From the Editor

Welcome to the July issue of Yang-Sheng! It is my great pleasure to be the guest editor-in-chief this month. Our theme for this issue is “positivity and health’ or happiness, which is one of the most demanded topics from our readers’ survey a while ago.  I guess everyone wants to be happy, but still has not found what we are truly searching for… I hope this issue will help us to find some answers and search in the right direction.

Pursuit of happiness is everyone’s right and probably the optimal life goal.  However, in terms of what happiness is, or the way and direction of pursuing happiness, there are huge variations and disagreements.  Most of our time and energy in pursuing happiness is devoted to sense-pleasures through routine or external activities, such as seeking material or emotional security, sensory pleasures, or a good reputation or wealth.  Although these things may make us feel happy for a short time, we know they are not able to provide the long lasting gratification we are truly yearning for.  As happiness is a state of mind, sooner or later our feelings may turn into dissatisfaction, and we may find ourselves engaged in the pursuit of more socially desirable pleasures instead of lasting inner happiness.  Our featured articles try to point out a different direction in searching for happiness – inner peace and joys through meditation and gratitude…

We have a special series of articles in this issue discussing different perspectives on happiness and health, with some useful methods or tips on how to pursue happiness in daily life.  Kathy Chan reintroduces laughter therapy as the self-healing method; Henrick Edberg, author of the famous positivity blog, shares his 10 practical ways to live a happier life today; Michelle Wood applied Daoist philosophy to the subject and came to the conclusion that happiness creates health;  Jeff Simonton discussed how qigong and taiji practice can increase your happiness feeling; Cindy Cicero explores Qi energy and happiness, and tries to find answers for what is so perfect in pursing happiness… In addition, our Dao Shi Jacob Newell devotes some special poems to the topics of happiness, he points out that, if we approach meditation as the means to achieve happiness, we’re moving in the wrong direction, since Zhuangzi describes happiness as “the absence of searching for happiness”…  Our TCM nutrition doctor Dr. Helen Hu shares some of her secret recipes for anxiety and panic disorders so that we can feel easy and happy….

This issue is truly a collective effort to further our knowledge in pursuit of happiness.  I hope you find these articles interesting, enjoy them, and share with your friends.  We welcome your feedback and thought on this subject for future pursuing.  Although the world seems becoming stranger and more complicated everyday, we may not be able to change much of it… what we can do is change our own attitude toward life, be thankful and be happy.  Pretty soon we are part of the changes we want to see…

 

Kevin W Chen, Ph.D.  MPH
Editor and Publisher,
Yang-Sheng Magazine and Network.
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