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Living a Happy Life

When the Dalai Lama teaches, he spends a lot of time giving advice on how to live a good and happy life. Some of that advice is given in the quotes below.

This activity allows students to discuss his suggestions, to decide whether they agree or not, and what they consider to be good advice for happiness in life. The students should work in pairs for this activity.

Instructions:

Give out one sheet of quotes per pair.
Check that the students understand all of the words, e.g. compassion, tolerance, necessities and values.
They should cut out the cards and rank them in a diamond formation, with the most useful advice at the top, and less useful at the bottom. It might be helpful to think of examples of what each one might look like in action, preferably from their own experience.
Some cards will need to be discarded. The students should work together to find a ranking that they both agree with, and be able to justify their positioning, and why they have discarded the ones they have.
There are 2 blank cards. If they feel there is advice which has been left out but should be included, they can add this and place it in any position on the grid.
The class can compare their choices and discuss any issues. There is, of course, no ‘correct’ answer.
It might be helpful to use the following questions as a basis for the discussion:
1. Were there any that you did not understand, or seemed strange to you? (Numbers 3, 5 and 9 may need to be talked through)
2. Which ones did you strongly agree or disagree with?
3. What did you feel was left out?
4. Does anyone else give you the same advice? (e.g. parents, their own religious leaders)
5. Can they agree on one piece of advice for the whole class to try and follow to help bring about a happier life for them all?
6. They may want to illustrate this as a motivational poster, using the examples discussed above.

Quotes from the Dalai Lama

1. Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.	2. If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.
3. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.	4. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
5. In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.	6. My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
7. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.	8. We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
9. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.	10. We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.
11. Spend some time alone every day.	12. The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Download the quotations in pdf format