Ovi Magazine Issue #24: Nationalism - Published: 2013-01-31

Articles
Kittirat Yothangrong
The Smile Inside
Kittirat or Akoi as she is known, is one of
the very few people who have been a
Buddhist nun for 20 years and a runner up
in the Miss Southern Thailand Beauty Quest
as a “mature” contestant. She is a ‘practical’
vegetarian who believes in herbs,
healthy living, and meditation.
Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile
Smile inside your mind, small smile inside your mind
Become fresh, become cheerful
Come, come, come, come, come
Come practice your smile inside your mind,
Life be full of happiness, life be full of happiness,
If your mind has a smile,
Go, go, go, go, go,
Doesn’t matter anywhere we go,
Any problem you can pass,
Any suffering you can beat when your mind has a smile.
This is a little song that I sometimes
sing to myself when I’m feeling down.
Inside our life we have lots of problems,
worry, things to be upset about, anger,
seriousness, worry, grief, and sorrow.
This all comes from thinking too much
about things going on around us. Something we all share
as humanity.
We never turn inside ourselves to look for that
something special we have. Inside of ourselves we have
all the answers, all the strength, all the confidence, and
all the courage we need to get by in life. It’s all in our
mind, so what the secret is?
In our life we make ourselves happy by doing things
that take lots of planning and even money, just like that
vacation at Le Meridian or Disneyland. This takes time
and money. We do all this in the pursuit of something
very simple: a smile and the inner happiness that comes
with it. Some people go to all this trouble, and don’t
even get to smile because they are too tired. The pursuit
of inner happiness can be so stressful and even deadly.
Why do humans have to search so far for their inner
happiness?
So here’s the alternative. The holiday you can have
when you don’t go on holiday. The revival of your
happiness without going on a stressful pursuit of it half
way around the world. You only have to travel inside
of your mind.
So here is the key for you about how to find that little
bit of inner happiness.
Just stop for a minute. Sit down, relax, or even just
stand there. Do this now while you are reading my
article. Breathe in and smile with your mind. Breathe
out and feel the inner smile and happiness. You can do
this anytime to replenish your happiness, calm down
your stress, and decrease your anxiety.
Practice this regularly and you will start to feel good
each and every day. You may over time even feel like
it’s a waste of time to get angry over things that may in
the long run right themselves anyway.
Our inner smile helps us personally develop and
become much more aware about the things going on
around us. You will start to see things through a happy
light, rather than a negative or pessimistic light. It won’t
matter whether you hear good or bad things your mind
will still smile. Your smell and taste will become much
more sensitive and appreciative of what you experience.
Your body will be able to experience pain and discomfort
without making you unhappy.
When you smile your threshold to suffering and
pain will dramatically rise and your outlook to life will
become very much more positive.
So remember you happiness is just the smile inside.
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