Better to starve free than be a fat slave.-Aesop

The quote from Aesop, the legendary Greek fables writer, rightly depicts the attitudes of most people today. It is easier to say that, especially in societies and countries which are highly affluence. Each of us yearns for our rights, our freedom to do the things that we want to. We believe that that is the right way and the only way in which we can find true happiness.

The definition of freedom is subjective. One online dictionary in itself has 17 various definitions of ‘freedom’. It encompasses personal, institutional, regional and even national rights to the things that each deserves. Wouldn’t our lives simply be perfect, if we can do the things that we want, and receive fair treatment from people or the system? Unfortunately, this world just does not function this way. Most often, we will find ourselves trap in a situation or a circumstance where we feel uncomfortable, treated unjustly, or forfeited of certain rights that we deserve or worked hard for.

So if that is the case, does that mean that freedom is an illusion that we will never be able to have? And worse still, what if all we have in life is what we have now and there is nothing left to work for in the next phase of it?

True freedom can be found in looking beyond the circumstance we are in, to find happiness and contentment whatever it may be. The difference between us human beings and animals, is that we have the power and choice to determine what we want to make out of life. That in itself, is a freedom that we’d possess. It is the exercising of that freedom that is difficult.

There is always a cost to freedom. The funny thing is freedom does not come free. The cost for freedom usually has a high debt attached and always with the shedding of blood. Just ask any soldier returning from war.

Freedom can be a high price to pay. We find freedom when we can willingly lay down our lives for others, regard them as better than us, love whether or not it will be returned, and all for the greater good. Freedom isn’t about us as individuals, it’s about giving up the right to yourself. Even giving up the right to your own life, if necessary.

Through the rough struggles to choose freedom, to choose to be happy in whatever circumstances we land in life, we will be able to find true freedom.

Once we are able to do this, we will no longer be fearful of our circumstances. Instead, we will be the master of it and have the power to control how we react to each situation.

This question most gamblers ask themselves when they begin to realize gambling has affected their lives.

Most gamblers intent is not to lose all their money, but rather to win big and buy all those materialist items they have always dreamed of. Gamblers are not selfish people; in fact they enjoy buying things for their family and friends.

Compulsive gamblers live their lives to just place one more bet. It doesn’t matter if a compulsive gambler is up five thousand dollars, they will still gamble until they lost all the money they came with. This is reality for a compulsive gambler. At the time they finally win, their ego’s sore like a bird in flight. For that very instant they feel like their on top of the world. For them there is no other way they can get that euphoric feeling. This is what keeps a compulsive gambler from really wanting to stop gambling.

When a compulsive gambler realizes that they are always losing there money reality sets in. They then question themselves. “Do I really want to stop gambling? They decide yes I want to stop gambling. They are feeling good about there decision. They finally made the decision to stop. The next day comes and goes. The compulsive gambler is feeling good about them selves. All of sudden they get a call from a friend. Next thing you know you’re in the car headed to meet them at the gambling establishment. You now realize you didn’t stop gambling. You then play games with your mind, telling yourself “just one more time and I will stop.” On the way to the gambling establishment you start thinking about the big win and how you are going to spend the money. You finally arrive and place your first bet. As the night goes on you realize you’re ahead, you’re on top of the world and then everything begins to crumble. You only have twenty dollars left in your wallet. What do you do now? You reach for your wallet and realized you have a credit card you can get three hundred dollars off of. You head directly to the credit card cashing area and look for the shortest line. You start wondering why this line is moving so slowly. When in reality it’s only been a few minutes. You finally get the money and you begin to gamble again. Before you know it you lost that money too. You finally decide to leave and head home. In less then one minute after leaving you begin to ask yourself “Why didn’t I leave when I was up? How could I go and take three hundred dollars off my credit card. How could I lose all my money again? What am I going to tell my wife? How could I do this again?
They finally arrive back at home and have to face the music. Once again they ask them selves: How could I do this again? They then decide it’s time to stop. The next day arrives and they ask themselves “Do I really want to stop gambling?” The logical answer is yes but the reality is no.

Once a compulsive gambler no longer has any resources to gamble with, reality sets in and they are willing to admit they have a gambling problem. I have met a person who attended a gambler’s anonymous meeting and convinced themselves that their problems were minimal compared to the people at the table. Once a compulsive gambler no longer has any resources to gamble with, reality sets in and they are willing to admit they have a gambling problem. I have met a person who attended a gambler’s anonymous meeting and convinced themselves that their problems were minimal compared to the people at the table. A year passed and this same person went back to same Gamblers Anonymous group and their situation is now worse then the people he met at the first meeting. Don’t let this happen to you or a loved one.

Knowing you have a problem gambling and doing something about it can have an everlasting effect on your life. It’s time to take one day at a time.

Almost everyone have heard the hit single ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin. The song has a very catchy way of conveying its message of being happy to everyone. Bobby Mcferiin’s simple message surely made a lot of people by telling them not to worry.

Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from the stresses of life. Stress is linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.

One of the better things ever said is – ‘The only thing in life that will always remain the same is change’, and in our life we have the power to make the necessary changes if we want to. Even if we find ourselves in an unbearable situation we can always find solace in the knowledge that it too would change.

Social networks or relationships are essential to happiness. People are different, accept people for who or what they are, avoid clashes, constant arguments, and let go of all kinds of resentments. If arguments seem unavoidable still try and make an effort to understand the situation and you might just get along with well with

Happiness is actually found in everyone, increasing it is a way to make a life more wonderful and also more healthy.

To be happy is relatively easy, just decide to be a happy person. Abraham Lincoln observed that most people for most of the time can choose how happy or stressed, how relaxed or troubled, how bright or dull their outlook to be. The choice is simple really, choose to be happy.

There are several ways by which you can do this.

Being grateful is a great attitude. We have so much to be thankful for. Thank the taxi driver for bringing you home safely, thank the cook for a wonderful dinner and thank the guy who cleans your windows. Also thank the mailman for bringing you your mails, thank the policeman for making your place safe and thank God for being alive.

News is stressful. Get less of it. Some people just can’t start their day without their daily dose of news. Try and think about it, 99% of the news we hear or read is bad news. Starting the day with bad news does not seem to be a sensible thing to do.

A religious connection is also recommended. Being part of a religious group with its singing, sacraments, chanting, prayers and meditations foster inner peace.

Manage your time. Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can be viewed as a list of rules that involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

Laugh and laugh heartily everyday. Heard a good joke? Tell your friends or family about it. As they also say -’Laughter is the best medicine’.

Express your feelings, affections, friendship and passion to people around you. They will most likely reciprocate your actions. Try not to keep pent up anger of frustrations, this is bad for your health. Instead find ways of expressing them in a way that will not cause more injury or hurt to anyone.

Working hard brings tremendous personal satisfaction. It gives a feeling of being competent in finishing our tasks. Accomplishments are necessary for all of us, they give us a sense of value. Work on things that you feel worthy of your time.

Learning is a joyful exercise. Try and learn something new everyday. Learning also makes us expand and broaden our horizons. And could also give us more opportunities in the future.

Run, jog, walk and do other things that your body was made for. Feel alive.

Avoid exposure to negative elements like loud noises, toxins and hazardous places.

These are the few simple things you can do everyday to be happy.

And always remember the quote from Abraham Lincoln, he says that, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

“Mommy, he’s doing it again.” I yelled as I came running into the kitchen where I knew I would find Mother. I was so angry—no MAD—that I was breathing like a wild animal. “Shawn is taking my toys apart, again. I hate him. I hate him.”

“Honey, don’t say that. You know you don’t hate him.”

“But he keeps tearing my stuff up,” I whined. “Stop him, Mommy, stop him.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me so that she would catch him in the act.

We found him sitting in the middle of the rug in his room with my toys half apart, half together.

“Boy, I have told you a million times–stop breaking your sisters toys.”

“But, Mom, I’m not breaking them,” he says proudly as he shows her what he was doing with my Close and Play. “I’m just trying to see how they put it together. I’ll fix it back,” he said with confidence.

“You better fix it back, Big Head,” I yelled with a frown.

“Stop it, Dawn. Shawn, you better fix it back just the way you found it” my mother said.

“Nah nah,” I whisper behind my mother’s back as she turned to leave. Of course, I had to stick my tongue out at him, too.

Shawn had a habit of taking everything apart in the house. I don’t care what it was; he was taking it apart to see if he could put it back together again. The funny thing is he was always able to fit it back exactly the way it was. He couldn’t have been more than 5 years old when this incident occurred. I was 7.

Not only did he take toys apart and put them back together, he would take apart appliances, furniture, electrical equipment, stereos, tape recorders, cars and anything else that came in or around the house—just to see if he could put it back together again.

While most boys his age were outside running and playing, he was inside with tools—fixing things.

For Christmas, every year, his request was always the same–he wanted tools.

He started with toy tools, but each year, his request became more sophisticated.

By the time he was 10 years old he had created and built his own lamps for his bedroom and a sturdy, seven level bookshelf for the Family Room that still stands till this day,

Whenever someone in our neighborhood broke something on their bike, he would whip out his tools which he wore, at all times, around his belt and fix it. It wasn’t long before he put the Bicycle Shop in our area out of business.

He never charged anyone for his “services.” He simply LOVED what he did.

When we decided to turn an empty, abandoned garage into a Club
House—Shawn turned this burned down shack into a lavish, but small, home. When someone finally bought the home that sat on this property, they turned the Club House that he built, into a guest house.

By the time he reached 13, because of his love and desire to fix things, especially electrical things, my father had a talk with one of his friends who were an Electrician by profession.

My father arranged that my brother would become an apprentice and work, at the age of 13, as an electrician.

Every Saturday morning, my Dad’s friend, would stop by the house and pick up my brother for work.

My brother LOVED it. Every Saturday night, he would rush in the house full of excitement, giving my brother and I full details of everything that he had discovered that day.

To be honest with you, neither me nor my brother were all that enthused or excited about his “adventures.” Fixing things simply didn’t thrill me. But he was so excited we couldn’t help but get drawn in.

Today, he is still an Electrician and runs his own business, Current Control. He also does construction and some carpentry work.

The other day I was talking with my brother on the phone and I asked him if there was ever anything else that he wanted to do with his life.

He said that if he couldn’t do what he was doing, he didn’t know what he would do. There was nothing else that excited him more than being able to bring light to somewhere, where there weren’t any light before he arrived.

His statement got me to thinking about DESIRE and how important it is in order for us to completely live our dreams.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many beatings and punishments my brother received from taking things apart in our house. (Yes, I said “beatings.” My parents are African-American and come from the old school where we got “whipped.) I thought my father was going to kill him when he came home from work to find the brand, new 50 inch screen television with its insides on the floor and my brother with a look of horror on his face to see that Daddy arrived home early from work. But no matter how many times he was punished, he never stopped doing it. He couldn’t help himself. He had a BURNING DESIRE to fix things.

If you punished him and sent him to his room, when you came to check on him, he would have the electrical sockets that are in the wall—out of the wall trying to put it back together again. If you took away his tools, he would use a butter knife—there was no stopping him.

If you ever study the life of successful people, they always have a BURNING DESIRE to live their dreams. When you have a burning desire, there is nothing that will stop you. No amount of set backs, outside influence, negativity, punishments or beatings will stand in your way. If you have a burning desire and you seek help from God and believe, without a shadow of a doubt that God will make a way for you—a way will be made.

If you want to quickly manifest your dreams and change your life, you must first, develop a BURNING DESIRE to do so.

Solomon had a burning desire to live a life that was pleasing to God. In 2 Chronicles 1:10, Solomon says to God, 10 give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

11 God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”

ACTION POINT: Find your passions and develop a burning desire. Ask God for guidance and believe with all your heart that your dreams are now manifesting; listen to that quiet still voice that has all the answers you are seeking and DO –TAKE ACTION and in no time, all of your dreams and desires will be a reality.

What does it take to be happy? In our age of consumerism many will likely tell you that in order to be happy you have to keep up with the trends, or as they used to say in the 50′s and 60′s “you must keep up with the Jones’s”.

I think it is clear that if this were a solution to your unhappiness you likely would not have been drawn to this article. You see, the fact that you are reading this at all means that you likely are still confused about this critical issue.

The fact that you are concerned about something as simple and basic as your own happiness also says something important that many of us forget. That is that our happiness is perhaps the most important thing to many of us.

Isn’t that what we try to base most of our decisions on? Well perhaps you’d like to think so but I would suggest again that if you did then again you would have no desire to read this article. You see if you reflected on each decision you were about to make and noted whether it was truly going to make you feel happy then you would already have your answer.

Many individuals “think” that this is what they do but in fact are doing something altogether different. What is that, you ask? Well in order to address this it is important to look at what it means when one says that “a particular decision makes one happy”.

If you look at it closely, I think you’ll find that it means that that “particular decision” fulfills something “one wants” for themselves. How often do you make decisions based on what you want? How often are you even feeling that “wanting” what you want is even acceptable? Don’t many individuals live with the inner belief that “wanting” is selfish or bad?

These days, many individuals are so stressed that what they base their decisions on is not what they want but rather on what they “think” they need. In other words, their “wants” or their “desires” are left completely out of the picture.

What is the net result of all of this? Well it often leaves individuals feeling empty, unhappy and unfulfilled. Indeed it is this state of unhappiness and lack of fulfillment that I define as “stress”.

So what is going on here? Well if you look closely at where your “desires” or “wants” originate from within you, I think you will recognize that they are felt in your “emotional heart”.
That is also where I know you will likely feel the feelings of happiness when your desires or wants are fulfilled.

To fulfill your desires or wants means to heed your emotional heart. That is when you experience the feeling of happiness or feel happy. To do less means to feel unhappy or unfulfilled.
How many of you are in the habit of consulting the emotional heart in matters that have to do with happiness or fulfillment?

Well again if you’re reading this article likely not as much as you would like!

Many people live in clutter, emotionally eat themselves into overweight, live in debt, hate their jobs and otherwise live unhappy lives, unable and seemingly unwilling to change. Why? What do these have in common? What is the core issue?

Fear, or rather an absence of love.

Fear, and not hate, is the “dark side” or opposite/absence of love, the way darkness is the opposite/absence of light.

Whether your self image is controlled by unhealthy or uncontrolled overweight or fanatic perfection, both stem from fear. In the first, food is used to comfort upset emotions and to retreat into – a true friend that never lets you down. In the latter (and sometimes the former), control over the body supplants a loss of control elsewhere in life, eventually taking over that life.

Clutter is almost always fear-based – fear of not having something and needing it, fear of getting rid of something important, fear of leaving oneself open to new experiences (which can’t come in because your house – and by extension your life – is already full) and fear of being alone with oneself and one’s thoughts (clutter requires so much of our energy to deal with and work around, it can serve as a sort of mental static to keep us too busy to think about important things).

Debt is another symptom of fear - people get into debt for many fear-based reasons (like needing stuff to make themselves feel better, or for fear of not keeping up with the Jones’ and being socially outcast). Another part to this equation is that many people will not get rid of their access to credit (cut up cards, etc) because there is always that “what if an emergency happens and we don’t have cash on hand to pay for it?” which is made moot by the fact that most of their credit cards are maxed out anyway. Debt is also a symptom of the fear of doing without, even when carried to extremes. The fear of going without and the feelings of “being without” fancy clothes or expensive meals out is no less than the fear and experience of going without basic clothing and food, although the reality is different.

Working at a job you hate is nothing but fear – fear of not having enough, fear of quitting and not being able to find other work (or finding it and being stuck with something even worse), fear of not being to keep up with your “stuff habit” or your debt, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of relying on yourself, fear of doing things differently or out-of-the-box (running your own business, running off to Mexico, etc), fear of letting the family down, fear of “wasting” your education, fear of what other will say, think, fear that your mom/dad/sister/evil art teacher were right and so on.

Fear is the basis for pretty much all human suffering, not counting natural disasters and other acts of God. And the opposite of fear is love. Love creates an ecosphere of calm and plenty, because you know there is enough (if only just enough) and so feel no need to “get mine before someone else does.” Nor do you feel the need to hoard (clutter) or gather in more than you can afford (debt) to assure yourself of plenty. In a world of love, all are accepted and loved for their own personal strengths and forgiven their faults, therefore negating the need for drowning in the comfort of stuff and food (debt and overweight), or worrying about what others will think if you quit your job to become a Mexican portrait painter (toxic job). And on and on.

Learn to live with love, for yourself and for others, even when they don’t meet your standards (even the rich and awful deserve your love, for they serve their purpose, too). Creating a world of love is up to each of us. We cannot wait to see if others take the first step. They are waiting for us.

From what you see around you in your daily lives, happiness may appear an illusory state of existence. Do you see true happiness in the lives of those who pass through your world each day? Do you see, and feel, true happiness in your own life, and the lives of your immediate family? Or in your work colleagues, or fellow commuters?

The answer, in many cases, will be “no, I don’t”. Why is that? Is it because so many people have so many reasons to be unhappy? Or is it, maybe, because they fail to see what in their lives should be a reason for happiness?

Being short sighted, as I am, can have a drastic affect on the way you see the world around you. I usually only wear glasses to watch tv, or dark glasses outside in the sun. Without them, the world can be severely distorted. Somebody I know well could pass me by, and if I’m not close enough, I will not recognize them. Worse still, I may think I recognize someone only to find to my embarrassment that is not them at all; in fact, the person may not even remotely look like the friend I had thought it was. More often than not, that would be because of expectation; I would expect to see a certain person in a certain place, and someone would appear, maybe with similar clothes on, and I would think “It’s…….”

Not long ago that happened with my own wife. I wanted to talk to her, and knew she was out the back of our apartment chatting. Before I even went out on the balcony to call her, I was expecting her to be in the garden below. I went out, and there was indeed a group of women and children sitting around a table chatting below. My eyes immediately went to the lady who was dressed with clothes similar to some my wife owned, but she was a little too far away, and my eyes could not focus properly. She was looking at me but not quite in the right way, but because I was expecting my wife, that’s who I momentarily saw. I just realized in time to stop asking her to come back up to the apartment for a while, which would have caused quite a stir among the assembled group. My wife was actually in a house 50 metres away across the garden.

Is Happiness The Victim Of Short Sightedness?

I believe that when it comes to happiness, many people have lost the ability to focus their eyes on what is their surrounding reality. Society has almost become conditioned to discontentedness and unhappiness. Being unhappy and dissatisfied has become an expectation for so many people, so when someone looks around at their lives on a day to day basis, there is a distinct absence of happiness in what they see. Even if happiness had a nucleus before their eyes, it would not be within their field of vision, because it would not be what they were expecting.

Happiness is a state of mind that is within reach of everybody. If two people could have identical lives, one could be happy and the other miserable, just because of the different ways they can view that same life. Like cooking, it is what you do with the ingredients. You could give a set of bland ingredients to two cooks; one who is Cordon Bleu trained could create a delightful meal, presented beautifully; the other, not trained and not interested, would create a bland mess and dump it on the plate like dog food. It is the same with the ingredients of happiness. You, the chef, have to decide what to do with them. Not anybody else; you!

Seeing, Recognizing and Focusing on the Nuclei of Happiness

It is so easy to neglect the things that, even within your own life already, are the nuclei of happiness. What those nuclei are will depend on you, but you have enough knowledge of yourself to recognize what they are. Think about them, and ask yourself if you have been neglecting them. In many cases, the answer will be yes. Instead, you may have been concentrating your thoughts on the things that make you unhappy. In effect, if you are unhappy, much of the cause can be because you have decided to be unhappy rather than happy. All the time you are making decisions that bring unhappiness to the fore, and pushes happiness into a distant background.

That does not apply, of course, to those who have recently suffered a tragedy of some sort in their lives. That surge of unhappiness is natural, necessary and part of the process of healing. But what you decide from now on will dictate whether that feeling of unhappiness will become permanent or not.

You make decisions every day that dictate whether you will feel happy or unhappy. By focusing on the nuclei of happiness, it is the unhappy state which will be shunted to the background, neglected and forgotten. That’s how it should be.

I will give only one illustration, a personal one. There are several happiness nuclei in my life, but there is one that, or rather who, gives me opportunity every day to decide: do I want to be happy or unhappy?

Once I divorced about 7 years ago, I decided I would only remarry if there was a chance of having children. 18 months ago, my wife and I were blessed with a delightful daughter. It was a joyous time, one that all our friends here indulged in and were excited by. I was excited and happy from the moment the pregnancy was confirmed.

I am very busy at home much of the day in my little office room. Much of what I do requires a lot of concentration, and silence is preferred as the best background to work. Saffron is now walking around freely. She has grown up used to me sharing her bedroom for the computer, but now we have moved and I have a separate room, she still wants to share sometimes. At various times during the day she will toddle in, with a wide beautiful smile, carrying a cuddly, or some other, toy for me to share. She will put it down by my chair, then get another, until she is sitting there next to me, on the floor, with a pile of toys.

Each time she comes in, I have a decision to make. Do I get cross because she is disturbing me? Or do I relish the fact that I have this beautiful little girl as an integral part of my life?

Saffron is happiness personified much of the time, and always when she walks into my room, in anticipation of a big welcome from Dad. Children often know much more about happiness than adults do, and if you allow them to, they can feed you with that happiness.

At every opportunity, I look into Saffron’s young eyes and see unpolluted happiness. My decision is easy. I allow her to make me happy too, and focus clearly on it.

Is it possible to get rich quick using the power of your mind? Sometimes, I think the only people getting rich are the authors of bestsellers with titles such as “Simply Abundant, Creating Prosperity and Miracle Power For Infinite Riches”. However, we keep buying these books, because most of us have also experienced first-hand the consequences of a law of nature: do a good deed and it comes back to you. Do something mean and it comes right back at you to slap you in the face. Many of our minor wishes seem to come true — “I’d like to have soup for dinner”, or ” Please let that cheque arrive in time to cover the rent.” So why is it that when we try to mentally will more money into our lives, the kind of abundance that would have us set for life, that our mental powers seem to fail?

After perusing the pages of over twenty self-help bibles by such gurus as Paramanansa Yogananda, Deepak Chopra, Laura Day, Paul Pearson, Thomas Moore, Wayne Dwyer, Shakti Gawain, John Randolph Price, Karen Kingston, Sanaya Roman, Anne Marie Evers, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Victor Boc and Lynn Grabhorn, I came up with these basic keys to prosperity.

1. You have to get de-program yourself from believing that Money is The Root of All Evil. This negative image is so firmly planted in our subconscious, that we may even feel guilt if we do get a lot of money, and seek ways to dispose of it as fast as possible.

2. Love your bills. According to Sanaya Roman, author of “Creating Money” receiving a bill is evidence of the universe’s faith in us to pay them. Authors such as Shakti Gawain and Wayne Dwyer even suggest kissing your bills. Putting them in a prominent place and practicing gratitude for receiving them, as they are evidence that abundance is freely circulating in our lives.

3. Apparently the Universe is not that fond of those of us who try too hard. Paul Pearson in his book “Wishing Well” talks about a kind of backlash that happens when we wish too long and too hard for something. He says that the universe picks up our desperate vibes and brings us even more desperation. So if you’re thinking “I want more money” the universe will put you in situations that have you saying again and again “I want more money”. When you think about money, you are never supposed to express the current lack of it or use phrases like “I need” or “I want”. You’re much better off saying something like “Millions of dollars are coming to me as I speak”. Likewise, Lynn Grabhorn in “Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting” also advises you to try and resonate with positive vibrations by constantly being in a good mood and thinking only happy thoughts. Anne Marie Evers in “Affirmations” also constantly stresses the importance of thinking of yourself as being rich, even if you are as poor as church mouse.

4. Don’t wish for specifics. You are supposed to have a faith in the universe, that it knows what’s best for you. If you ask for something and don’t get it, then the idea is that the universe or powers that be have something better in mind for you. When praying, meditating, wishing, or saying an affirmation for something you want, you are supposed to ask for generalities as in “I am healthy, wealthy, happy and wise.” as opposed to “I am the owner of a shiny, new sports car.”

5. Believe that the money reflects the presence, not the absence of spirituality in your life. If this is true, than Donald Trump must be a very holy, holy man.

Ultimately, the secret to creating prosperity is not mind over matter; it’s spirit over matter. A happy, gentle, and loving spirit creates a happy, gentle and loving life. Following the principle of “like attracts like” or “anxiety only attracts more anxiety”. According to Shakti Gawain, the most important thing you can do is make a contract with yourself, about what you are prepared to receive abundance for in life.

Thus the phrase “Do what you love and the money will come…”

Appreciation, or rather the expression of appreciation, is essential for emotional health and well-being. Appreciation is a skill that we can all learn. But it has to start at home. It has to start with appreciation for you.

Appreciation of self may not come easily. I don’t know about you but I grew up with the sense that to ‘blow my own trumpet’ was a bad thing – something I shouldn’t do because I wouldn’t be liked if I did. Being liked was important to me – so I didn’t blow my own trumpet – ever. I also rarely felt good about myself. In my seeking to understand me I discovered that a powerful connection exists here..

If you don’t already feel good about yourself, and you seek happiness, then learning the art of self-appreciation is the key to unlocking the good feelings you’d like to feel inside of you. With that in mind I have some exercises for you to complete. I would like you to make a chart of your life. Write down a list of numbers that represent ages from 0 to your current age – one line for each. Then just allow your mind to drift over each of those ages briefly and note down anything significant to you in the way of a success, or an achievement – something you felt good about at the time, or you feel good about now. Things like starting school; passing some exams; getting a job; getting a job you wanted; kissing someone you liked; first-time sex; riding a roller coaster; taking a picture; first pay check; growing a plant from seed; eating something you’d grown; fulfilling a dream; healing. It really doesn’t matter what it is, it definitely doesn’t matter if the rest of world would see it as insignificant, what matters is that it was important to you and made you feel good, or excited, or happy.

Now when you’ve been over the list and filled in all the major events, look at the gaps and see if you can possibly find something to put on every single line. That’s a bit of a challenge I admit, and there is certainly no failure if you have big gaps, but you will find that as you move your mind towards thinking in terms of achievements and successes that more and more memories will come up.

Now, buy an expensive frame, and frame this ‘certificate’ of achievement and hang it on your bedroom wall. If you have a computer and like to play around, type in all the information and turn it into an impressive and attractive certificate and print it on some quality notepaper. As you look at it every morning and every evening and see just what a wonderfully successful person you are, you may find that any gaps will soon be filled as your mind switches its focus from failure to success. Pick one item each day, fetch back the memory, and fully appreciate the importance of that event in your life.

One other activity I’d like you to engage in is another simple exercise. At night, just before you drift off to sleep, I’d like you to wander through your day in your mind and find between 1 and 5 things that happened that day that you appreciate. It doesn’t matter how small these items of appreciation are. There is always something good in a day. If the sun came up this morning then that’s a good thing. If you put food in your mouth, and water in your belly – that’s a good thing. If you enjoyed the food and drink – that’s even better. If you saw a flower, or enjoyed its scent, then make note, if you were lost in its beauty for a moment – then that’s a miracle. If your car started, or your bus turned up; if you have a job, or lots of free time… if you took a breath and were still alive to enjoy breathing it out again… the list of ordinary, mundane, incredible things that happen to us each day, and that we take so totally for granted, is endless. Start to notice them and continue this exercise until you feel that appreciation and sense of wonder at the time you are experiencing the event.

Make this conscious effort to agree to spend a moment or two each day to express sincere appreciation and thanks for the miracles that exist around you and within you. Learn to appreciate the wonder of you, for none of these experiences could exist without you the Experiencer to enjoy and appreciate them. Your experiences are unique to you. When you experience joy the planet has more joy in it. By the simple act of appreciating those simple, yet wonderful, things that you experience, you will change your world for the better.

Who hasn’t experienced “worry” at one time or another? Almost everyone I’m sure. As a result many if not all consider this to be not only a normal human “emotion” but also a necessary fact of life. I would like to show here that in fact “worry” is completely unnecessary.

I begin with the following question. Why do we choose to entertain the state of worry in our minds/bodies?

Well most think that:

1. Worry keeps us alert and in a state of preparedness, thereby,

2. It makes us more able to handle untoward events or situations that may come our way, thereby,

3. It helps protect us from such events, thereby,

4. It keeps us feeling safe, secure, calm and at peace.

In summary then from the above we can say that:

(A): Worry makes us feel safe, secure, calm and at peace.

Now does statement (A) above resonate with you as the truth? (Yes or No)

If you’re not sure I ask you to do the following. Think of something that you worry about. As you are thinking about this allow the feelings of worry to emerge so that you can reacquaint yourself with how it feels to be in the “worried state”. Now notice how the worry makes you feel.

I think that most will notice perhaps feelings of uneasiness, tension, anxiety, a sense of dread, feelings of insecurity, feelings of uncertainty, a sense of distractedness, a feeling of heaviness, and perhaps a host of negative thoughts running through your mind.

So what you have just deliniated for yourself is the experience of “worry” itself.

So, now in this experience do you recognize any feelings of security, safety, calmness or inner peace?

If you are honest with yourself I think you will see that none of these feelings exist in that experience of worry, correct?

So that makes statement (A) above false doesn’t it?

At this point you may feel that something strange is going on here. You might ask yourself “Is he trying to trick me or something?”.

Well no I’m not trying to trick you. In fact I’m just trying to show you how you’ve been tricking yourself into believing that a falsehood was in fact a truth. The falsehood being statement (A).

You may wish to answer the following questions for yourself at this point in order to experience an remarkable transformation for yourself:

1. Do you recognize that you have been harboring statement (A) inside you as if it were the truth? (Yes or No)

2. Do you want to go on harboring this false statement inside of you? (Yes or No)

3. Is the experience of “worry” toxic to you? (Yes or No)

4. Do you want statement (A) living anywhere inside of you? (Yes or No)

5. Do you want the “worry” living inside of you? (Yes or No)

6. If you answered No to question 2, what is the consequence to you of going on harboring statement (A) inside of you (i.e. to go on believing that it is true)?

Now if you’ve followed me so far you are likely having one of two experiences.

For one you may be feeling a sense of great relief, feeling lighter, feeling energized, feeling more at peace, calmer, a greater sense of security and more optmiistic.

Or, you may be feeling confused and frustrated with the entire exercise.

If you are feeling the former I congratulate you on your courage to take this monumental step forward in your life.

If you are feeling the latter, you are likely still reluctant to let the worry go because you believe at some deeper level that it still is useful to you.

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