Peace of Mind Organizing

Gratitude, compassion and forgiveness

24 September 2012

At the ICD conference last week, I heard many great speakers. One of them was Fred Luskin, who spoke about forgiveness. A Stanford University instructor and a researcher on the effect of forgiveness on physical and emotional well-being (it helps both), Dr. Luskin teaches about happiness and forgiveness, among other topics. I enjoyed his book, Forgive for Good, is very interesting.

In his ICD lecture, Dr. Luskin made a couple of statements that have been running though my mind since I heard them, so I thought I’d share them with you.

Humility leads to kindness which leads to happiness.

He went on to say that money and attainment don’t lead to happiness. It’s generosity that brings happiness.

The other big statement that resonated with me is this:

The three co-qualities leading to a happier life are gratitude, compassion and forgiveness.

I have a daily gratitude practice and I try to be compassionate and forgiving. This talk has really brought this top of mind for me.

I searched around YouTube and found some short videos in which Dr. Luskin talks about these topics. Here’s one you might enjoy.

In this video, he describes forgiveness as “Making peace when you don’t get what you want.” Such a simple concept. The video is four minutes long and I found it inspiring and thought provoking. (The two-hour lecture was even more so.)

Tagged with: compassion, forgiveness, fred luskin, gratitude, happiness, icd

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