Use Your Best 'Sanskar's' To Create Happiness

If we do not have a particular 'sanskar', we find it strange, and question it. But we need to live and work with people who have different 'sanskars'. How do we do that without friction? We need to recognise the fact that people are the way they are because of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs they have formed through their experiences. If we do not do this, we can end up creating negative 'sanskars' of our own - of irritation, anger, criticism, and rejection.

- B.K. SHIVANI

Can all people and situations be the way we want? We know that is not possible. Yet we have programmed ourselves to be unhappy when others do not listen to us, or when situations are not to our liking.

Why cannot people think the way I do? Why do they not understand when I say something that is good for them? The reason is that they perceive things differently. That is so because they have repeatedly chosen to see things that way, and it has become their habit.

Wondering why someone thinks in a particular way is like asking, "I drink tea; why do you drink coffee?" The answer is straightforward: it is their choice. The same applies to, "I always speak the truth, why do you lie?" That is because I have repeatedly chosen to speak the truth, and it has become my habit, while the other person is used to lying. In such situations, it is the expectation that others should be like us, which causes problems; the other person is not the problem.