Happiness is not about holding on

everyone has a desire to pursue what is good and beautiful and everyone wishes for joy and happiness however they often fail to realize that true Joy comes from Letting Go letting go of selfish thoughts possessiveness and learning to make others happy while respecting them in reality happiness arises from the happiness we bring to others only when others are happy can they wish happiness upon us from a literal interpretation the Chinese character meaning to embrace or hold in the word meaning to possess breaks down to the characters use and hand suggesting the act of holding tightly but does holding tightly truly lead to happiness we admire cheerful Birds yet fail to realize that once confined to a cage they lose the joy of freedom and we lose the joy we once saw in them we care for our children often providing what we deem best for them sometimes at the expense of others however we may not realize that it is through adversity that they truly grow just as a greenhouse flower cannot adapt to the outside world Japanese scholar Emoto Masaru authored a book titled the hidden messages in water through his experiments he discovered that the crystalline structure of flowing water is beautiful but when it's confined in a dam or Reservoir its beauty diminishes sometimes becoming grotesque when denied Freedom even water loses its happiness thus we may be consuming unhappy water not realizing its impact on our own happiness there's a famous tale of Sir GNE a companion of King Arthur marrying a witch the Witch asked G do you desire for me to be a beautiful woman during the day before your friends in a hag at night or vice versa gwain replied as you have said the greatest desire of a woman is to determine her own fate so you should decide she then chose to be a beautiful woman both day and night DNE treated his friends well and treated his wife the best way however what truly mattered was respecting her choice true happiness lies in Wishing the best for others understanding and respecting their choices only when others are happy in content can their best qualities shine forth bringing happiness to oneself in life there's no absolute good or bad it's all about choices respecting the choices of others is seen as the ultimate understanding in kindness by doing so one finds happiness in the final moments of history Disciples of dafa under the guidance of their Master went forth to save others we all recognize this as the greatest act of goodness yet it emphasizes the importance of respecting choices even in such Moments One cannot decide for another true happiness is simple respect others understand them and refrain from imposing one's desires upon them making other's happy indeed makes one the happiest because one receives the greatest Goodwill in return respecting the choices of children makes one the best parent respecting the choices of parents makes one the best child respecting the choices of subordinates makes one the best leader happiness is not about holding on to but about giving and respecting others