Dealing with Destructive Emotions, A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama, a book by Daniel Goleman, mentions the need for 'a practical program for helping people counter their destructive emotions.' This inspired PARENTS FORUM founder Eve Sullivan to bring a copy of our program handbook Where the Heart Listens to the Dalai Lama when he was visiting Cambridge (Mass.) and ask for his comments. To our surprise he responded and to our delight the response was favorable! The full text of the message follows below. For more information about the Dalai Lama including his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize see http://www.tibet.com/DL/.

MESSAGE from The Dalai Lama

The source of all happiness is love and compassion, a sense of kindness and warm-heartedness towards others. I believe that we can all achieve peace and happiness, because we all possess some basic good human values. For example, if you can be friendly and trusting towards others, you become more calm and relaxed. You lose the sense of fear and suspicion that we often feel about other people, either because we do not know them well or because we feel they are threatening or competing with us in some way. When you are calm and relaxed you can make proper use of your mind's ability to think clearly, so whatever you do, whether you are studying or working, you will be able to do it better.

Why should we be friendly and warm-hearted towards other people? Because they are essentially just like us. We are like brothers and sisters, members of one great human family. Like others we desire happiness and do not want suffering. What’s more, we all have an equal right to avoid suffering and seek happiness. This is why when I meet another person I try to think, "Here's another human being just like me, whose hopes and wishes are just like my own". Then friendly, kind-hearted feelings arise of their own accord.

Because Where the Heart Listens represents an attempt to share ideas with interested readers about cultivating some of our basic positive human values I believe it may contribute significantly to the growth of peace and happiness in the world. Even if only a few individuals are inspired by what they read here to act responsibly and kind-heartedly towards others, and try to create mental peace and happiness within themselves, they will have a positive influence in their community.

January 3, 2005

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