Few of us would regret the years it takes to complete an education or master a crucial skill. So why complain about the perseverance needed to become a well-balanaced and truly compassionate human being?
If we think of happiness as a way of being, a way of being that gives you the resources to deal with the ups and downs of life, that pervades all the emotional states, including sadness. We think of sadness as incompatible with pleasure, but itβs compatible with what? With altruism, with inner strength, with inner freedom, with sense of direction and meaning in life β those arenβt sad things. But if you donβt fall in despair, still you maintain that wholeness and that sense of purpose and meaning.