a few times. As part of the travel we spent an evening with the researchers from sort of a Happiness Department. It is a very interesting country. We have much to learn from them. It is not a shangri-la though and has its own challenges. Be sure to watch “A Yak in the Classroom “
Annie OReilly
WOW! What a wise young man. I love the Bhutan minister of happiness and also like the song, Happiness is Here and Now. Thank you, Mike. I had never heard of Deepak Ramona!
Barbara Lantiegne
How wonderful. I struggle with dropping my worries, but I’m working on it. Thank you for sharing this lovely story with us.
Mary Sweeney
What a wonderful reflection! Thank you so much, Mike.
Pat Mutolo
Beautiful,really makes you think and to slow down
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