REAP Your Own Happiness

One of my favorite expressions is that "you reap what you sow". While I often hear it used negatively by someone who expects some "chickens to come home to roost" I prefer to think of it as something positive. How comforting to think that all our hard work and toil will be rewarded with a crop of something good? How wonderful to think that putting love and care into some project or person will indeed be rewarded.

Of course, while most Americans give lip service to the notion of our right to pursue happiness all too many people do not really believe it applies to them. Many people simply believe they don't deserve happiness. And even those few who do believe it seem to accept unhappiness as simple bad luck.

Every person does indeed deserve happiness and what is more happiness is contagious. The more happy people there are around then even more people will find happiness. We owe it ourselves to work on our own happiness and we owe it to society as well. Our own happiness will help others and inspire others to find happiness. If we are unhappy then we are likely making others unhappy as well (even if unintentionally) and it is extremely unlikely we are doing much to contribute to the happiness of others.

So how do you become a happy person? You simply REAP your own happiness. But how? Take these four simple steps:

Step one -- Ready Yourself For Happiness

You can accomplish this step by first determining that you want to be happy. Part of being happy is wanting to be happy. Once you have committed yourself to the course of finding happiness for yourself then you must rid yourself of the notion that happiness is luck or based on possessions or persons. No thing and no one can make you happy. Happiness comes from within yourself.

Step two -- Envision Yourself As Happy

Every day when you first wake up and at various points during the day spend some time envisioning yourself as a happy person. Picture yourself laughing, smiling, relaxing. Imagine yourself as happy. The more you can fix this image of yourself as happy in your mind then the easier it will be for you to truly become happy.

Step three -- Assume You Will Be Happy

Many people tend to assume that they will spend much of their lives either unhappy or at least not really happy. However we have all seen those people who do seem to be genuinely happy with their lives. They smile frequently, laugh often, and seem to be in good humor most of the time. Yet this is not because they are richer or more successful. Sometimes these people were just born with the good fortune to have an optimistic outlook that life has not yet knocked out of them, but often these people have simply chosen that they will be happy and they recognize that there is always something about their lives that makes them happy. You know this is true of yourself as well. Concentrate on the areas of your life that give you happiness whenever you feel unhappiness seeping in and no matter what assume that you will be, you can be, a happy person.

Step four -- Pursue Your Happiness

Happiness is rarely a wonderful accident of fate. Happiness is rarely found by accident. While you may find happiness in unexpected places you must first open yourself to the possibility of happiness and prepare yourself to accept it when you find it. Some people are so miserable that they step right around happiness when they encounter. Don't let this happen to you. What is more, don't simply sit at home waiting for happiness to come knocking on your door. Go out and live life. Think about what currently makes you happy and spend time in those activities and think about what might make you happy and spend time experimenting. The more time you spend actively living your life then the more likely that you will also lead a happy life.

Remember, you deserve a happy life and you can lead a happy life, but in the end you reap what you sow. If you are sowing happiness in your life then you will reap happiness as well.

Deanna Mascle shares more inspirational writings in her blog Words Of Inspiration at http://WordsOfInspirationOnline.info

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Happy First

What is it that we are so afraid of? Why won't we let go?

A shark cannot rest, it cannot stop swimming or it will die, it will drown.

Humanity seems to be acting in the same manner. It is though we are running for our lives. We are being chased and if we stop we will die.

There is an urgency to get somewhere, anywhere, and we do not know what to look for or where, but it is always out there, somewhere.

Unknowingly we have left the place that we are looking for. From the inner peace that we experienced so long ago as children and as the person we once were. We seem to have lost our way and are running just for the sake of running. It is as though we are in a cattle stampede. One starts running and we are following blindly.

What happened to the peace, the serenity and joy of just being, what happened to our innocence? Somewhere along the way we believe that we have lost it, and that we cannot have it again. Someone told us to run and we haven't stopped.

The industrial revolution has pushed us forward in a frenzy to acquire things, the latest is always best, always desirable and it is the carrot that moves us beyond our means, away from what we really desire.

It has taken us away from our natural ability to be at peace, to be happy and content. 'Things,' have promised us happiness, but we do not feel happy when we have them. There is always a promise of happiness but never delivery. Things may be symbols of our happiness but they do not bring the promise with them, because there is another thing dancing in the shadows, calling to us, beckoning, luring us from one thing to another.

We are so far gone that we now believe that we cannot be happy unless we have a thing. We have forgotten how to be happy naturally without being stimulated. We have been told that we cannot go backwards; we cannot go back to the way it was before because we would not have our things.

This is one of the greatest lies that have been passed on from one generation to another. Happiness is where you find it we are told, and this is absolute true if we understand that we can find happiness anywhere if we are happy first. The thought of being happy brings happiness into our lives. Happiness comes from within and is not put upon us by things.

Unhappiness is created from the thought that we need something to be happy and this unhappiness comes from the very things that we are depending on to bring us happiness.

If illness, accidents, sorrow, suffering, lack and loneliness comes from an error in thought, then only the thought has to be changed in order to achieve the happiness, and once our basic needs are met, there is only room for happiness. When thoughts turn towards wants then they turn away from comforting human emotion, natural love, joy, pleasure, contentment and belonging. The simpler life is the closest we get to true happiness, because we become focused on it, it is what we think about and all thought becomes manifested in our experience.

"I can't go back, I won't, I worked too hard to get where I am and what I have; I won't live in a cave.

If all we really want is to be happy, why would we not live in a cave and live simply if it brings us back to happy. If we are heading in a direction that leads away from happiness, why do we keep going there? Is it that we are happy to be unhappy or that happiness does not really exist except in our thoughts? Is it that we believe that happiness does not last, so why pursue it? What is it that we do with the butterfly once we catch it? Is the happiness found in catching the butterfly or letting it go once we have been there, or is it both? Can we experience happiness without experiencing all its opposites? Is the joy of letting go a precept in experiencing happiness once we have found it? Must we turn away from happiness so that we may find it later? If we are happy and remain that way, will we forget what it means to be happy?

All of our experiences are this way, they are cyclical, and we cannot know what we have or experience it until we no longer have it. We must move away from it so that we can come back to it. So if living our complicated lives is not bringing the happiness that we choose, is it because we forgot what it is or are we now ready to return to it?

Is it that we are running from something or is it that we are now running towards it? The trip will stop when we know that we already have what we desire, we simply need to choose it. Happiness, joy, fulfillment, belonging are things that we do not have to look for. They are what we are naturally and we simply have moved our thoughts away from them.

Our things, our toys are symbols, but they are not symbols of happiness, they are symbols of trying to be happy. They are symbols that we have moved away from what we already have, what we know. In trying to make our lives easier so that we have "time," to be happy and enjoy our lives we have created less time to be happy. Happy is scheduled for events and things and then we are too tired. To numb our loss of the sense of happiness we drug ourselves so that we don't have to feel anything.

The truth is and always has been that we can be happy without "things," or doing anything. The sacrifice is that we have to give up on the notion that we need anything and we must be prepared to give up things that do not demonstrate our happiness. Happiness comes as quickly as thinking about it. Be happy first then go out and do things that represent happy to you. Happiness comes in the silent moments between events, when there is nothing left to do, when we have given up on finding it, and when we have done everything else. When we have given up on the notion that we have to find it, it finds us.

I don't know anyone that is happy all the time or even most of the time. I think happiness must be dessert. We have to go through the main course to find it. If dessert was the main course we would still move away from it once we had finished or had enough of it.

I believe that we can be happy all the time, but not experience it. As we get involved in doing the happy things we forget that we are happy until it enters our mind that we are happy. Too much happiness or dessert becomes irritating and mundane, like sex, you got to move away from it in order to appreciate it and be grateful for the times that you are experiencing it.

An emotion that comes from happiness is contentment, which is not as intense. But even contentment as happiness must be recycled. Life without extremes is none life. Life moves in waves and begins on the edge of all our emotions. Once you hand gets used to being in warm water, it is no longer appreciated as warm until you pull it out.

Once we let go of the thought that we will not longer experience happiness, then we will have time to focus on simply experiencing this emotion and it will be drawn into our lives. We won't have to do things to find it. Stop running, move away from the crowd, simplify your life become aware of your environment, learn to appreciate what is already around you and happiness will enter your thoughts always. Find the beauty in the simple rock, a blade of grass, or the people around you. You have created them, they are your wonders, and you brought them to you as opportunities to experience happiness.

Roy E. Klienwachter is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. A student of NLP, an ordained minister, New Age Light Worker and Teacher. Roy has written and published seven ebooks on New Age wisdom and a new book coming out in late 2005 in paper form. Roy's books are thought provoking and designed to empower you to take responsibility for your life and what you create. His books and articles are written in the simplicity and eloquence of Zen wisdom.

You may not always agree with what he has to say. You will always come away with a new perspective and your thinking will never be the same. Roy's style is honest and comes straight from the heart without all the metaphorical mumble jumble and BS. For More articles visit our new Article directory at http://www.klienwachter.com/spiritadp/

Visit Roy at: http://www.klienwachter.com

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Pursuing Happiness And Happiness Habits

Exactly how do we pursue happiness? We know happiness is far more than just money, fame or power. There are lots of people who have all three who are not especially happy. What are the secrets to living a happy, spiritually successful life? Are there reliable road maps to the state of happiness?

If you want to live a happy life, study happy people. Observe what they do, understand why it works so well and then adopt their behaviors and beliefs. We can choose to pursue and cultivate habits and skills we know will lead to happy, spiritually successful lives.

This is the approach we used to develop "How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier." Here are secrets from the habitually happy people we studied and interviewed:

Cultivate a sense of fun and share it with everyone you meet. Habitually happy people truly try to have a good time all of the time. Critics cry, "Don't be silly, you can't expect to have a good time all of the time!" Habitually Happy people reply, "I can!" Or, "with an attitude like that you will never be really Up or happy!"

Exercise your freedom to choose happiness. Decide who you want to be, what sort of person you want to become. Define yourself as a happy, spiritually successful person. Let that goal become a sort of role that is real and authentic for you. Try to be your best, spiritually successful self all of the time. If we don't consciously decide what sort of person we want to be, our environment and experiences define our identity and our destiny for us.

Rebel against people or situations that try to drag your spirits down. Don't hand control of your thoughts, actions, feelings and well-being over to annoying people or outside circumstances that can rob your happiness. Cultivate an indomitably strong, independent, positive good spirit.

Choose emotional independence. Decide how you want to think and feel. There's no rule that says just because something bad happens, you have to feel sad. Remember, you must be at your best to do your best. Choose actions and attitudes that help you to succeed and be happy.

Make Goodness a Guiding Goal. We are amazed how truly happy genuinely good people are. "Goodness for goodness sake," one said. Habitually happy people are extraordinarily kind, caring and compassionate. The Dutch proverb "Happy people are never wicked" was proven by our research.

Give freely and without strings attached. Habitually happy people are genuinely altruistic, they do good for the joy of doing good. They give without strings attached, they do not give just in order to get. Goodness is it's own reward. They rarely pass up an opportunity to be kind when it costs them or risks them little.

Don't be a people pleaser. Enjoy sharing joy and making other people happy, but don't depend on other people's approval to be happy yourself. Feel good by knowing and appreciating your achievements and all the things you do well.

Take care of yourself, value yourself. Habitually happy people value their time, their talents and their resources. They continually seek to develop themselves, strengthen their skills and gain a greater understanding of the world and the people around them. They value other people's time and resources as much as they value their own.

Be adventuresome. Habitually happy people continually explore, try new things and do new things to stay fresh and to continually experience difference and change. It helps them grow and maintain their enthusiasm and positive spirits. One commented, "I get bored with the same old stuff, I want each day to be new, different, something special." They try to make each day special.

Don't beat yourself up. Habitually happy people move from problems to solutions quickly. They know time spent dwelling on problems tends to reinforce mistakes they want to avoid. They don't condemn themselves for errors. They channel their angst over mistakes toward finding solutions or rectifying problems. They do not intentionally hurt themselves.

Avoid The Fault Finding Feel Goods - Criticism, blame, ridicule, bigotry, all falsely elevate our sense of power and self worth by finding fault with something else. These feel goods are fed by a negative focus. You cannot be truly happy by continually finding fault, focusing on what's wrong, judging or criticizing. Habitually happy people don't complain and they avoid people who do.

Have high integrity and live according to your values. When you live by the highest and best values you can feel confident that, even if you stumble, you have done YOUR best. Few things are worse than compromising your integrity and then failing too. Habitually happy people cherish good values and they live by them. They know happiness only comes with a clear conscience.

Love is an active verb. Love is an action, it is something we decide to do. It is an emotion we can choose to feel and to project and share with others. Love can be expressed in everything we do. It's not just something that happens to us. Love propels happiness. The more we love, the happier we become.

Don't be a snob, value everyone. Happy people don't have to feel better than others in order to feel good about themselves. They try to find something of interest and value in everyone they meet. They try to touch each person they meet with a smile and a bright, positive spirit.

Continually celebrate success. Habitually happy people continually celebrate success, their own and other people's successes. This fuels everyone's positive energy, confidence, desire to do well and propels people to achieve more. Celebrating success provides positive role models.

Michele Moore authors the Happiness Blog http://HappinessBlog.com, serves as CEO of Happiness Habit, Inc. and recently released "How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier" which is available at bookstores near you and on Amazon.com

She is author of "Sound Like A Million - Super Charge You Career in 60 Minutes" and a line of Magnetic Voice programs available through http://MagneticVoice.com

Michele holds an MBA in Finance and enjoyed twenty happy years in corporate consulting and effectiveness engineering. She writes and speaks extensively about happiness, spiritual success and workplace well-being from her offices in Atlanta.

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Summer in December: Convert your car into an electric car

Summer in December: Convert your car into an electric car:
With petrol becoming more and more expensive and no respite in sight many drivers are looking for someothing else. Is a hybrid or electric c...

Why Not Take The Happiness Quiz And Discover The Real Meaning Of Happiness

Why not take the following short quiz to determine where in your life you could find more rewarding and lasting happiness. The one common denominator in every human is the desire for happiness. One of the most sought after traits is happiness. So, either you are happy most of the time with all aspects of your life or, you would like to be happier more often somewhere in your life. This quiz will help you self-discover; what happiness is for you, why you have it, why you are not happy, what it will take for you to be happy, or who or what you feel is responsible for your happiness. I recommend you make a copy of the quiz before you complete it. You might want to share it with a friend, relative or fellow employee. Please give me a call if you would like the answers to this quiz.

Other quizzes are also available on the following topics: Customer Service ¤ Relationships ¤ Sales
¤ Management ¤ Success ¤ Motivation

See the end of this quiz for quiz answers.

1. Happiness is:________________________________________________________________

2. Happiness is not:_____________________________________________________________

3. Who is responsible for your happiness:___________________________________________

4. Who is not responsible for your happiness:________________________________________

5. It is possible to be happy all of the time. True/False.

6. Happiness is: inside-out - outside-in.

7. If you had more:___________________________________________ you could be happier.

8. When you:___________________________________________________you will be happy.

9. Stuff can make you happy. True/False.

10. Happiness is: more, bigger, better. True/False.

11. Most people are reasonably happy most of the time. True/False

12. You will be happy when:_____________________________________________________

13. If you are successful, you will be happy. True/False.

14. If you have your health, you will be happy. True/False.

15. __________________________________________is getting in the way of your happiness.

16. Hanging on to old emotional baggage prevents happiness. True/False.

17. People who are happy smile a lot. True/False.

18. Living in the present moment is not important to be happy. True/False.

19. Happiness is easy to achieve. True/False.

20. One of the biggest things missing in people's lives who are not happy is:

_____________________________________________________________________________

21. Other people can make you unhappy: True/False.

22. Un-managed stress is a cause of unhappiness. True/False.

23. People who are happy have no regrets: True/False.

24. Happy people always want more of something: True/False.

25. Unhappy people are never satisfied with:_________________________________________

26. Happy people see other's as teachers: True/False.

27. Unhappy people tend to see themselves as:_______________________________________

28. One of the most important things to do to find lasting happiness is:

_____________________________________________________________________________

29. Most people take themselves too seriously: True/False.

30. Happy people have just as many problems as unhappy people: True/False.

31. The power of choice contributes to a person's happiness because:

_____________________________________________________________________________

32. Happy people lead with their head and let their heart follow: True/False.

33. Unhappy people would rather be right than happy: True/False.

34. Accepting differences in others is not important to your happiness: True/False.

35. Happy people are always doing, going, learning: True/False.

36. A lack of patience is a sign of:_________________________________________________

37. Happy people have more fun in life than unhappy people: True/False.

38. Unhappy people believe that other people need to be fixed in some way: True/False.

39. Happy people are interested in others and listen to them: True/False.

40. Something is always missing in the: happy person - unhappy person.

41. Unhappy people tend to:______________________ in life.

42. Happy people are always:_____________________________________________________

43. Unhappy people never:_______________________________________________________

44. Self-disclosure is a trait of:_____________________________people.

45. A lack of forgivenes is a trait of many unhappy people. True/False.

46. Happy people live for:________________________________

47. Unhappy people live for:______________________________

48. You know someone who would benefit from taking this quiz. True/False

49. You learned what as a result of this quiz:_________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

50. You are happy you finished this quiz: True/False

SCORING

50 correct answers..........You should be giving the quiz.
45-50 correct answers..........You are happy with most of your life.

40-45 correct answers..........You have it together unless you lied about some of your answers.

35-40 correct answers...........Read my book: The Road to Happiness. It will help you.

25-30 correct answers...........You live in fantasy-land most of the time. Get a life.

25 or less correct answers......You have really big problems. Get into therapy.

Correct Answers: Happiness Quiz

Keep in mind that the answers to several of the questions are subjective. In many cases there is no right or wrong answer only - a best or better answer. This quiz is not designed to give you an in-depth explanation for each answer but rather to stimulate your thinking. With this in mind let's take a look at what I believe - are some of the vital issues in the area of happiness.

1. Up to you.

2. Possessions, your address, success, power, fame, good looks, up to other people.

3. You are.

4. Anyone else.

5. True.

6. Inside-out.

7. You fill in the blank.

8. Again you fill in the answer.

9. False.

10. False.

11. False.

12. Your turn.

13. False.

14. False.

15. Your turn.

16. True.

17. True.

18. False.

19. True.

20. The willingness to take the responsibility for their life and happiness.

21. False.

22. True.

23. False.

24. False.

25. Anything.

26. True.

27. Victims.

28. Take responsibility for your happiness.

29. True.

30. True.

31. They get to chose their outcomes, attitudes, happiness.

32. False.

33. True.

34. False.

35. False.

36. A lack of trust, faith.

37. True.

38. True.

39. True.

40. Unhappy person.

41. Complain a lot.

42. Interested in others, listening, concerned.

43. Take responsibility for their station, position, circumstances.

44. Happy.

45. True.

46. The present moment.

47. Yesterday, tomorrow, always.

48. Up to you.

49. Up to you.

50. Up to you.

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, relationship, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website athttp://www.timconnor.com.

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