We all want to be happier and healthier, yet we’re so busy and so overwhelmed with information, we often don’t know how to start improving our lives. If we do start, we often don’t have the time and discipline it takes to create lasting change.
This site provides simple ideas for leading a better life today. Maybe each idea will inspire you to make bigger, longer-term changes; maybe it will just be a chance to reflect for a few moments. Either way, my goal is to make this site a source for a moment of calm in a frenzied world.
Why Dharma?
The Dharma, roughly translated as “the way”, is the word for Buddhist teachings leading to enlightenment. The Dharma can also refer to the elements that make up the world as we experience it.
While this is not an exclusively Buddhist site, and is meant to be enjoyed by people with diverse beliefs, many of my writings are inspired by three broad Buddhist ideals: mindfulness, compassion, and peace.
Mindfulness
A key precept of Buddhism and other Eastern religions, mindfulness is the practice of concentrating your thoughts to become fully conscious. Mindfulness is being fully aware of yourself, including your thoughts, your actions, and your surroundings.
While Buddhists strive to achieve mindfulness through regular meditation practice, you do not have to identify with any particular religion to enjoy the benefits of mindfulness.
Anybody can practice mindfulness at any time by simply focusing your thoughts on where you are and what you are doing, rather than letting your mind wander or worry.
Mindfulness has myriad benefits. Mindfulness reduces stress, increases productivity, and enhances how you experience life. By increasing your appreciation for life’s simple pleasures, mindfulness can even make you happier.
Compassion
The Dharma teaches compassion in lieu of a selfish existence. By recognizing that suffering is a universal condition for all living beings, we can choose to think and act in ways that help relieve the suffering of others.
Whether it is taking time out of our busy lives to volunteer, donating a portion of our income to charity, spending time helping those around you, or simply thinking and praying for others, our compassion improves the world around us, and leads to greater satisfaction in our own lives.
Peace
Non-violence is a prerequisite for compassion. We cannot live with compassion if we wish harm upon other sentient beings. Living peacefully is more than just not physically harming others, however. To truly live peacefully, we must refrain from harming all living creatures – even a mouse, or a fly, for example. Additionally, we must take responsibility for the actions of our governments and societies. To truly follow “the way”, we must object to war and other violent actions.
About Me
I am David, DailyDharma.net’s author. I am a 27 year old writer from New England. If you would like, you are welcome to contact me.
Thanks for reading.
