Your Personal Philosophy

If you want to piece together a philosophy of life, the first thing you need to do is form your understanding of life through your practice, not through books. Figure out the practice that works for you—and stick to it. That’s the best way to understand what life is all about. It will open all the doors you will ever want because out of that practice you’ll be able to make little side trips here and there—you can get information and stories from books and lectures, but now they will refer back to what you are actually doing in your practice. As you start to see that there is an affinity from one teaching to the next, you can add the inspiration you get from someone else’s teaching to what you do.

The second thing you need to do is appreciate the importance of trustful surrender. Without some level of surrender, the circumstances that we encounter in life will be too big for us. We just can’t manage or handle them. This practice means that you do everything that you possibly can to grow and be happy, but also accept what is and embrace life trustfully.

Rolf Sovik, Psy.D., holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. His doctoral project examined the effects of breath training in the treatment of panic disorder. He is the president of the Himalayan Institute, and serves as the director of the Institute’s branch center in Buffalo, New York.

Photo (cc) by Fotopedia user Walter Corno