One of my meditation teachers used to end each of our interviews … and say to me, “Remember, Sylvia, be happy.” I actually for a long time thought it was a salutation, like “have a good day” or something that you say just in a routine kind of a way, and it took me a long time to realize that it was an instruction, “Be happy.”
Not only that it was an instruction but that it was a wisdom transmission – that happiness was a possibility. I understand that happiness to mean, the happiness of a mind that’s alert, that’s awake to the amazing potential of being a person in a life, with a mind that’s opened, that sees everything that’s going on, and realizes what an amazing possibility this is, and with a heart that’s open, the heart that responds naturally as hearts do, in compassion, in connection with friendliness, with love, with consolation when it needs to:
That that’s the happiness of life – a mind that’s awake, a heart that’s engaged... I want to say that really what I think about when my teacher said to me, “Be happy,” is be awake, be alert, stay in your life, stay present to it. She said at another point, “It’s your life, Sylvia, don’t miss it.” That’s been a very important thing.
Sylvia Boorstein’s keynote speech Stanford University 2005
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