Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Wishing others well may boost your own well-being
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
Wishing others well may boost your own well-being
But what role does helping others play in our well-being? Past research has confirmed that being generous makes people happier. Some studies have even pointed to specific brain areas that acts of generosity affect, suggesting that giving to others can help reduce anxiety and stress.
hmm it looks like the Buddha was onto something big 
May we all be well 
6
Comments
Indeed.
How often do we 'really' wish others well ?
I wish you well. ( so ... that was easy
)
Are you questioning the sincerity of those whose positive words underline their intentions?
Whenever I wish anyone well, in whatever form I always mean it.
Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
If you haven't got anything nice to say, best keep it closed, and watch the Mind, instead.
This is a thought I sometimes have when dedicating merit or doing loving-kindness meditation. How sincere am I? How much do I believe this is helping anybody?
And I’m still not sure. Fingers crossed though.
I think if you can be mindful even when wishing other people a ‘good morning’ or to ‘have a nice day’, then you do wish others well sincerely. How deep it goes is another question. Would you give them 10 dollars to improve their mood? Maybe not. Trickier mechanisms come into play.
aye
bye(gotta go to work)
At the Dharma Talk I attended just recently the teacher emphasized the importance of 'imagination/visualization' ...What one wishes upon others must be heartfelt ...
Wishes along with imagination/visualization of other sentient beings being well & happy helps to enforce this...Otherwise talk alone is cheap....AKA just paying lip service....
Ah if only we would all adhere to this....
I knew there was a master plan
Plans for today:
Cow pie, so a life of grass eating does not go to waste.
Raspberry Pi shrine building ...
OM MANY PEME HUM G eek!
It's sentient being eat sentient being in Samsaraland ....and I mean this in the literal sense ....
Out for a walk this afternoon I spied a tiny mammal (possibly a mouse...Hmm could have been a shrew) scurry across the path into the long grass and a cricket shortly followed...I must have startled the mouse who dropped its cricket dinner as it scurried away...
At first I thought "Ah saved by my presence" then "How sad, the mouse/shrew no longer has a meal" ...
I guess ....that's Dukkha for ya....( with a dash of karma thrown in for good measure)
Not talking about truth or reality now, just rambling:
That's actually a miracle considering that I and others don't truly exist.
That entails questioning what's the meaning of 'not truly existing'?
Something is removed what isn't there actually.
But what remains?
Ineffable. Saying it is 'this' or 'that' that remains adds again what is meant to be removed when saying 'don't truly exist'.
And if I look at the 'wishing others well' there is this very aspect of removal of something, at least for a tiny moment that - if it could be captured and conserved- would make all wisdom teachings superfluous.
It is not selflessness and it is not altruism. It is this very moment of ... ineffable ... in the context of many moments of 'wishing others well' that is utterly positive, and entails what is positive.
accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html
Not truly existing is different to being impermanent, or referring to the 'not-self'. We DO exist, yet, we don't.
To prove we exist, try dropping a 10lb brick onto your toe, and telling me it doesn't exist!
Non-existence is a nod to nihilism, which may also explain the term ineffable.
The Buddha's teachings on Self/Not-Self culminates in the something that The Buddha ...
(From here)
Do not cling to the aspect of existence or lack of it.
It is not conducive to progress on the Path and leads one to frankly, a knotted headache...
Instead, be happy to be existing in the Now, and act according to Now, and what is happening, Now....
Dear @federica
It is as you say.
Even though my hand does not truly exist, nor does the hot plate, if I put my hand on the plate it will hurt.
Even though I am not truly existing, nor do others, if I wish others well it boosts my own well-being.
The middle way is difficult to achieve and words may deceive.
Thus the 'middle way Buddha' taught:
Yes, but he also said to not sweat it, and look instead to our practice. The important thing is to be in the Present Moment and strive to skilfully and mindfully be Aware. (I realise he didn't say 'Don't sweat it' but you get the gist!)
Try crossing your legs
https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/do-you-have-to-sit-cross-legged-to-meditate
It helps.