A very common feeling in our everyday lives which some of us experience is a desire for praise for what we have done. It is commonly said that perform good actions for yourself, for your family and friends as well as for the world but do not desire praise in return for those actions. This is sometimes easy to remember but difficult to practice for many. Some people say is it not natural to expect recognition for what I do in society or in my office or at home. Some people also feel that their good actions must be seen by a large number of people. Otherwise they don’t feel inspired to perform them.

Let’s look at an example of an actor. When an actor performs well, he receives praise for his performance. When he does not, people talk against the performance. So he feels happy and sad depending on his performance, as perceived by people, although he has worked hard, with equal dedication, for both his performances. In the same manner, a sportsperson, who is famous and successful, loses his fame to a considerable extent, once he retires and other younger sportspersons take his place in the same sport, who sometimes succeed more than him. So, it’s not wrong to feel happy when you get praise. But it’s not good to base your happiness on praise, because then it becomes a dependency. Also, perform actions with a sense of detachment, because you may or may not get praise for those actions, but you should remain equally happy in both cases. In this message we look at few simple methods to become free from such desires.

(To be continued tomorrow …)