Money Can Not Buy You Happiness

I am sure there will be many people who read this article and will think I am rather mad. Quite frankly I do not care. In this article I write about what in my humble opinion are the most importants things in life, health and happiness.

All that most of my friends talk about is money:

What car do you drive?

How much is your house worth?

How much do you earn?

How much did your suit cost?

Where are you going on holiday this year?

I find all of this very boring and think that they are rather sad. They seem to be in some sort of competition and they are basically obsessed about money.

I will give you an example of one such friend, his name is John. He never seems to talk about anything else and is always looking into get rich quick schemes. He is also in a lottery syndicate, of which there are about fifty members. Each member pays around ten pounds in per week. John likes to go out socialising on a Saturday night, however soon gets itchy feet at the time of the lottery draw. A few minutes later he will go to the toilet where he will then phone his girlfriend. He takes with him to the toilet a piece of paper with his numbers on and a little pen. After his girlfriend has told him which numbers were drawn, John will then then spend around twenty minutes checking his numbers, and then re-checking to see if he has any winning lines.

Eventually he returns to the group who seem very keen (apart from me) to find out how much he has won/lost. To date he has only won small amounts, however is convinced that one day he will become a millionaire. He will then start talking about the lottery, asking other people what they would buy if they were lucky enough to ever win. At this point I become very bored and start to wish I had stayed at home and watched the football.

For me the two most important things in life are health and happiness. These are two things which money can not buy. A few years ago, my dad was taken ill. He was in a real bad way and had to spend around five months in hospital. Him being ill was a huge shock to me as he was only fifty-seven. I feared the worst, even though I was trying my hardest to think and stay positive. I remember thinking, if I gave those doctors everything I own in the world, it still would not help him. I felt powerless and at that moment realised that money is only paper.

Happiness is the same, I remember at the age of twenty-one having lots of money and had been surprised that I was depressed at the same time. At other times I have had next to no money and have been extremely happy.

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Managing My Resistance: Learning to Flow with What Life Offers

One of the things that interests me most about conflict is the tendency to resist it and the ways in which this resistance causes me to miss key moments, when I might respond with purpose and intention but do not. Resistance is a reactive habit. When I resist, I'm on automatic, and I fail to spot the opportunity to respond with the conscious engagement of being fully present.

Aikido – the martial art I practice and teach – suggests that resistance escalates conflict. When I push, the conflict pushes back. Aikido replaces resistance with alignment and redirection. I change my view from "this person is attacking me" to "this person is offering energy that I can use."

Aikido (pronounced eye-key-doe) is Japanese for "the way of blending with energy." Ki means universal energy or life force. Ki Moments are those in which we are fully aware of our life force and our ability to influence our environment.

In aikido, the attack is inevitable, a part of life. We can influence the outcome of the attack by the way in which we engage and direct it. Will I resist and create a contest, ensuring a win-lose outcome? Or will I practice aikido and transform the attack into a gift of energy? How do I make these choices when I am feeling attacked?

To begin:

Have a positive and useful purpose

Without a purpose to guide us in the conflict, we end up falling back on habitual patterns of reaction. Refocusing on purpose answers the question "What am I really going for here?" and directs the conflict toward a useful outcome.

Practice skills and techniques that move us toward our purpose

We have reactive habits that – in the heat of the moment – take us away from the goal. Changing our conflict "habits" requires skill building, practice and persistent application.

My work focuses on bringing aikido principles to life in "off the mat" scenarios – the life "attacks" that we experience in the workplace, in our relationships, and in difficult life events that can occur at any time. How can we turn daily conflicts into life teachers? Just by asking the question, we begin to transform conflict moments into ki moments and attacks into energy we can use to build the kinds of home, work, and community environments we want to live in.

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Making Everyday a special day

The same sun, the same sky, the same home, and the same routine. Life is boring. Every day is same. How to carry on from day to day? Why does a week not have seven sundays? Don't you find yourself saying - 'I want to enjoy life. I am getting bored with my schedule that never changes. There is no excitement in my life.' Ask few friends around their life and they will say something similar. Why is life becoming a bore for them and how to make it exciting?

Can one escape work? No sensible person can? Can a parent stop caring for his/her children? No. Can an executive stop taking decisions? No. Then how to make life exciting? There must be some way. Yes, there is a way and it is very simple. Just look out of your window and watch the sky. Do you observe any clouds? Look at them. Look at the different shapes? Who made them? From where did they arrive and where will they go? Look at some flowers in your home. Observe the symmetry. Touch and feel the softness. How lovely! We are surrounded by treasures, but we have no time to look at them. A child's smile can make today a different day than any other day. Try to make a child smile and feel the joy.

Look at the night sky. Observe the stars and think about the distances. Some are so far away that it takes light, hundreds of years to reach us. How many millions of years you will take to walk and reach them? What is beyond them? Observe, think and get excited. Life need never be dull for any of us. Take another example. While sitting on your table, have you ever wondered about the wood that was used to make it? Have you thought about the life of the tree? A small seed grew into a gigantic tree.

How exciting. What of the tar on the road? It comes from deep inside the earth, goes to refineries and is laid on the roads.

How deep must the oil well have been? How did they locate the oil and what will happen after we finish all the oil?

The world is full of objects that can make us think and wonder. It is our attitude that makes our life. If we adopt a child-like attitude towards things, we will bring joy back in life. I am not asking you to give up your work and enjoy. But find time during the day to look at things and wonder. Bring joy back in your life. You can begin right now. Look at your screen. What happens to the text after you shut down your computers? Where do they all go, when you close the browser? Isn't life full of excitement? Live it.

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Love Is The Answer

It’s all about love.  It may seem trite to say, but its true.   Love is where it’s at.

What do you want to do in life?  It goes easier with love in your heart.
Want better relationships, or a better family life?  Make sure love is in your heart.
Trying to do a better job at work?  Do it with love.
Trying to make a difference in anything?  Start by finding love.
Is there pain in your life that needs mending?  Love is what heals.
Are you lonely; still looking for that special someone?   Love will find a way.

In a world of pain and anguish, of seemingly endless problems and crises, love is so often forgotten or overlooked.  In times of national crisis does anyone advocate love and forgiveness?  And how often do you, when faced with interpersonal conflict, remember to keep love in your heart for the person you are facing? 

This, of course, is not to say that love alone will solve all problems.  But it is to say that all approaches to any problem will always resolve quicker and easier and will lead toward healing when love is consciously present.

Violence does not stop violence; it only breeds more violence.  Period.  The scars born of violence do not go away; rather, they fester and return in kind.

Love dissipates violence.  Not always immediately, but always eventually.  This is why the most powerful advocates for peace are the most vocal advocates for love.  We need only look at leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who both advocated nonviolent protest and loving the enemy, to see that armies may be conquered and systematic repression can be stopped with the use of long-term campaigns of love, kindness, and forgiveness.

Again, this is not to say that love alone is a panacea, a magic pill that cures all.  It is only to say that all methods and plans for positive change will always work better when there is an undercurrent of conscious loving energy. 

Love is the one thing that is universally revered as being good for us all, and yet, with tragic consequence, it is so often ignored as a technique for change.  Indeed, finding and keeping love in our hearts is the only way to consistently promote and effect healing, on both a personal and a national level.

It is fear that drives us to violence, as individuals and as nations.  It takes courage to look beyond that fear and to consider that forgiveness and acceptance are necessary elements in any healthy relationship, whether it’s between two people or between two cultures.  Fear pushes away; love brings together.

Love is the universal element that can be used in any situation where positive change is needed.  It is not the only element, but is the element that can be used anytime, anywhere.

Love is the answer.

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Looking for Happiness? Stop Looking in Your Neighbor's Yard

    We’ve all heard the cliché ‘The grass is always greener in our neighbor’s yard’. What they don’t tell you is that his grass still has to be mowed, watered, weeded, raked and fertilized.

    The Buddha was the first to recognize that emotional pain can be just as real and debilitating as physical pain. Through careful observation he determined that people were good at spending time on their physical hygiene, but spent little or no time on mental hygiene. He believed that the key to finding happiness was in relieving one’s emotional suffering and that the best way to reduce this suffering was by controlling our emotions.

    Just as a good mother watches where her children go, the wise man watches where his mind goes. One of the harmful emotions that the Buddha taught we need to watch is envy.

    Envy is time spent wanting what our neighbor has instead of time spent enjoying what we have. Now it’s true that when used properly envy can be a terrific motivator. The problem is that real envy -- always wanting more and then discovering that more still isn’t enough -- is difficult to control.

    The Buddha taught that the way to achieve happiness begins with turning negative thoughts in to positive ones. The successful landscaper knows that for his lawn to thrive it needs to be weeded and fertilized. The person seeking happiness can begin by following his example and weeding out any negative thoughts and then planting positive ones.

    Many people believe that happiness is just a winning lottery ticket away, but true happiness is not based on how much we have, but on how little we need. Happiness is accepting, appreciating and enjoying what the world has to offer. True happiness can only be achieved if we spend more time weeding out envious thoughts rather than in trying to match or better our neighbor’s lawn.

    Just because an elephant is the biggest doesn’t mean he’s also the best animal in the jungle.

    Sometimes it is as simple as taking the time to look back at how far you’ve come instead of always looking ahead to where you want to be. When was the last time you took a moment to pat yourself on the back for the things you have accomplished?

    Besides, maybe your neighbor works harder at his yard than you do, or maybe he’s just luckier. Is matching or bettering your neighbor’s accomplishments really that important? We all get to choose how we spend our time.

    Stop looking at your neighbor’s yard and start enjoying your own, that’s what it’s there for. Weed out the envy and you’ll find your whole outlook improving. Happy gardening.

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Living with Joy

Living with joy can sometimes be a challenge.  When things appear to be going against our will, we tend to experience this as pain, suffering, or that we’re having a bad day.  Recognizing that we are in control of our feelings, and that we have the choice to live in joy, or in fear is the first step to creating a life full of joy and positivity. 

One principle that we all need to acquire is the ability to see all situations, people, and events from a positive perspective.  Instead of viewing bad things in life as a prompt to get upset and angry, try to view the “bad things” as lessons that are helping you grow, helping you to become as whole of an individual as possible.  Too many times, we think that the outer world, the physical reality is creating our day, causing us to be sad or unhappy; however it is the opposite that is true.  We create our day, we create the circumstances for joyous living. 

The most important lesson is that “beingness” precedes experience.  In order to be happy, we first need to “be happy” inside, and this internal happiness radiates outward through every cell of our bodies and creates the outer experience of a smile, or a laugh, or an intimate connection between two people.  It is in this “beingness” that we have the ability to see and to choose our feelings, desires, goals, and dreams, which then enables us to manifest an outer reality based on our true selves. 

We create the reality in which we experience joy, anger, love, and fear.  Because we have the ability, the free will, to choose our reality, we can make that conscious choice to try to just be happier, more grateful, and more sensitive.  This happiness though will never come if you are looking outside of yourself first.  Because, what we just learned is that in order to be happy we have to have the internal feeling of happiness to then create that happiness in our daily lives.   Remember that your beliefs about reality create your experience of it.

So, start changing your negatives into positives, gain clarity, and open your heart by looking inside yourself.  When we start changing ourselves from inside out, the universe will respond to us in ways in which we could never imagine.  The ability to start manifesting your goals and dreams is already inside of you.  Take the leap to start living in joy today.

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Living A Happy Life

Most of us get up each day and go through the same routine whatever we do in life – most of us are reasonably happy and content and just get on with living.

There is of course nothing wrong with that in the slightest but what would you say if you were granted the gift of REAL happiness which lead you down a path of such peace and contentment that no other experience you’ve had to date could compare.

You know what it’s like when you are looking forward to Christmas, the anticipation and the excitement just builds and builds. The same is true when the countdown to your holiday begins and then the joy of the holiday itself.

Well how would you like those feelings of pure joy, anticipation and excitement to be with you on a daily basis and then to find that the fulfilment part is even better – a feeling that you could just “burst for joy” and an inner peace and contentment that you’ve only ever seen at the movies?

Well I’ve found just that and the adrenalin seems to be pumping all the time and the buzz and excitement I get from life still amazes me.

I had the most amazing experience just under 3 years ago and my life changed dramatically from that day on and the incredible thing is that it just gets better and better – the miraculous gift that I’ve been given is something that I feel driven to expose the rest of mankind too, regardless of race colour or creed.

It was for that reason my book formed (I had been writing a few details of my experiences and at the time I had no intention of actually writing a book) and I just want to share this experience because if we could all feel like I do now the world would be such a different place to live in not just for us but for our children and their children and so on – a happy life is there for us all if we just accept the wondrous gift that is on offer – a gift that actually costs us nothing at all.

A recent testimonial, exerts of which are included below, show just why I want this book to reach and touch people who are looking for what I’ve found.

I LAVISHED your book. My life was in shambles; my wife had divorced me and tonight I was in such a state of despair that I had rung my Mother to tell her that suicide was my only option - after reading your book I have a peace about me that I have not had since I was 19 and I'm 56 now. Thank you thank you for allowing God to speak through you to me - I now feel a complete relief from all the pain and misery I have known for the past 37 years and I thank you for saving my life - actually GOD SAVED MY LIFE but you threw me the life preserver - may God continue to bless you, your family and your ministry.

Roy Thompson, Atlanta, Georgia - royjrthompson@bellsouth.net

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Life Is Wonderful

It is so simple and so easy to get what we want that we have a hard time to believe it. We are programmed to do things the hard and difficult way, in order to get what we want. We can not believe that we can get anything without hard labour, sweat and tears, obstacles and misery.

This is nothing else but a tough old programmation, a conditioning from our childhood. If you are like me, you were bombarded as a child with expressions from adults about how hard life is and how we have to struggle to get something. We were submitted to a hazardous universe or a God of revenge who could pick us out without any reason to take revenge on us for something we did wrong. We needed to avoid being bad or wrong, but disease could strike us anyway. Sometimes they even said : “It’s again a good one who’s punished, and the bad one take off easily like usual without paying anything!”. We learned that life wasn’t fair. We lived in fear and thought life was a valley of tears, fear, struggle, pain, disease and death?

How would it have been if they’ve told us the truth? The truth, nothing but the truth? That life is easy, wonderful. That miracles happen all the time and that we have the  power to make them happen in our own life! That the universe loves us. That there is wealth and health for everyone. That we don’t live in a universe of scarcity but of abundance. That we only have to put the right thoughts in our heads to make these dreams real for us.

What would your life have looked like if your parents and teachers would have taught you the truth?

You would have suffered much less! You would not have believed you were less than nothing. You would not have been filled with fear over your ears of getting sick or failing, of being stupid or being not good enough.

If you would have known from the beginning that you were a creation of the Creator, that you will always remain, that you will always be around, that you were created for a reason, and when you find this reason you will be happy, what would your life look like now? If you were told that you had talents, unique qualities, that make you a special person, and that you are on earth with the mission to offer these talents to others, where would you be right now and what would you be doing now?

Isn’t it nice? The Genius who created this whole thing did really well : we are sent to earth with a mission and to be able to assume our mission we are already fully equiped from the beginning : we are gifted with natural talents and all we have to do is develop our talents and offer them to the world! Simply said, we have to do what we can do easily already and what we are talented for, and than happiness, satisfaction, love, money and everything we want comes flowing our way!

It is so beautiful, this concept! All we have to do is to do what we love! And of course we need to stop once for all to think we don’t deserve happiness or wealth or health. All these thoughts are wrong because they go against the principles of creation of the Universe.

We are already wonderful! We are already loved! We are already rich! We are already free! We are already intelligent! We are already healthy! Why? Because we were all this before we started our life. It is the way we really are. It is the way we were created, we were born. This is the truth about ourselves. Everything else is “learned” afterwards.

The good news is whatever is learned can be un-learned. Every programmation can be changed and replaced by a new program.

And again, life is wonderful, because a positive thought is 10,000 times more powerful than a negative thought. So you don’t have to take another 40 years to undo the negative conditioning in your head. One positive thought can counterbalance 10,000 negative ones.

Can you imagine? Aren’t we lucky?

If you choose to do so, you can rapidly turn around your negative program in your head. Go to the bookstore, buy some books with positive thoughts, put them at every toilet in the house, in the bathroom, in your bedroom, in your living room, and read them whenever you think of it or see them. It doesn’t matter if you read one page after another or if you just open the book as it falls in your hands. The message you will receive will be the right one for you at that very moment.

Every morning you start your day by saying thank you to the Universe for your bed, your house, the roof over your head, the people living with your, the water coming out of your tap, the light switching on by a simple gesture of your hand, the food available, the choices you can make that day, the love you received in your life and the love you will receive, the miracles which will happen today and the air you can breath.

In your car, listen to CD’s or cassettes with positive programmation. Listen to them while you make dinner, clean the house or iron your clothes.

Surround yourself with positive people and stop nourishing negative social talk. Don’t watch television unless there is some really positive program.

There is a lot you can do to take a positive turn in your life. Don’t think you can do nothing. You are responsible for your life now. Make your choice! Know that every thought you think is either one which will weaken you, or one which will make you feel stronger.
The choice is yours!

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Life is a Gift, Open and Enjoy It

There is a bottle of perfume sitting on my dresser that I was given when I was ten years old! As you can tell I have pack rat tendencies! For me that pattern started as a young child. I could never bear to throw things away.  There was more to it than not wanting to throw things away. I loved the feeling I had when I would receive something new, and would not want to spoil it by using it unless it was for something special. I would want to save it for a special occasion. A new dress would sit in the closet, until a special event to wear it. Perfume would sit on my dresser, not to be used for everyday, but for a special ‘something’. This was a pattern in my life for many years.


Recently though I’ve realized that this is not the best perspective to live life. I don’t want to be like that woman on the Titanic, who when was being lowered into the lifeboat said…”If I’d known this was going to happen I would have had that Chocolate Mousse dessert.” This reflects a view of life that speaks a lie. It is a false belief that if I enjoy something now, I won’t be able to look forward to anything good like that in the future. This belief steals the joy from living in the present, and also lies to me about what the future might hold. Often it takes sad or traumatic situation to cause a person to stop and take stock their life’s perspective and lifestyle. For example, let me tell you how it happened for Ruth.

One day, out of the blue, Ruth got one of those devastating ‘phone calls’ that we all dread receiving. Her sister Jane had passed away unexpectedly. Ruth went over to the home to help her brother in law with the sad task of preparation for the funeral. They were in the bedroom deciding on clothes Jane would wear as she was laid to rest. He pulled out of the drawer some beautiful lingerie wrapped in tissue. Ruth gasped as she saw the astronomical cost on the price tag. “Jane bought this in Paris 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. I guess this is it.” he said. It was exquisitely, handmade in silk, with a delicate cobweb of lace .As he slammed the drawer shut he said something that changed Ruth’s life for ever. “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion! 


After the funeral, Ruth began to evaluate her life from a different perspective. She began to see life as something to be enjoyed not endured. Ruth started to make changes, although small at first, for Ruth they had great significance. She sat in the garden more and didn’t worry about the weeds. She wore expensive perfume on ordinary days, after all co workers and cashiers have noses that function just as well as party goers! She lit that candle that had been sitting as a centre piece on the dining room table collecting dust. She got that cracked window fixed, that she’d been meaning to do for years. She invited those friends round for dinner that she’d seen at the last sixteen weddings, and said we must get together.


Ruth determined that she would live each day as if it was her last. Now every morning when Ruth opens her eyes, she tells herself that this day is special. Every day, every breath, every minute of her life is truly a gift from God.

Your life perspective changes when you start living each day as if it was your last. You start to look at all the things that you want to accomplish in life and actually get started!! You stop watching everyone else doing it. Have the courage to start thinking “It’s my turn now” and do what is in your heart.

Grandma Moses began a painting career at age seventy six. Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969 at age seventy one.
I recently met a lady in her eighties who, in the last two years, had been white-water rafting, and hiking in the Himalayas. She was excitedly planning her next trip!
Don’t wait years, or until something traumatic happens to get your attention. Start now to reflect on your life’s perspective and begin living without regrets.

 I love this quote by Peter Sage, speaker and entrepreneur :

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow - What a Ride!"

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Journaling For Happiness And Spiritual Well-Being

Could a journal actually lead one to health and well-being? As both a writer and health enthusiast, this is a question I've given lots of thought to. As it turns out, I'm not the only one. Upon further research, there's been a considerable amount of press given to the idea that your journal could be a path to health and wellness. In fact, Southern Methodist University and Ohio State University College of Medicine studied the effects of creative journaling and found it conclusive in cleansing negative emotions and promoting a sense of well-being
(ref: http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/articles/health/journal.html).

In my own experience as a writer (and I think most creative types will agree) being creative is not just an exercise, work or discipline - it's a necessity. In fact, I never quite understood my own personality until I was immersed full-time in a purely science, left-brained college program. I would often feel tired, lethargic and uninspired (clearly there was more at fault here than having to memorize the phone book).

According to Carl Jung and Myers-Briggs (the creators of standardized personality and interest testing) introverted types draw energy from themselves and less from other people. We like to be alone a lot and give lots of thought to the world at large. Our extroverted counterparts, on the other hand, can also be equally as creative, but tend to draw their energy from others. Either way you go, emotions can sometimes become overwhelming, need to be filtered then let go.

Over time, (even amidst the sterile science program) I've learned that I can find peace quickly by turning to my notebook when upset or in need of inspiration. And - I'd be willing to guess - this idea is not exclusive to the right-brained.

So back to the original thesis: Regardless of personality, can writing be useful to you and your health? Hopefully, by now I've convinced you it can. How to get journaling working for you? Well, that's where I'll step in - here I've given you three of my favorite exercises to help get you started.

Timed Writings
In her book Writing Down The Bones, Natalie Goldberg has outlined a sure-fire method to invoke the muses and get the inspiration flowing. Timed writings.

Timed writings go something like this... collect your materials: timer, notebook and pen. Sit at your desk or wherever the spirit takes you (Starbucks, Borders, Barnes & Noble) launch your timer for ten minutes, place pen to paper and see what comes forth.

There are only two rules at play here: don't stop writing and continue for the full ten minutes. Afraid you'll run out of things to write? No problem. When you get stuck just keep the hand moving along and write things like, "I am looking for something to write.... I am looking for something to write..." before you know it you'll be carrying on a conversation with yourself.

Unsent Letters
Anger is always a good muse, but I tend to use this emotion as a catalyst to creativity. Something or someone upsetting you? Get creative and purge your negative energy. How? Write a letter. You won't need to send it. In fact as a ritual to closure I have been known to write angry letters then shred them, burn them or (insert your idea here). In fact this exercise has been shown to heal negative energy and provoke closure with angry emotions. Try it - then let me know (Laura mailto:NewBodyNews@aol.com ).

Creative Journaling Exercises
When I am feeling less that inspired, or want to get the muses warmed up I sometimes like to take creative writing classes online or off, or do some creative journaling exercises. If you like the idea of sharing your writing, take a creative writing course nearby. Check your local Chamber of Commerce or if you prefer the convenience of online classes there's lots to choose from. I've taken courses online at Barnes and Noble University http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ and Gotham Writers' Workshops: http://www.writingclasses.com both with positive results.

However, if you'd like to go it solo, give this exercise a try. This one was created by my Mother, Donna. She is a writer, artist and teacher (a real right-brainer!), she handed this exercise to me when I was feeling stuck and uninspired. Not only does this exercise stimulate your creativity, use this healthy exercise to get you thinking about taking time for yourself.

Have your notebook ready? Set your timer again if you'd like and aim to come up with the list "20 things that make me happy." If your time was entirely your own, what are the 20 things you'd want to do?

Ready? Now hit your timer and take this one for a test drive. When you've finished, put your pen and paper away.

Tomorrow take a few quiet moments and bring out your list again, add delete and edit. Now when you're not feeling like yourself, take this list out and copy it over again. Try to take time everyday to do one thing that makes you happy and continue over time to add to your list. Keep up your practice and you'll find - happiness is not just a fixture in your mind.

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It Costs Nothing To Smile

I like to be around positive people, people who tend to be happy, who look on the bright side of life. Far too many people walk around in what seems like a depressed state. Come on people, it costs nothing to smile.

I must admit, I used to be one of the ones who walked around in a depressed state. I had many things on my mind, many things I was not happy with, I used to feel so sorry for myself. Even when I write about it now, I laugh about how pathetic I used to be.

Things were about to change however. At the time a new employee joined the company where I worked, his name was Stuart. Now this may seem cruel but Stuart did not have a lot going for him. I won't go into details but lets just say I did not feel jealous of his life. I became quite good friends with Stuart and we would go to lunch together. I would meet him in the canteen at 1pm and would be waiting in my gloomy state of mind for him to arrive. Arrive he certianly did, always with a beaming smile on his face. We would sit down and talk whilst eating our lunch and he never had a negative word to say. When he talked, he talked with passion, about sports and films. One day it dawned on me, if Stuart (who from what I know of him, seemingly has nothing) can always be positive, happy and smiling, why can't I?

This was the beginning of a new era in my life. An era of being positive, appreciating what I have got and more than anything else, plenty of smiles.

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Is It Really Possible To Find Real Happiness?

I used to ask myself this question “how do you find real happiness” day after day after day. It just seemed to be so elusive and as I looked around at other people who seemed to be so happy I just wondered why I was so different – or was I?

I did not enjoy the drudgery of going to a job that I didn’t particularly like but when I began to work for myself I thought that that would change – I did enjoy what I was doing and although I had some happy times there was still something missing.

I read a lot of books and decided that if I earned lots more money then that would make the difference and then I would be truly happy and would then have a peace and contentment in my life – well I did earn more one year but that didn’t find me the happiness I yearned for. It must have been that I hadn’t earned enough and this went on and on until I eventually realised that no matter what I earned it just didn’t give me these real feelings of happiness and contentment – not permanently anyway because of course there were the temporary highs when I was able to go cruising around the Caribbean.

I had a lovely family and yes of course I enjoyed life but as before there really was something missing – it was like there was a vast hole in my life and I just didn’t know how and where I was going to find what I was looking for.

We all have out highs and lows in life and I think the time has to be right for that miraculous event to take place and boy that sure happened to me – it was like a bolt out of the blue and totally unexpected – I had found my maker, the Lord God when I just had not been looking for him at all – rather HE found me.

I just had to write my experiences down because I’ve just never felt so happy and at peace in my entire life – of course I get some bad days, don’t we all but they are so rare it’s incredible – this record of my experiences were read by others who said that I should turn them into a book because of what it might do for others – well I’ve done just that and some of the “feedback” I’ve had has made me cry tears of joy – I just bless the day that Jesus came into my life.

A recent testimonial, exerts of which are included below, show just why I want this book to reach and touch people who are looking for what I’ve found.

I LAVISHED your book. My life was in shambles; my wife had divorced me and tonight I was in such a state of despair that I had rung my Mother to tell her that suicide was my only option - after reading your book I have a peace about me that I have not had since I was 19 and I'm 56 now. Thank you thank you for allowing God to speak through you to me - I now feel a complete relief from all the pain and misery I have known for the past 37 years and I thank you for saving my life - actually GOD SAVED MY LIFE but you threw me the life preserver - may God continue to bless you, your family and your ministry.

Roy Thompson, Atlanta, Georgia - royjrthompson@bellsouth.net

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Intentional Focus: Your Happiness, Your Success, and the Law of Attraction

What have you been focusing on lately? On how well life is going for you? Or on how much business you’ve been doing compared to last year, or how well your superiors have been rating you? Or on how much your partner loves you and how much you revel in the relationship you’re having? On the excellent state of your bank account? On your ever-present good health and slim and trim physique? Or on the joy you experience each time you sit down to dinner with your teenage children? On the wonderful vacation you came back from recently and the even more exciting one you are planning for the near future? Or on the good way you feel about yourself and all the things you are creating and doing with your life?

What You Think is What You Are

I can just hear you spluttering. “What kind of romantic thinking is this? Where do these ideas come from? I don’t know anybody who thinks like that.”

True. Most people don’t think like that. In fact, most people think the exact opposite of that. Most people concentrate on all the things that are going wrong with their lives. Most people spend much of their time thinking about their problems and wondering how they are going to solve them. Most people think about all the things that could go wrong with their lives or about the people or events that stand in the way of their success. Most people think and think and think about whatever it is that worries them, because they believe that that is the way to resolve the problem. The fact is that most people focus so much on what they are afraid of, or what bothers them, or what stresses them, or what they don’t know how to solve, that they are giving all or most of their conscious and subconscious energy to a negative outcome – the problem.

What Kind of an Outcome Do You Want?

Consider this: the more you give your energy to one thing, the more that thing has a possibility of coming into being. If you concentrate on getting a university degree, you will most likely achieve that goal. If you concentrate on writing a book, you will again probably achieve that goal. But what happens if you continually tell yourself, while you are concentrating on getting the degree, that you are not intelligent enough to pass the exams, or that you simply are incapable of understanding the course material? And what happens, if you continually tell yourself while you are concentrating on writing the book, that you will never be able to write well, or that your story is not good enough? Obviously you are not only undermining yourself and sabotaging your desired outcomes, but you may also be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Focus and Intention

So what can you do? Let’s assume you are convinced that you lack the intelligence to pass the exams. Or that you are convinced that you will never write well. You have a goal, and that goal is to get a degree or to write a book. In order to focus on that goal, your mission is to ensure that your thoughts are aligned with – or intentionally focused on - that goal. Therefore, whenever your thoughts stray from the goal into negative territory, you need to pull them back into the arena of positive results.

Goals and Fears

But focusing on a desired goal is very hard for a very simple reason: we are far too used to focusing on the fears surrounding the goal (I am so afraid I will never have a great relationship, rather than imagining in your mind’s eye the great relationship in the way you want it to be; or how will I ever get that promotion rather than imagining in your mind’s eye the way you will feel when you do get the hoped-for promotion).

How to Focus

So how do you focus? When you worry, and your mind goes around and around a problem, or some stress in your life, you are very focused on the problem. It is exactly at that moment that you need to re-focus and see your desired goal or outcome in your mind’s eye, rather than all the problems you associate with it. The more time you spend on whatever it is you want to have in your life – whether this is a material goal, a professional goal, a relational goal, or whatever – makes absolutely no difference, the more you will be in a position to achieve it, to attract it into your life. The more you think – and focus – on that goal in a positive way, the more you allow yourself to "feel" the way you would feel if you already had the results, the more likely it is that you will attain your desired outcome. This is the Law of Attraction. 

Intentionally Re-focus on the Positive

Remember: the time you spend worrying about the desired outcome is time spent focusing on the opposite of what you want, so become very aware of all your thoughts and focus them in the right direction. Do this consistently each time you catch yourself thinking the negative version of your goals until intentionally re-focusing on the positive becomes second nature.  This habit is like strengthening a muscle, if you do it every day, it will happen more and more frequently and naturally, and soon you will find that not only do the majority of your thoughts and feelings focus on the positive direction of your goals, but that those positive goals become part of your reality. 

As A Man Thinketh 

Make time to read a complimentary copy of the e-book version of James Allen’s classic As A Man Thinketh by signing up for my free monthly e-zine and begin to understand how your thoughts and your feelings contribute in immeasurable ways to the fulfillment of your goals and dreams. How they create the very fabric of your life. And how you – by taking charge of your thoughts and feelings, and by focusing with clear intention can make a very different life than the one you may currently have.

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Happiness is the Path to the Productive Workplace

According to the American Dream Project, the average American works between 43 and 51 hours per week. Does that make us more productive? No. In fact, the United States is ranked 8th in productivity behind countries like Norway, Italy, and France. Yet people in those countries work fewer hours. So what will make us more productive?

First, it is important to understand that the average person is only productive 5 hours a day, yet our average workday is 8 hours with fewer people taking breaks and vacations than ever before. Second, it is also important to differentiate between the higher living standard of Americans and happiness. Our higher living standard is due mostly to our long work hours and higher spending patterns, yet that standard does not make Americans more productive, nor does it make people happy. In fact, it only serves to make us more exhausted. The American Dream Project goes on to explain that this exhaustion decreases our productivity while pushing us into activities that are not necessarily correlated to happiness, but just escapism.

So how can employers maximize productivity while decreasing stress? Focus on your employees. According to the Great Place to Work Institute, the companies with the happiest employees are also the most productive. However, contrary to popular belief, money does not buy happiness in the workplace. In fact, there is very little correlation between making over $50,000 per year and happiness in general. For most people, happiness is about low stress, trust, and a feeling that they matter.

If happiness comes from trust and a feeling that they matter, then what are some things an organization can do to foster those feelings? Primarily, a company needs to have a management team that builds that sense of trust and caring. One way to bring about the caring environment is to provide services that enhance the employees’ lives, like a concierge service.

Concierge services provided as an employee benefit gives employees a tangible view that their employer cares about their personal needs as well as their productivity. This promotes loyalty and productivity. It is a useful and inexpensive way to provide for employees needs, and it will help in lowering employee’s stress levels. In fact, one company funded a study that showed 62 percent of employees would like help in getting things done and believed that the help would lower the stress in their lives. Also, 50 percent of those surveyed would pay to have more time with their families.

Those statistics reinforce the American Dream Project’s assertion that happiness is not necessarily tied to money, but to lifestyle. If you feel like your company could use a little boost in productivity and employee loyalty, then maybe it is time to really look at what your employees need. Check out concierge services to add just a little light into your employees’ lives and see how your work environment changes to a positive, productive workplace.

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Happiness Is About Connection And Gratitude

People complain. They’re complaining all the time about everything. As a child, I was innocent enough to believe what people were saying. I really thought there were plenty of valid reasons to complain: the weather (most often), lack of money (runner-up), the neighbors, husband or wife, the children (me, in this case), civilization (or the lack of it), bad health, etc. I assumed the world just turned out to be like this and there was nothing much we could do. It was called “fate” or something.

The thing to do was to pray. Not to ask for a better life. No! I learned to pray to ask God to forgive me for my sins. I was a nice little girl, doing very well at school, polite with the neighbors, helpful at home, so it was rather difficult to keep finding sins for our weekly confession. But because human beings are profoundly sinful by birth, they told me, I had to go confess anyway. The nuns at school came up with a solution to help us out: they “prepared” our sins for us. Every Wednesday, on confession day, they gave us a pink paper with our “confessions of the day.” I remember feeling sorry for the poor priest, hidden in his little black cabin, spending the entire day listening to the confessions of 600 little girls, endlessly repeating the same sins over and over…

Growing up, I figured something was missing. Pretending to be sinful by repeating sins someone else had cooked up for me, that could not be what life is about. I refused to further confess sins that I had not committed. I refused to believe that I was the cause of my misery, and that I had to pray every day without things getting better!

When I was 26, I went to Africa. There I met my husband (he’s from Belgium) and together we had a wonderful time, with plenty of sunshine and plenty of money; circumstances people usually don’t complain about, right? According to my childhood logic, people only complain for a reason: lousy weather (too cold, too much rain), lack of money, etc. But what I discovered over there seriously opened my eyes! My “white” friends just went on complaining: about the weather (too hot), about the service (5 servants and still they were complaining) or about how things were too expensive – while they were earning 5 times as much as before!

I discovered there and then that the complaining was not based on any objective reasons. I also noticed that the black people, who were living in their villages with close to nothing, were not complaining. I got interested in this phenomenon: they had nothing except a big smile on their face, while we had everything and were still complaining! How could this be?

It became crystal clear to me that the complaints had nothing to do with the outer circumstances. It was an attitude, a habit. Next, I wanted to find out where this habit came from. So I examined the way of life of the local people and compared it with our way of life. When I finally came up with the explanation, it changed my life forever!

There are two important differences between them and us. The first difference is that they have a social network to help everyone in the village. They stick together. They don’t push out people who don’t fit the norm. In our society, everybody who is a bit different is sent to an “institution.” An institution is a place to collect those individuals who cannot follow the fast pace of society and thus fall out of the boat. Most institutions have great walls to prevent us from “seeing” that these people really exist. They look more like a prison than a shelter.
Who are these people that don’t fit in our society, put away behind walls so we don’t have to confront them? They are the disabled, the diseased, the dangerous ones, the mentally retarded or disturbed, those who are too slow (they go to special schools), too difficult to handle (they go to educational institutions) and those who are too tired and too old (we put them in expensive homes).

There in Africa, everybody stays in his own village and is accepted and taken care of (except the really dangerous ones, they go to prison). Everybody has a natural social network and access to help. You are not isolated from society merely because you cannot walk or because you are mentally slow. They stick together. I figured out that inner loneliness and isolation is one of the main reasons why we are complaining so much.

The second difference is that all of these people are connected to something “greater” than themselves. They have a strong faith in a god who takes care of them. They spend a lot of time performing rituals to please their god(s) and get good health and harvest in return.

I gave these two differences a lot of thought and concluded that creating social networks of people and a solid relationship with something bigger than ourselves, are vitally important fundaments of human happiness.

It’s all about “connection.” Connection to each other. Connection to the Universe. In the meantime I found out that good things can happen only when we stay connected to each other and to the Universe. I started studying the Laws of the Universe and spent a lot of energy helping people establish a connection to each other and to the Universe. In fact, this became the very purpose of my life.

Many people think they are alone, without help, and have to do everything by themselves. This is not the case. You are guided, you are loved by Something Greater than your little personality. Try to feel this connection. Take time everyday to connect to the Source. Do like the African people I was lucky to meet so many years ago: create a real connection between yourself, the Universe and people around you, without being overly dependent on others. You will never feel alone again and you will be able to spread a lot more love around.

Living this kind of “connected life” will make you forget about your former complaints. What’s there to complain about? Your complaints will be replaced by gratitude! Say “thank you” to the Universe for all the things you already have, and for all the wonders that may still cross your path. Express your sincere gratitude for all the love you have received and will keep receiving throughout your life. Be grateful for the clean water coming out of the tap by a simple gesture of your hand, while many people spend six hours every day to get a little bit of water, and others die of thirst. Be grateful for the light you switch on with a simple flick. Large parts of the world have to do without electric power! Say “thank you” for the variety of food that is available to you every day – a lot of people have to get by on one scarce meal a day, or are simply starving.

There is so much to be grateful for. I felt so ashamed there in Africa, at 26 years old, hearing my white friends, bathing in luxury but still complaining, while my black friends, who had close to nothing, were laughing, friendly, grateful and most of the time quite happy with the little things in life.

It’s all in the mind. Gratitude and happiness are an attitude, a state of being. It has nothing to do with circumstances. The attitude is gratitude.

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Happiness And Health Are The Two Most Important Things In Life

The world is becoming obsessed with money and all things material. From the size of your house, the type of car and even where you travel on your holidays, some people are trying to go one better do their friends and family.

For me these people are quite sad. I have a friend who is similar to the people above, he is always thinking of money, always talking about money. How to earn it, how to spend it etc. He is part of a lottery syndicate, there are about fifty people in this syndicate. When he goes out on the Saturday evening, he always takes with him a piece of paper with the numbers on and a little pen. At around nine o'clock he phones his girlfriend and she tells him what the numbers are for that particular night. He then spends around twenty minutes checking the numbers, and then re-checking to see if he has any winning lines.

He then returns from the toilet area and is asked by other members of the group about how much he has won/lost. He has yet to have any major win to this point, this does not deter him however and for the next hour, he will start a debate, asking different people how they would spend their winnings, if they ever won the lottery.

For me the two most important things in life are health and happiness. These are two things which money can not buy. A number of years ago, my father became very ill. He had to spend around five months in hospital and he was only fifty seven. I feared the worst, even though I was trying my hardest to think and stay positive. I remember thinking, if I could give those doctors everything I own in the world, it still would not help him.

Happiness is the same, at times I have had lots of cash in my back pocket, however have been quite depressed. At other times I have had next to no money and have been extremely happy.

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Feel Those Feelings and Develop Emotional Intelligence

There is an old joke about a man who is walking home along the street in the early hours of a weekend and he sees another man, who is obviously very drunk, on his hands and knees, searching for something. “What are you looking for?” he asks the drunked man. “My house keys” the man replies. “Where did you drop them?” he asks. “Two streets away” he slurs. “Why aren’t you looking there then”, he asks, puzzled. “Because the light’s much better here.”

Now, during my initial training and learning, I was quite unsure about myself in many ways! Yes, even me, some may say that I have gone rather extremely the other direction now! I tried lots of the things I learned with self-hypnosis and different aspects of the standard NLP approaches to overcome this uncertainty and lack of confidence in my ability to do what I wanted to do, but none of them seemed to work for me. I still got the butterflies in my tummy and lacked a real sense of confidence, in fact I felt nervous about doing what I wanted to do (what if it all went wrong and I failed!!). I had spent some time fighting the anxious feeling, then one day I said to myself “Adam, just experience it, stop resisting it, stop fighting it; just feel it” and an amazing thing happened. I felt the nervous feeling, then it disappeared! I was shocked. All those previous months and years of fighting it, and all that I really needed to do was to feel it. I acknowledged it and stopped resisting.

Doing this is to heighten your own awareness of your own map of the world.

One of the presuppositions of NLP is ‘meet people at their map of the world’. This is a process of seeing things from their point of view or being aware of their experience and is a far depper discussion for another time. Now, I was fine at doing this with other people and my successful therapeutic consultancy is over the years has been solid proof to me of that, but before all that started, all those years ago, I suddenly realised that I had not been meeting myself at my map of the world. Whenever I felt feelings that I did not like, I would struggle, resist and fight them, and you know what they say: When you fight with yourself, someone always loses, and that someone is you. So I decided to stop fighting and resisting my feelings and instead to acknowledge them and start working with them.

WHere am I going with all this then? If there is a feeling that you find unpleasant or that seems unhelpful or that you just plain don’t like, firstly, map out the feeling. This is just a process of identifying where in your body that feeling is, really locate that feeling in your body. Now think about what size it is, how it moves; I used to have a fluttering feeling in the pit of my tummy that as I reisted it more would spread into my chest and back down again. Really be aware of the feeling physiologically, even think about what temperature it is, you can even take it a step further and think about what colour it would be if it had one etc.

While most people profess to know what they are feeling, you would be amazed at how many people have not got in the slightest bit acquainted with the physical characteristics of the emotions they are experiencing, they just let them happen passively without really getting an awareness of them. Emotions are physical (they are chemicals and all sorts of other things too), so the first step is to map out that physicality.

Next up, accept the feeling. Become OK with the fact that you are feeling it. For more on how to accept things in your life, again, dig out the article from a previous edition of "Adam Up" that was all about that, it is there in the archive on my website.

Of course, this can be a bit of a struggle for some people, who will no doubt say “But I don’t want to feel it” or “I shouldn’t be feeling it.” I know some of you are thinking that.

So here is the thing: you are feeling it, and if you want to change the feelings quickly, the most expedient way to do it is to meet yourself at your map of the world and accept that presenting feeling that you are having. If you refuse to do this, then you are just resisting it or fighting it as I was doing back then. Then any attempt to change it will involve starting from where you aren’t, and that rarely works out well (as our tipsy man looking for his keys on the wrong street can attest to.)

Then, you find the positive intent. What is your body or your unconscious trying to tell you? Sometimes feelings have a message of some sort for us. Other times, they’re just sensations that our body has some purpose for feeling. What (if anything) is this feeling doing for you or trying to tell you?

Then; feel it. Just feel it. Be sure not to struggle or fight, just feel it. Remember to breathe too ;-)

You don’t have to do this for long, but it is really good to feel something. Even if it feels bad, the fact that you can feel it means that you are alive (woo-hoo!) and it also means that you are in touch with how you feel. These are both good things to be able to acknowledge and realise within yourself. Often, just accepting and realising a feeling is putting it in a vast different perspective.

The final part of this process is to then play with the feeling.

Increase the feeling’s intensity. The reduce it. If it was one colour, make it another, if it was moving in a certain direction, move it in another, if it was a certain size, enlarge it or make it smaller, basically, have a play with it and discover just how much influence you have over this feeling. I think you will be surprised when you realise just how much influcence you really do have.

One of the things you’ll begin to find as you start to experience is just how much it’s possible for you to get a handle on your feelings. You may well discover for yourself that feelings aren’t true or false. They don’t really mean anything. They are just sensations that you are experiencing in your body. If you resist them, they’ll be there for some time, but if you accept them, you can start to play with them and change them. Does this mean you’ll not have a bad feeling ever again? No. Feelings will come and feelings will go, but what it does mean is that you can start to have more and more of the sorts of feelings you want to have. I know that whatever you are wanting to do in life, you'll be wanting to punctuate your life with more and more good feelings, am I right?

So, enjoy your day today and make sure that you are spreading some good feelings into your life.

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Facing Problems in Healing the Hidden Self

If a challenging situation happens in an individual’s life when he or she begins to develop negative thoughts. When this happens, the person often starts to blame self or others, which the self-denial could result to an emotionally disturbance.

Into the bargain, energy, strength and dynamism are all arrivals from the conscious mind, yet when disturbances develop, these dynamic energies start to flop. Today, the charts are overriding the count of people that deal with emotional problems that causes unbalance.

A range of medical and non-medical rehabilitation solutions have been recently introduced to make the processes of self-healing more effective.

Meditation is one of the most unbeaten treatments, which has reaped popularity. The advantages of meditation are unmatchable to many other strategies used in the past to encourage healing the hidden self.

Meditation can help with generating power of the mind. Mediation contributes in curing any illness and in the process, energy is produced, which aids in keeping the therapeutic processes of the body and mind working smoothly.

Of course, we have other natural options that can assist us with healing the hidden self. Some of the top picks are the Ayurveda, or the latest naturopathy. Acupressure is very popular and diverse other natural treatments have contributed a great deal in self-healing. This includes the healing of the inner or hidden self. In fact, these therapies have motivated people’s thinking both spiritually and mentally. The hidden self when motivated can assist with curing the mind and body devoid of any side effects.

Other natural healing solutions have proved some worth as well. Some of the oldest, yet new solutions include biofeedback. Biofeedback works with monitoring systems to regulate body functions, such as the heart rate, blood pressure, et cetera. According to experts if we have the power to regulate our body functions, thus it can assist us with self-healing the hidden self.

Neurofeedback is another alternative that has proven to assist with healing the hidden self. Neurofeedback programs have encouraged motivation, inspiration, relaxation, and much more. In fact, we are encouraged to relax often to give the body and mind room to heal.

Despite that all of these natural products, programs and solutions has proven to assist with healing the hidden self, it is in fact proven that meditation is ultimately the better choice. Of course, some people find it difficult to meditate, so they will use other solutions, such as the Neurofeedback to encourage relaxation and meditation.

Another natural source is the aromatherapy solutions for healing. Aromatherapy has several types of aromas, which are intended for particular purposes. You can go online to discover the fragrances. Moreover, which aromas can assist you with healing self?

Moreover, you may benefit from subliminal learning. By learning how to explore your subliminal mind you can accomplish any goal you set for yourself.

We all go through challenges each day. Some of us go through more problems than others do, but each of us has the power within to manage the volume of stress we face.

If you are overwhelmed with stress, your best bet is to set up a stress management solution, and then start practicing natural healing techniques, such as mediation daily to take back control of your life.

If your stress is coming from pain, perhaps you can benefit from pain management. Perhaps a combination of biofeedback, Neurofeedback, massage therapy, meditation, aromatherapy, et cetera can do you some good. Don’t rely on unnatural remedies to relax pain, rather practice pain healing the natural way.

Go online to learn more solutions for dealing with common problems.

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Emotional Baggage

We all have them. It has many faces.We carry them around us, We store them in the remotest part of our brain, in the deepest chambers of our hearts.We have them in our extensive database of memories. Some are so close  to the heart, it brings out tears at the slightest provocation. Others may feel anger, very deep resentments and may exhibit anti-social or antagonistic behaviours.

Shadows follow and haunt many, in their dreams or waking hours, in unlikely places, unexpected and intimidating. Uncontrollable anger that can lead to violence can explode without warning.

Others will live in denial and spend their lives disconnected with the real world. Some will find blame in everyone except themselves; it’s always the other person’s fault. What  about victims and the victimizers?

Many are lost searching for something, they can not identify. Something is missing. A mass of lonely faces line  the crowded streets, sit in public places, in schools, agonize through the day in the workplace, gather at churches perhaps to seek solace. Everyday.we see a vast sea of sad , depressed and unfriendly faces. Our roads are open avenues to lash out their frustrations, thus uncontollable road rage. Scary.

Emotional excess baggage demands a high price at times. There are those who succumb to the weight of this burden, it gets too much to bear. They find no further reason to keep up the fight. Life loses its  lustre, they find the world cruel, their existence meaningless.To them, the fight over, if there ever was one.

There are many who go through life like a driftwood,l et the current take them wherever, it does not matter anymore. Is our world this cruel?

What causes these emotional suffering?

Broken dreams, broken relationships, failed careers, lost hopes, betrayals, violations, childhood trauma, or other forms of trauma ,add to this health issues. Social disgrace, financial disasters, poverty and addictions cast deep emotional scars to the most vulnerable members of the family and society.

Is our fast-paced society to blame? Add to this the pursuit of material success, endless toys,gadgets and exponential advances in technology. Fragile relationships, weakening  family ties, unreasonable expectations of self and of others add to the already overstuffed emotional baggage.Some carry  them for a long, long time.

All is not lost,if we take a moment to listen to our deeper needs, beyond the physical. There is a flood of information, organizations, professionals and other resources most communities offer. Deep  emotional  suffering is a critical issue that can no longer be ignored, by society and by those who suffer. There is more to life.

Wisdom of the ages from different cultures and beliefs are revived or revised to suit the present psyche of society. It offers a holistic approach , involving the whole person’s mind, body and spirit.

The wonders of medical and scientific research are vast,although pill-popping is not always the best answer.

Take stock of the weight of  your emotional baggage .

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Easy Ways To A Better Life

Want a better life? Big changes are difficult, and take time, but there are many easy steps you can take right now. Take many steps, even small ones, and pretty soon you're getting somewhere.

A Better Life Today

It's easy just to look, right? Start looking for specific ways to make your life better, and to improve yourself. Even if you don't accomplish anything immediately, you are preparing yourself. Thinking about change sets your mind and your motivation in motion.

You're not looking for an excuse to avoid difficult tasks, but you wouldn't expect to quit cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine and complaining all at once, right? Just make things better today, in any small way. Seeing results will motivate you for the more difficult steps. Consider some of the following simple actions.

 1. Write down some things you'd like to change. This makes the possibility more real, and gets your mind working. Eventually you can make this "wish list" into real goals, with a specific plan.

 2. Close your eyes and breath deeply through your nose, whenever you feel stressed. Stress is one of the biggest impediments to a better life. Simple stress-manangemnet techniques like this can help a lot, if you make them a habit.

 3. List the good things you've got. This may seem trite,but a good mood makes life better. Ever buy a van and start seeing vans everywhere? The same thing happens when you buy an idea. Imagine how it will affect your frame of mind to start seeing good things everywhere.

I could go on, but I don't know what your goals and needs are. The point here is to get you thinking, and then taking whatever actions you can. If you thought about the whole process, you might never build a house, but it's easy to nail one board in place, right? (And then one more, and one more...)

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