As many of you know on Monday, we had a launching of a pilot program at Walt Whitman High

School on mindfulness and Congressman Tim Ryan and I did some talks and there were

about 900 people that showed up. It was quite a crowd. So beforehand I was

putting together a talk, you know, to talk about, you know, the value of mindfulness

for teens and I called my son who was a graduate of Walt Whitman High School and told him

what I was doing and he himself has been very interested in mindfulness and some

research on it and it's kind of involved with it in grad school and after I told

him how I was going to talk about how mindfulness could relieve stress and relieve anxiety

and, you know, improve executive function and emotional intelligence. I told him my

spiel. He said, well, if I was doing it, I would ask them, when's the last time that

you really enjoyed the food you were eating? He said, when's the last time you appreciated

moments of laughter with a friend? Once the last time you paused and it was raining

and you really listened when you consciously savored the moment. So he said, I'd let

them know that mine from the strengthens our capacity to relax and enjoy our moments

to be happy. So, hence you've got what we're going to talk about tonight here. Thank

you, Narayan. But it's a real misunderstanding of Buddhism and of spiritual practices that

there's this focus on suffering. And now, just to say, suffering is part of reality

and this is a path to wake up to reality. But part of reality is we have built into

us a capacity for joy and wonder and deep peace and contentment. And so, the inquiry

is really what gets in the way. The Buddha said, I would not be teaching this if genuine

happiness and freedom were not possible. So, that's a confirmation. So say it, amen.

So we'll talk about this tonight and next week, really, what's the nature of true happiness?

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