Monday, October 30, 2023

Practicing Mudita - "Your Happiness Is My Happiness"

Learn skills that aren't on everyone's radar. 

Muditā (Pāli and Sanskrit: मुदिता) is a dharmic concept of joy, particularly an especially sympathetic or vicarious joy—the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being. 

It's an important concept; I didn't know there was a word for it. Your classmate gets accepted to their school choice or a neighbor gets a big promotion. "Fantastic. Way to go, Jimmy!" 

It's the antonym of the German word schadenfreude, to delight in another person's misery. "Well, the Yankees didn't make the playoffs, either."

There's another expression about envy, "drinking poison and expecting another person to die." 

When can we find mudita in basketball? 

  • A colleague or teammate has unexpected success
  • A team overachieves
  • A hard-working player gets a chance and succeeds
  • An outside authority bestows an honor or award to someone we know
  • An underdog triumphs

Feeling happiness for others' happiness is a skill. 

Lagniappe (something extra). A lot of solid books on this list (I've read seven of them). 

Lagniappe 2. Become more explosive. 
 
Post by @kpstrength
View on Threads
at