Generosity is more fun!

[Michael Chui]

This is a must-see 11 minutes.

TED | TEDBlog: Bob Thurman on happiness and becoming Buddha -- on TED.com

There's no special effects, but he's a great speaker and what he has to say... well, it's only 11 minutes. You'll survive the loss. The transcript is available there for quoting.

[Zukin]

So the first person who gets happy, when you stop focusing on the self-centered situation of "how happy am I?" where you're always dissatisfied as Mick Jagger told us -- you never get any satisfaction that way -- so then you decide, "Well, I'm sick of myself, I'm going to think of how other people can be happy. I'm going to get up in the morning and think, 'What can I do for even one other person, even a dog, my dog, my cat, my pet, my butterfly.'" And the first person who gets happy when you do that, you don't do anything for anybody else, but YOU get happier, you yourself, because suddenly your whole perception broadens, and you suddenly see the whole world and all of the people in it. And you realize that this -- being with all these people -- is the flower garden that Chiho showed us.
It is Nirvana

That was my experience when I was dealing with depression. Supplements and cognitive behavioral therapy helped, but what really got me out of my situation was to stop looking only at myself and to start seeing how I could help others and make the world a better place. When I realized that, my mood started to lift. And then I became enlightened.