Kabir highlighted the importance of santosh or contentment in our lives. Indian culture teaches us to be content in all situations. But today, we are not happy with the grades our child gets, our pay packet, our spouse, or our ageing parents. Much of the stress in our lives is the result of our inability to be content with what we have.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Contentment is the Kernel of Happiness

When you live in this world, there are various types of complex interactions happening. As your field of play increases, the complexity of interaction also goes on increasing.

If you're just sitting in a cubicle, working on your computer with only one other person, you need only a little understanding; but if you're managing a thousand people, you need a vast understanding of everybody.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: How to Manage Your Relationships

In today's fast-changing world, materialism and stress have become part of our everyday lives. We are constantly looking for answers: How to live a successful and happy life?

One way of finding out answers to this question could be to explore the Spiritual Quotient (SQ), relating to our ability to understand and comprehend the spiritual aspects of life, which, contrary to popular belief, are not necessarily connected to religion.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Surrender the Ego, Attain Happiness

Why are friends so special? Byron, while dedicating the fourth canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage to his friend, John Hobhouse, wrote: "To one whom I have known long, and accompanied far, whom I have found wakeful over my sickness and kind in my sorrow, glad in my prosperity and firm in my adversity, true in counsel and trusted in peril - to a friend often tried and never found wanting."

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: True In Counsel, Trusted In Peril

Love is the essence of religion too, for it is religion (not organised religion) that teaches ethics and compassion.

The story goes that once the Devil and his close friend went for a walk. The devil picked up something from the ground and put it in his pocket. When he was asked by his friend what he had picked up, he said: "I have picked up the Truth".

The friend said: "If you picked up the Truth, then your time is up because Truth is the opposite of what you symbolise". The devil smiled and said, "Don't worry my friend, I will organise it".

You know what I mean?

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Love is the Essence of Evolution

Success can be external or internal. Externally, it is the measure of a job well done and the accompanying recognition from society. Internally, it is a feeling of achievement, satisfaction and fullness which comes on the completion of a task or the fulfilment of a desire. What is a true measure of success, the outer accolades or the inner joy and peace?

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Secret of Success: Team Spirit

A happy relationship is a universal ideal. Yet, few among us can claim to have perfect relationships. Worldwide, divorce rates are going up. Even most couples who do stay together for a considerable length of time allow their relationship to turn mechanical - there is little room for romance, intimacy or joy. Such couples end up transforming a beautiful partnership into a mere social institution, no more than a familial commitment empty of true love.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: The Fine Art of Staying in Love

Who doesn't want to be happy? We all desire happiness. We pursue pleasures systematically through life - it comes as naturally to us as the sunflower turns to the sun. But, pleasure once obtained does not last; so once again, the search begins. Moreover, pleasure is ephemeral; it eludes the seeker at the final moment. One may work very hard and get all that the world considers necessary for a happy life, yet none of these things can make us really happy.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Why Small Things Can Shatter Happiness

A man who wished to be initiated into meditation went to a great sage and asked to be accepted as his disciple. The sage made him close his eyes gently and told him that the first step of meditation was to practise compassion. "Amity, compassion, amity, compassion" - the sage kept repeating.

The man, however, was not concentrating. Finally he opened his eyes and begged to be allowed to say something. "I can wish everybody well but my neighbour. I have a lawsuit against him. Can I leave him out?"

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Forgive and Forget To Create Amity

A regular at religious discourses, I've often found followers of one guru or faith criticising other gurus, teachers and devotees, because they think that their own philosophy is far superior. They tend to assess the learnedness or otherwise of a teacher according to the number of disciples and ashrams.

If those who profess to be spiritual seekers behave in this manner, what can we expect from lesser mortals? Why is it so difficult for us to respect the right of others to follow any teaching or teacher of their choice? No one who claims loyalty to any faith that advocates compassion, tolerance and understanding can afford to ignore these tenets.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: The Path Of True Love Is Never Smooth

Freedom is understood as the absence of physical and mental boundaries or restrictions. Physical freedom is when you enjoy freedom of movement. Mental freedom is when you are free to choose and make your own decisions.

Both of the above freedoms are external. True freedom, however, is internal. In the external freedom, although we seem to make our own choices, in reality, the decision-making apparatus, the mind, has itself been formed through many layers of societal influences in the form of ego.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Road to Freedom is Less Travelled

The fourteenth century Native American Iroquois Constitution opens with a prayer of gratitude. It offers thanks "to the earth where men dwell; to streams of water, springs and lakes; to the maize and fruits and medicinal herbs; to the sun and moon, wind and thunder... and to the great creator, the source of life".

Gratitude is one of the first principles of spiritual well-being. Blessings abound in the life of each of us, and a keener appreciation of the same unlocks the secrets of the universe. In opening our hearts wide to render thanks we automatically create the space in our consciousness for greater grace to flow in. A thankful heart is an open heart and is thus, open to receiving. Meister Eckhart, the German mystic observed, "If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice."

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Gratitude - A Simple Yet Powerful Tool

Worry causes fear, anxiety, tension and stress. These emotions deplete energy and weaken the immune system. Worriers become sick and this is manifested in poor health, because of all the problems that are eating into their vitals.

And worry is certainly not the same as constructive thinking; if it were, we would have found solutions to most of our problems.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Don't Be a Worrier; Savour Your Life

To think wisely, the mind needs to undergo a purification process. Mantras help us to purify the mind and make full use of the intellect.

Once, an oyster tried to distract a pearl diver. With great effort, it placed a loose pearl on a leaf on the ocean bed. The pearl diver, however, did not see the pearl - he caught the oyster. We don't know where to look and we become a victim of our limited knowledge.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Dance of Intellect: Mantra Yoga

Once while visiting an old age home, a resident asked me to join her for an evening cup of tea. While making tea, she looked at me closely and asked: "Aren't you Tina Munim?" When I nodded my head in the affirmative, her face lit up. The joy and elation I saw in her eyes moved me and changed my perception of the elderly.

Now, I regularly visit homes for the aged; those are my special moments. My elderly friends tell me stories, and I tell them mine, and we share tales of life's little joys and sorrows. To them, I am not Tina Munim or Tina Ambani. I am just another human being who wants to be a part of their life..

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: How We Learn An Age-Old Lesson

We have our ups and downs, successes and failures, elations and disappointments. Nothing is certain but change. Winners turn losers and vice versa, for that is the law of nature. Impermanence is a permanent feature of life. The best way to deal with the transiency is to learn to maximise our spiritual quotient.

Many of us know of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People where he elaborates on habits we need to acquire in order to be effective. Twenty virtues have been elaborated by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Make The Most Of Your Life

All of us need to believe that we are loved and are lovable. We begin life secure in our mother's love, swaddled in our innocence. Love was never in question, but over time, we become increasingly unsure...

In The Path to Love , Deepak Chopra says that by bringing spirituality back into our relationships, we can discover a world of depth and meaning. He says: "You were created to be completely loved and to be completely lovable for your whole life".

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Unconditional Love Brings Joy to All

There is something each one of us owes to everyone, whether we know them or not. Realise this will significantly bring down tension levels - both in this world and in the world within.

That something is ‘Anger Control'. Today, people are going berserk with anger. Even children are falling victim to this emotion. People say: "I don't know but my brain just seemed to explode".

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Manage Your Anger, Change Your Life

Why have children? I often put this question to parents and I get varied answers: For the sheer joy of having them around, to ensure the continuity of the family tree, to produce heirs, for security in old age, and so on.

Others say that children enrich their lives. But how? I've always wanted to hear more on this, but they usually stop short of giving a deeper explanation.

In fact, very few parents have been able to give expression to the learning experience they undergo in the process of raising or interacting with children. Raising children or educating them is not just a one-sided affair where all learning / teaching flows from the parents or teachers to the child-students.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Discover Yourself Through Children

We need to find truth, love and forgiveness even in the midst of hatred, destruction and pride. Napoleon said: "What astonishes me most in this world is the inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit". In so saying Napoleon touched upon an important principle of forgiveness. That forgiveness is creative and it springs from love. It is the ability to embrace the pain of injury to oneself, while extending one's hands in love.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Creative Forgiveness Springs from Love

Simply put, happiness is satisfaction of mind. However, different individuals have different perceptions of how to achieve happiness. For some, happiness lies in wealth; for others, it is in rank and position; yet others find happiness in fame and name. Commonly, happiness is measured by achievement in terms of money, property, other material possessions, power, name, fame, education, lifestyle, position and social status.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Mantra for Happiness - Loving Detachment