My true self lies beyond the ebb and flow of daily living.
The goal of life is the expansion of happiness. All success in life is the by-product of happiness, not the cause. ~ Deepak Chopra
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Lots of Happiness Advise
Happiness Is an Inside Job by Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D., The Ultimate Happiness Prescription, 7 Keys to Joy and Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra, Happiness Now! and Be Happy, by Robert Holden, Ph.D., The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin are a few examples of my favorite books that acknowledge happiness as a path to empowerment and creating a life you love. Deepak likens happiness as the key to healing the entire world. Robert Holden writes of happiness as a spiritual practice. Sylvia Boorstein relates happiness to Buddha’s Eight Fold Path.
Everyday Happiness
In the Happiness Project Gretchen Rubin takes on a year “trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right, read Aristotle, and generally have more fun.” She didn’t want to reject her life. She wanted to change her life without changing her life, by finding more happiness in her “own kitchen.” She declares herself happy, but not as happy as she should be. She realizes that she is at her best when she is happy, more patient, more forgiving, more energetic, more light hearted, and more generous. Working on her happiness didn’t just make her happier, it boosted the happiness of the people around her. She comes up with resolutions that she calls the Twelve Commandments which included being Gretchen and there is only love. One of her goals for the happiness project was to prepare for adversity – to develop the self-discipline and the mental habits to deal with a “bad thing” when it happened.
Unconditional Happiness
The first weeks of these vibes focused on strengthening awareness of the happiness within by savoring when you are happy and nurturing your happiness by appreciating. This week we do the heavy lifting of finding happiness no matter the outer circumstances as everyday life presents itself.
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