His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso graced the 7th Global Spa & Wellness Summit held recently in New Delhi as a keynote speaker. With his unique blend of insight and humour, he elaborated extensively on “What is Wellness?”

He says that happiness is the key to overall wellness. There are a few things that are necessary in order to achieve a happy life apart from physical wellbeing, and these include a happy mind, compassion, trust, friendship and affection.

The key to happiness lies within us; a healthy mind is the key to a healthy body, and it is only with a healthy mind and healthy body that true wellness can be achieved. Trust and belief are key factors to achieving happy days and happy lives, which help to overcome the hampering feelings of fear, distrust and suspicion.

For emotional, physical and mental wellbeing, there needs to be a change in attitude towards being more compassionate and more understanding. It is more important to be a good human being, a trusting human being, than to be a brilliant human being.

In this century, we have seen a tremendous amount of development and accomplishment in the fields of science and technology; however, it is the century of violence and anger. Natural disasters like climate change and global warming are taking place, and will only continue to worsen, but these are things we cannot change.

Rather, we need to work on man-made problems like violence, fear, anger and hatred, which are eating away at our immune systems. Weapons do not create violence; they cannot feel or think. Human beings create violence with their emotions

and their anger, which need to be combated with compassion and brotherhood. It has been proven that individuals who have received affection from their friends and family at a younger age are happier people, and have much more potential to show trust and affection.

We have a unique opportunity today to build a happier, more peaceful century by showing love, compassion and companionship and developing a world that facilitates wellness and healthy living.” During his Q&A session moderated by Dr Kenneth Pelletier, he shared his thoughts on a variety of topics including love and brotherhood, companionship and healthy living.