Smile!

There are those souls that are able to turn everything into misery, whilst there are those that are able to make from everything happiness and contentment.

There is the woman in the house whose eyes fall upon nothing but mistakes. Today is black because a piece of fine china broke or because the cook put too much salt in the food. Then she flares up and curses, and no one in the house escapes from her execrations. Then there is the man who brings misery upon his own self and through his disposition heaps it upon others also. Any word that he hears he interprets in the worst possible way. He is affected gravely by the most insignificant of things that occur to him, or that have occurred to him by his actions. He is drawn into misery by profits lost, by profits expected that went unrealized, and so on. The whole world from his perspective is black, and so he blackens it for those around him. Such people have much ability to over-exaggerate the trifles that occur to them.

Thus they make mountains out of molehills. Their ability to do well is negligent, and they are never happy or content with that which they have, even if what they had was plenty. No matter how great their possessions, they will never feel any blessings from what they have.

Life is like an art or a science: it needs to he learned and cultivated. It is much better for a person to plant love in his life than to glorify money, using all his might to help it ease its way into his pocket or into his account. What is life when all its energies are exploited and used for the sole purpose of accumulating wealth, an existence where no energy is directed toward the cultivation of beauty, splendour, and love?

Most people do not open their eyes to the beauty of life, but open them only to gold or silver. They pass by a lush and luxuriant garden, a beautiful bed of roses, a flowing river or a group of singing birds, yet they are unmoved by such scenes. All that moves them is the coming and going of money into or out of-their pockets. Money is but a means to a happy life. They have reversed this fact, have sold their happy existence, and have made money to be an end in itself. Our body has been equipped with eyes to see beauty with, yet we have trained them to look on nothing but money.

Nothing can cause the soul or the face to frown as does despondency. If you want to be a smiling person, wage war with despondency and hopelessness. The door to opportunity is always open to you and to others, and so is the door to success. So indoctrinate your mind with hopes of prosperity in the future.

If you believe that you are inconsequential and have been created for things of only minor importance then your achievement in life will never surpass this initial goal. And if you believe that your calling in life is to achieve extraordinary feats, you will feel in you a determination that can destroy all kinds of barriers. This can be exemplified as follows. Whoever enters a 100 metre race will feel tired the moment he completes it, whereas anyone that enters a 400 metre race, will not-feel fatigue after passing the 100 or 200 metre mark. Therefore the soul gives resolution and will power in proportion to your goal. Thus you must identify your goal, and let it be high and difficult to achieve. And never feel despondency as long as you are taking a new step in its direction everyday.

What blocks the soul, making it frown and placing it in a dark prison? The answer is despondency, hopelessness, seeing everything as being evil, searching for faults in others and in constantly speaking about the evilness of the world.

Blessed is the one who has a teacher that helps him to develop his natural abilities and broaden his horizons. The best teacher is the one that instils kindness and generosity into his pupil, and teaches that the noblest of pursuits that one can strive for, is to be a source of goodness to others, in accordance with one’s abilities. The soul should be like the sun, radiating light and hope. The heart should be filled with tenderness, virtue, benevolence, and a genuine love for spreading good to all those that are connected to it.

The smiling soul sees difficulties, and loves to surmount them. When it sees problems, it smiles. It solves them, overcomes them, and smiles. The frowning soul, when faced with a problem, magnifies it and belittles its own determination, while spending all its time justifying. What is the age or times that it curses except its own self and upbringing. It loves success in life, but is not willing to pay its price. On every path, it sees a grinning lion. It waits only for gold to shower down upon it, or to chance upon some treasure in the ground.

Difficult things in life are only relative, for everything is difficult for the ordinary person, while there is no great difficulty for the remarkable person. While the remarkable person increases in worthiness by overcoming obstacles, the weak person increases in meanness by running away from them. Problems are comparable to a vicious dog. When it sees you scared or running away, it barks and follows in pursuit. However, when it sees your scorn, your lack of concern, and when you shine your eyes in its direction, it gives way and recoils within itself.