The Art of Being Pleasant
Jagii Vasudev (born 3 September 1957) more commonly known as Sadhguru is an Indian yogi, mystic and author. His biographer, Arundathi Subramaniam, described him in her book Sadhguru – More than a life as someone who is multi-dimensional, someone who is flamboyant, exuberant, remarkably compassionate, warm, friendly, funny, but who can also be remote, enigmatic, provocative and unpredictable. Sadhguru leads a remarkable and unguarded life, allowing everyone to see all the various facets of this personality – from wild motorbike rider to being a mystic, a yogi and a guru. His wise words, here about being pleasant, and teaching have helped and inspired many all over the world.
How to Be Pleasant
Pleasantness is an art that needs to be cultivated. In this blog, I will take you on a journey to Pleasant Ville guided by the wise words of Sadhguru.
All human experience is coming from within. One of your missions in life should be to become as stable as a mountain; because it is only when somebody has a very stable base that many things can happen. Exhuberance of life is possible only if there is absolute stability in your life; otherwise exhuberance will lead to madness.
The first thing is to bring balance within yourself so that you become available to the magic of life. Balance is necessary to make this life beautiful. Human emotions are a very important aspect of being human. Emotion is a powerful thing and it is the strongest and most intense aspect of someone’s life. The question is: when you have emotions, would you prefer to have pleasant emotions or unpleasant emotions? It is an obvious choice and I bet that all of you would prefer experiencing pleasant emotions if given the choice; but in reality, a lot of people out there keep their emotions bitter a lot of the time. So the question that you have to ask yourself is: do you want to be pleasant or unpleasant?
Sadhguru Pleasant Quotes
If you become pleasant in your body, we call it health. If you become very pleasant in your body, we call it pleasure.
If your mind becomes pleasant, we call it peace. If it becomes very pleasant we call it joy.
If your emotions becomes pleasant we call it love. If it becomes very pleasant we call it compassion.
If your life energy becomes pleasant we call it bliss. If it becomes very pleasant we call it ecstasy.
If your surroundings becomes pleasant, we call it success.
People ask themselves: should I be loving? You don’t have to be loving. Just be pleasant with yourself, pleasant in your mind, pleasant with your emotions, pleasant with your energy. If you manage to do this day in and day out, you will become a wonderful human being, and you will in return be able to share all that pleasantness with people all around you.
How to be Pleasant Tips
Pleasant people are both generally happier and more enjoyable to be around. Happiness, facilitated by pleasant interaction with others, is one of the greatest contributing factors to people’s assessment of their own well-being, not to mention their overall satisfaction with their lives.
To help you learn the art of being pleasant, here are some simple tips.
1. Harbor positive emotions
Make the active decision to nurture a positive mindset. This is one of the quickest ways to affect your mood and outlook, which are both constantly shaping how other people feel around you. Further, maintaining positive emotions will contribute to your own satisfaction and the amount of happiness you experience. These sentiments will also positively affect the way you interact with others.
- Choose to hold onto positive thoughts as they arise, and repeat them in your mind. Similarly, make the decision to set negative thoughts aside, and address any recurring sources of negativity.
- Think of harboring positive emotions as providing the base of an “upwards spiral” that will contribute to your own emotional health and the enjoyment others derive in your company.
- The more optimism you convey externally, the more positive experiences you’ll share. In turn, these will lead to greater personal and social comfort, success, and happiness.
2. Perform acts of kindness
Acts of kindness will immediately send a pleasant, positive message to whomever witnesses or benefits from them. Further, performing acts of kindness will contribute to your own feelings of happiness. For instance, simply smiling while holding the door has the legitimate potential to improve someone’s day. Don’t miss your next chance to do so!
- Let someone go in front of you in a line
- Give a stranger or someone at work a compliment
3. Enjoy the Little Things
Point out the little things that you enjoy. Take note of the little things that make you happy, and mention them to others around you. Simply spreading a sense of general contentment in the spaces you share with others will cause them to value and appreciate your presence.
- Intentionally notice the things you are grateful for and keep a record of them.
- When someone does something for you, no matter how small, recognize it.
- Give a sincere compliment to a friend, family member, romantic partner, or even a stranger.Be as specific as possible to make it more meaningful.
4. Bite your tongue
Bite your tongue more often. Reduce the frequency with which you criticize or make contentious statements. When you disagree with someone, think about the specific reasons you hold a different perspective before voicing your disagreement. If you are uncertain about whether a critical comment is worth saying, try to see the scenario from the other person’s perspective. This will likely lead you to frame your perspective more pleasantly.
5. Allow yourself to smile
Smiling is one of the most powerfully pleasant behaviors you can immediately start doing more often. Not only will you own mood be elevated, leading you to act more pleasantly, the smile alone will positively affect the mood of those who see it – whether they realize it or not!
Smile at people you interact with before saying hello. People will almost always smile back, and your interactions will start off pleasantly, even before either of you say a word.
I hope you will start taking steps to improve your pleasantness that will increase the quality of your social interactions and become a source of pleasantness in your own and others’ lives.
And this, my Dear Companion, is Your Quest!
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What an uplifting piece. I think surrounding ourselves with pleasant thoughts and people is definitely a step in the right direction.
Thank you Ama for taking the time to read my blog and for your comment.😀🙏 Glad this resonates with you! Glad to have a platform to share the thinking and inspiring words from people like Sadhguru.
Enjoyed this! I absolutely love Sadhguru too!
Glad to hear this post resonnates with you. We can learn so much listening to the the wise words of Sadhguru!
Fantastic article!
As always I’m stunned with the Sadhguru’s wisdom and intellect .
A great man indeed!
Thank you for stopping by and for your comment. So glad to hear my article resonates with you. Sadhguru is no doubt a modern-day Aristotle, Socrates, Lao Tzu all in one!