SECRET TO HAPPINESS :   learn how be kindred and inter connected with other humans

TRADITION: South Africa

CELEBRATED; Practised every day and there is a  five day Ubuntu  festival in Cape town is celebrated in July.

I love this secret to happiness post because it originates from the place I was born. In this global world of ours, particularity  in the western world: there is idea of the individual. One must look after one’s self. There is a major focus on individual success. People tend to think that they are autonomous and forget that all humans are interconnected- To stand alone in this world – we will fall alone and fail.

In South Africa their  is a term used UBUNTU – roughly translated it means : ‘I am  only a person through another person’

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.

http://www.ubuntu.com/about/about-ubuntu

The whole principle concept is that everyone is responsible for themselves and for others welfare. So what one person does will affect another person. A bit like a game of dominoes.

Think of Thanks giving in the U.S.A. -there are always stories heard about people inviting strangers to come eat with them in their home. Practising Ubuntu daily, South Africans regularly invite people round to their homes to  have a meal:  365 days of the year. In the villages children and adults share the responsibility and the receivers of this generosity is welcomed and accepted. They know that giving and receiving help is a good thing.  This  mode  of thought makes responsibility,generosity and empathy a natural default in thinking and doing.

How can we fit this philosophy into our own lives? Be empathetic. Try envisage walking in someone else’s foot prints. If you wish to find some of this  particular sense of unity;volunteering your time is a rewarding thing to do as it inspires unity and oneness. It instils a harmoniousness bonding  of humanity.   Never think that by asking for help is a flaw and means you are a failure.  There is no reason to do it alone.