The message of the Buddha is traditionally known as the Four Noble Truths. The last of these four truths sets out eight steps to happiness, which are: skillful understanding, skillful thinking, skillful speech, skillful action, skillful livelihood, skillful effort, skillful mindfulness, and skillful concentration.

Gunaratana explains in his book “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness”, that the Buddha’s path is grounded in common sense and in careful observation of reality. The Buddha understood that if we looked carefully at our lives we would realize that the choices we make lead to either happiness or unhappiness. And once we understand this principle thoroughly, we will be able to make good choices, because we want to happy.

Gunaratana adds the following: “The basis of Buddhist morality is that acting in unskillful ways leads to unhappy results, and acting in skillful ways leads to happy results. This simple principle of cause and effect is an aspect of what Buddhists call kamma (or karma).”

Once we understand that everything we think, say, or do is a cause, which will inevitably lead to some effect, we will naturally want to think, say, and do things which will lead to positive results. At the same time, we will avoid having thoughts, saying things, and doing things that will lead to negative results. Taking this approach will allow us to focus our attention on making choices that will lead to a happier life.

In order to act wrongfully, Gunaratana adds, you have to be lying to yourself about cause and effect. That is, you would be acting against the basic truth that actions have consequences. If you train yourself to be mindful of what you do, and ask yourself whether it’s likely to lead to positive or negative results, you’ll be heading in the right direction. You’ll be heading toward happiness.

There are a few levels of attainment for practitioners of Theravada Buddhism;

(1) Anagami (Non-Returner) – The person has eradicated a series of hindrances and would never be reborn into any worldly systems, but to a heavenly realm in which he would attain enlightenment from there.

(2) Sakadagami (Once-Returner) – The person has eradicated or weakened a series of hindrances whereby he would be reborn once again to a human or heavenly realm and would attain enlightenment from there, and

(3) Sottapanna (Stream-Returner) – whereby a person would be reborn no more than 7 times again into either the human or heavenly realm.

Apart from the Four Noble Truths, Theravada Buddhism also touched upon subjects such as karma and rebirth, interdependent origination, the three universal characteristics of existence, the five aggregates and meditation.

Meditation is a large subject within Theravada. There are two main branches of meditation practiced by Theravada Buddhists, namely the samatha and the vipassana. The most common technique is the awareness of breathing. The meditator closed off his senses to the outside world and examined inward using breathing as a calming technique.

Be prepared: Start your morning with a list of the things you need to do. That day – keep the list manageable and devote more time to accomplishing the tasks than to waste the time by thinking the time you will need for each job. Always reserve enough breathing room to handle emergencies. Every thing will lie in a scattered manner and all your efforts will be a farce if you try to do too many things at a single go. In such a case nothing will actually be completed.

Never try to be too perfect! A perfectionist, in any field, finds it difficult to do things quietly. Doing each and every thing perfectly requires a lot of thinking, time as well as energy. Perfectionist cannot bring themselves to do it; they can never distinguish between what’s important and what’s not important. In short, they are unable to prioritize their work.

Never hesitate to ask for help: It is a very common human psychology. Many of us are often afraid to seek help, because we feel it signals our lack of ability to manage affairs. But it is the facts that both by asking for and also by offering for help we strengthen our personal relations and lighten our loads.

Take time out: Be considerate to yourself. No matter how much busy you may remain. If your pattern is to focus on the golden eggs, and neglect the goose very soon you will land up producing no golden eggs at all. So it is very mush essential to eat healthy and nutritious food and get enough sleep to keep yourself productive and active.