Dr. Kataria’s Laughter Yoga Diary

The basic fact is that human beings want to be happy and do not want any pain or suffering. We all have different needs and desires, which if unfulfilled, can lead to a stressful situation. As we try to achieve these goals, many a times we find ourselves frustrated and helpless. This hampers the accomplishment of happiness and creates anxiety and constant nervous tension. It is then, that the people invoke a higher intelligence or a higher force like spirituality to help them cope with their inabilities and accept reality.

Spirituality is working Smart not working Hard: Spirituality is all about working smart, not working hard. With a spiritual approach one can attain everything that one ever wanted with minimum efforts.  This is how universal intelligence works. Instead of toiling and struggling, one needs to flow effortlessly. It’s like walking with the wind assisting you from behind. All one has to do, is to align oneself with spiritual laws and laws of nature and let these forces glide you to happiness.

Expanding your unlimited potential : Spirituality helps to create new ideas, new visions, creativity, and intuitive abilities to reach our aspirations.  It helps to build a magnetic aura around you that attracts the people towards you. It creates an energy that gives a sense of security, power and fearlessness. 

Better emotional intelligence : Handling emotions is perhaps the most difficult of all human abilities. We spend almost 75 per cent of our time trying to sort out the varied and complex emotions, while the other 25 per cent is spent in emotional reactions to the situation and the people around us. Negative emotions, literally drain our energy and affect the quality of our lives.

Since it is difficult to manage these reactions with a logical mind, one needs to resort to a process that helps us to rise above all that is depressing. This is where the spiritual approach helps us as it has the power to alter the negativity of the mind to a positive pattern.

I have personally used this approach to spread the laughter mission worldwide.  Without many resources and any great assets, I managed to set up more than 5000 laughter clubs in 55 countries. It was spirituality that helped me cope with any obstacles that came my way. It is indeed a powerful tool that helps in realization and fulfillment of one’s dreams and aspirations.

In the forthcoming articles on spirituality and inner spirit of laughter, I will share with you some amazing stories of mysterious coincidences that occurred in my life.  Stay tuned.

Off with my hair! Finally, I have been able to get rid of a pretence that I held on for years. I can now enjoy my new found freedom. I am now the ‘Bald and the Beautiful’. Ha ha ha

It all began years ago when like several youngsters; I too set foot in Mumbai with starry ambitions to become a rich and famous doctor. I tried almost everything in my capacity to reach the skies but I soon realized that it was not easy. My quests did not succeed and I slumped into a bout of depression. I started loosing my hair due to stress and soon there was hardly any left. This became a cause of concern to me and my wife, Madhuri, who insisted on masking it with a hairpiece. After much persuasion I eventually gave in and that was perhaps the beginning of carrying my own falsities on my head. I realized that I was not my real self and was pretending in many aspects of my life.

I may have looked good but believe me my slick mop of hair did nothing to make me feel good. I had fallen into a make believe world which was creating a conflict within.

Come 29^th June, 2007, I had had enough. No more masking and no more pretending. I threw my masks away and found my liberty.

What I learnt from my hairy tale was that if you want to laugh and be a natural it is important to find your true identity. The real ‘You’. If you pretend to be what you’re not it will take a lot of energy to hold on to the pretence. It is important to be honest and truthful to yourself. Do not mask your appearance at the cost of masking your happiness within.

It is very hard to give a simple definition of spirituality.

Everything in the universe: human beings, animals, plants, environments, planets, in fact all living or non living material objects — are a part of universal consciousness which is a constant flow of energy.

Our life as human beings is a part of the cycle of this universe. Our birth is a transition of some form of energy into human beings. We are born, grow, and after death our energy continues with the cycle of eternal consciousness which has no beginning no end.

We all belong to this intelligent system — call it universal intelligence or higher intelligence — and we are nothing but a flow of energy from one form into another. We are all related and interconnected as we are all part of the one.

Our ability to find oneness in everything in this universe is called spirituality.

We are diverse — that is the richness of the system. We have different likes and dislikes, hopes and aspirations. When we encounter others with whom we resonate, we find ourselves in unity and oneness with that person. Others who are different from us raise feelings of apathy, dislike or even hatred.

What creates this difference is our thinking or ego mind that has one agenda: I, my and me. This mind starts comparing: I am better or worse or equal to ‘them’. This thinking separates us from others. It creates fears, anxiety, sorrow and jealousy.

We need to overcome this thinking to achieve spirituality. We need to accept and love and help every other person equally. Spiritual unity and oneness comes when you allow people to be who they really are without trying to change them and create a loving environment despite differences.

Your right-hand will never hurt your left hand because it belongs to you. Spirituality is the awareness and sense of belonging towards one and all. When you realize that everything in this universe belongs to me and I belong to everything you are spiritual. There is no duality, no conflict but complete harmony.

This is easier said than done. When we are at an average level of consciousness our ego/mind dominates and pursues a selfish agenda. When we elevate our consciousness to a higher-level through spiritual practices and by following spiritual values, we become more open and flexible towards others and begin to find the inner spirit of laughter, allowing us to become joyful and laugh more easily.

Love & laughter
Madan Kataria

In this series we will talk about spiritual laws which govern our lives, spiritual values and spiritual tools in a non religious way. Stay connected.