Tips On Being Happy,FOOTBALL SCANDAL, COLOMBUS WAS JEWISH?)

Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard claims you can practice your way to happiness, and he should know: After MRI scans showed that he experienced extreme levels of positive emotions and few negative ones, he became known as "the happiest man in the world." Trained as a cell biologist in France, Ricard moved to the Himalayas in 1972 to study Buddhism. He's now a translator, a photographer and the Dalai Lama's French interpreter. His books -- the proceeds of which go to 41 humanitarian projects in the remote Himalayas -- include "The Monk and the Philosopher" (a dialogue with his father, a famed philosopher), "Happiness: a Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill," and, most recently, "Why Meditate?" AOL Health spoke with Ricard about the cultivation of happiness, the benefits of altruism and how 30 silent minutes a day can change your life.

Do you think you're the happiest man in the world?
It's better than the unhappiest person in the world. It was a cover line on a Buddhist independent journal. Of course it's cute, but it doesn't rest on scientific evidence. I took part in some ongoing studies on compassion. It's a jump to say my results mean that.

What is happiness?
Happiness is a way of being rather than an endless search for experiences. Pleasure is fine but depends on things that are subject to change: people, places, things. Something tastes good; fire warms you when you're cold. But then this experience turns neutral or averse: Even the most beautiful music is unpleasant after 24 straight hours. But happiness is a more durable state. It's a cluster of basic human qualities that nurture a state of fulfillment, flourishing, of appreciating your life. It's inner freedom, inner strength, inner peace. These are the resources to deal with the struggles of life. The more you experience happiness, the deeper and more stable it becomes.

You link meditation with happiness. Why?
Meditation is not an exotic eastern practice but is actually mind training. We all have a mind and can work with it.

So the basis of happiness is mind training?
In the sense that mind training means harnessing the potential we have for less vulnerability to provocation from outside. Meditation helps you cultivate a better emotional balance and inner freedom so you are not a slave of impulses like anger and craving.

And you do this by sitting for 30 minutes a day?
There are different types of meditation, and I tried to gather all these exercises into a small manual for a Western audience ["Why Meditation?"]. But in clinical trials that study the effects of meditation in the West, 30 minutes a day has been the foundation. We always see that after three months, meditation has had a significant effect in reducing stress and the tendency toward depression. It reinforces the immune system and positive emotions. It's been studied for 10 years in the West. Sitting for that precious 30 minutes modifies the quality of the other 23 hours and 30 minutes.

So happiness is a skill?
Pleasure cannot be cultivated -- only renewed. But you can cultivate inner peace, strength, freedom -- the qualities that create genuine happiness. We start with different baselines: For instance, everyone will not become a champion of tennis, but within a few months or a few years of training, even a beginner can become a decent player and enjoy it.

Do negative emotions, like anger, have a purpose?
If you witness someone beating a child or an injustice, anger can motivate you to do something. But all the studies have shown that people who systematically vent their anger just reinforce their tendency to be angry. You don't just want to suppress it or you'll be like a time bomb. Instead, you look at your anger and let it vanish. When you cease to fuel a fire, it slowly dies out.

You're not talking about being a pushover.
A mother who gets angry and aggressive is taken over by nerves. A mother can be loving but still firm, straight and a bit severe. You can extend that attitude of the mother to others.

What about sadness?
Sadness is not incompatible with happiness because happiness is not just a pleasant sensation. Sadness can help you feel compassion. Even when you are sad, you can continue to do wonderful things.

What is the relationship between happiness and ambition?
Ambition for wealth, fame or power puts our hopes and fears outside ourselves. It's individualistic, self-centered and egocentric. But ambition in terms of becoming a better person, preserving the environment or finding inner peace can motivate you.

The search for material goods seems to become a cycle for people -- the emptier they feel, the more money and stuff they seek to fill the void.
Yes, they feel empty so they go for a shopping spree or get a younger wife. You get addicted to selfishness.

Is it a lost cause with some people?
Sometimes people say, "I can't sleep." I say, "We have a clinic next door -- go help, and I bet after two weeks, you will be able to sleep." They come back with a more humane perspective and find satisfaction and fulfillment.

So to snap out of it, help other people?
I've seen many successful people who feel empty. They start helping underprivileged kids and find such meaning in life. Everything is different.

People assume altruism may make them unhappy.
Your primary motive is to help others, but it's also the best way to be happy yourself. Ayn Rand said that you should be selfish and should not sacrifice any part of yourself. She didn't get the point. Altruism is the best way to make yourself happy. If you look at living beings and see how your actions can contribute to a more compassionate society, you flourish.

FOODBALL PLAYERS SCADAL.....BRETT FAVRE.... OH MY, HE SENT SOME WOMAN, OR YOUNG LADY PIX OF HIM NAKED.... WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL. ITS ONLY REALLY BECAUSE WE HOLD WAHT WE HAVE BETWEEN OUR LEGS SACRED GROUND.....(OR IN WOMEN, THEIR TITTIES AS WELL).... WELL, OUR SACRED PARTS...ARE ALSO CONSIDERED "DIRTY" BY SOME GROUPS...AND ONLY USED ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS TO MAKE BABIES....WHICH IS THE ARAB...AND HASSIDIC CONCEPT...ALTHOUGH, THOSE HYPOCRITES...WILL STILL RUN AROUND...FOOL AROUND,,,,,AND ARE THE LARGEST BUYERS OF PORN IN THE NYC METRO AREA...
SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL IF THIS LADY SAW BRETS WEENIE AND TUSH..
LETS THINK ABOUT..EVERYMAN HAS THEM...SO ITS NOT ANYTHING THAT USUALUAL....UNLESS IT IS DEFORMED AND NASTY....THEN HE WOULDNT HAVE SENT IT....SO, HE MUST HAVE DECENT SPECIMENS..THEREFORE..THE ONLY REASON THE WORLD IS MAKING THIS INTO A SCANDAL IS THAT HE IS MARRIED AND CHEATING.....AND THAT WE THE PEOPLE ACCEPT NUDITY AS A TERRIBLE THING...
I THINK HE SHOULD POST HIS NUDE PHOTOS ON YOU TUBE..AND WE CAN ALL BE THE JUDGE IF THE PHOTOS ARE OBSCENE OR NOT...THIS IS JUST THE MEDIA AND LAWYERS BRINGING UP NONSENSE AGAIN...TO GET OUR MINDS OFF THE HORRIBLE ECONOMY, THE WARS IN THE MIDEAST.....THE COST OF MEDICAL INSURANCE AND MEDICINE, THE RISING PRICES OF EVERYTHING.......ITS LIKE THE ROMAN "BREAD AND CIRCUSES" ALL OVER AGAIN, PLUS THEY THROW IN A SPORTS FIGURES WEENIE FOR GOOD LUCK.

MY COMPUTER ISNT WORKING RIGHT...IT WENT DEAD AGAIN FOR HALF A DAY....WORKING NOW...BUT IT DOENST SEEM TO WANT TO TAKE A CHARGE ALL THE TIME...IT WONT EVEN USE THE ELECTRIC CONECTION.....MAYBE THERE IS A SHORT IN THE WIRES/????? BUT AS LONG AS IT WORKS I WILL CONTINUE WRITING.

THE PRIME MINISTER OF HUNGARY IS EXPECTING THE REST OF THE DAM TO COLLAPSE AND ANOTHER TOXIC FLOOD TO INNUDATE THAT PART OF HUNGARY...VERY SCARY.....TEN FEET OF WATER CAME RUSHING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, AND FILLED UP HOUSES....WITH PEOPLE AND PETS INSIDE.. 7 DIED, ONE IS MISSING, AND 200 OR MORE ARE IN HOSPITALS..WITH SEVERE BURNS....8000 PEOPLE FROM ONE VILLAGE WAS EVACUATED BEFORE THE NEXT FLOOD HAPPENDS....WHICH COLD BE VERY SOON. TODAY THE CEO OF THE COMPANY..WAS ARRESTED.....BUT HE SUPPOSEDLY IS INVOLVED INT HE GOVERNMENT) SO NOT MUCH WILL HAPPEN TO HIM......SLAP ON THE WRIST....PEOPLE WILL GET SOME FINANTIAL COMPENSATION..ALTHOUGH, THEY DONT THINK PEOLE CAN GO BACK IN LIVE IN HTE SAME PLACE...THE "HEAVY METALS" ARE FAR TO DANGEROUS..

tHE FOOD IN THE LITTLE RESTAURANTS HERE IS GREAT..... TODAY FOR LUNCH, I WANDERED DOWNTOWN.....THEY HAD A SPECIAL....A HUGE PLATE FULL OF HOMEMADE NOODLE DUMPLINGS...COVERED WITH PORK PAPRIKASH, A BOWL OF HOMEADE ONION SOUP, BOTH FOR 3.50 I HAD A SIDE ORDER OF SPICEY PICKLED PEPPERS AND PICKLES.... ABOUT 1.00 AND BREAD..HOMEMADE RYE BREAD IS ABOUT TEN CENTS A SLICE...

SINCE I WAS IN GRAMMAR SCHOOL, THERE WAS A SILLY LITTLE POEM AND SONG...."IN 1492, COLOMBUIS WAS A JEW"..ONE IN ABOUT THE 9TH GRADE, RONNIE EPSTEIN....SAID THAT HER FAMILY DID JEWISH GENEOLAGY AND THAT THEY FOUND THEY WERE RELATED TO COLOMBUS...I put that info into my brain....and left it there for years....but now it seems that the controversy has increased......and some of my ideas and thought have been incorporated into the information...being considered about the man...The bad parts..he was a nasty son of a bitch, cruel, mean and couldnt really be trusted. He kidnapped people form the Americas, took them away from their land and family and presented them to the KING and Queen of Spain,....his form of show and tell, and to get more money for further explorations.
But....his name COLON... was not a typical Catholic name.. it was JEWISH.The JEWS of Spain, were ordered OUT!!! AUG 2 was the last date that they could leave (without their posssesions..only the clothing on their backs-they had to leave everything)
Originally Colombus(which was not his name.....his name was COLON) i have to find out why we call him COLOMBUS) was supposed to leave by the end of trhe month.....but he left on AUG 2, the last days jews were allowed out...It also wasw a JEWISH Holiday commemorating other progoms the jews had faced from the time of the BIBLE....by ROMANS, and others...MOSLEMS INC....
On his three boats, he had many former JEWISH people...former....they converted to Catholicism rather than be burned alive by the inquisition...Invented by the POPE, and enforced by the KING and QUEEN and TORQUMQNDA some kind of Prime minister of torture....
CHRIS COLMOBUS has a converted JEW as his interpreter and scribe of the trip, and many others, who very recently....converted...went with him..and it was also known, that he hung around with other CONVERSOS, and Marranos (those who still practiced Judaism in the dark) hidden......Catholic by daylight and JEWISH by candlelight.....
One of my theories is that he was trying to find another place for all the JEWISH Population of Europe to live.........but then, when he didnt find the right route....he was hoping for....he abbandoned the idea, and tried to turn it into a business trip....He eventually failed and died a very broke guy in prison.
So, the ITALIANS.....dont want to hear about this guy....that he mightbe JEWISH...but...there are still a lot of ITALIAN JEWS...so, the Italians wouldnt be giving up a hero....he just woul d have come from JEWISH ancestry...and Oh my GOD wouldnt take be terrible....that JEW discovered American.....The Parades would have to forget about dragging around all kinds of religious symbols.....unless they started schlepping a giant menorah....and the star of DAVID....and maybe they would start throwing matzohs into the crows off a large float...of a boat, a bunch of men....and giant cauldrons of chicken soup.