   Happiness is a decision
By Anja Heij
Happiness is transpersonal
divine joy and fulfillment in creating and connecting. It's the outbursting purity of the Universe. In happiness one is opening up to the fullest for life, her gifts, possibilities and challenges. This implies that happiness isn't a goal, but a road to travel on, an attitude and an approach.
Since happiness lies in your heart, the best way to connect with it is to live life in tune with yourself. A life of purpose, loving and giving, realizing your dreams and moving in your own pace, will probably make you happy.
Happiness lies in the enjoyment
of what you're doing and in inner development. Do you remember waking up as a young child - every newborn day being a feast
to enjoy, to express yourself, play, learn and discover something new?
Remember
the urge for action it brought about, your outbursts of energy and the unhappiness you felt when you couldn't create what you wanted to or play with whom you wanted to?
Your
inner child knows how to find back your paradise of happiness.
Happiness wishes to expand, reach out and merge - it's an active part of the God-force. Naturally
it exists in various gradations, from contentment to the overwhelming, exalted moments of divine grace. I’ve had cosmic orgasmic moments of superfluous love and joy, simply running into the sea and being filled with so much happiness that I feared my heart would literally burst and I would die.
During
these experiences the calm sea became an omnipresent friend with enormous loud, rhythmical waves and I thought everyone on the beach would be part of my little big bang. I repeated the first spontaneous occurrence by running into the
sea the same way and expecting the whole thing to happen again and it did so in a less intense version.
I remember
a religious ritual in my childhood in which suddenly complete peace, fulfillment and happiness fell upon me and I thought that this for sure was Jesus. The weeks afterwards I repeated the feeling by acting the same way, namely opening up my heart and expecting with certainty that it would be there again – and so it did.
Happiness isn't
a treasure, hidden under the ground on some isolated island. You will not find it when you search for it. You won’t get it when you consider it a part of your future.
Happiness lies in living
your life in agreement with yourself in the present moment. To receive happiness you’ll need to be ready for goodness and dispose of enough
self-worthiness to accept its superfluidity.
How can it take place in a person doubting if he is okay? Therefore feel happy, act happy and be
happy.
The intense moments
of cosmic happiness seem to occur during spiritual exercise, contact with nature and in
great love, when the world around you is temporarily forgotten.
Other
degrees of happiness can be called forth by choosing a positive approach of life, in which the setbacks don't make you less being in love with life.
By nature happiness
is too big for one person. If you abide in this great force you'll automatically radiate and share it.
The only other expression of such intense completion and fulfillment I know is named peace. Peace and happiness are a spiritual sister and brother.
Where peace is completion, perfection and stillness in the embrace of the Goddess, happiness seems to be the shining, radiating and active masculine component of the abundance of Heaven.
In
peace you find totality in yourself - Yourself and in motionless being; in happiness you
know this great love and joy is so big that you wish to pass it on to others.
In peace you are Union; in happiness you wish to express this Union. Peace is Divinity knowing itself; happiness is Divinity experiencing itself.
Happiness is a candle lighting
other candles, still burning with the same intensity. While peace is the mysterious smile, happiness is the cheerful laughter. Peace is God-force turned inwards; happiness is God-force moving outwards.
May you decide to worship
the God and the Goddess with your peace and happiness.
Where is your Happy Place?
by
Cassaundra Vergel
My happy place is Ashland, Oregon.
(I actually have
another happy place - Rio de Janeiro, Brasil - but I've only visited once, so I'm not counting that one for now)
My
very first encounter with Ashland was when my father, my brother, and I drove from Seattle to San Francisco to move half of
my belongings for college. I remember driving past the sign that says "Ashland, Oregon - Home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival"
thinking "Who in their right mind would make a Shakespeare Festival in the middle of nowhere?"
A summer later, I found
myself driving into Ashland to live there for two weeks.
My first reason for being Ashland that summer was to participate
in a three week seminar put on by my university of which I applied and was accepted to. I was to study plays and theatre during
my two weeks at Ashland, and then use the final week of the seminar as a time to reflect and also work my final paper for
the class. To me, at the time, Ashland was a cute little town in the mountains that was home to both a young, hippie, granola
population as well as an older, middle-class white America that frequented the town for its theatre. I appreciated the town
for what it was but didn't understand its effects on me.
Five months later, I returned for a weekend trip hosted by
my professor of the seminar. As soon as we drove off the highway and I saw the town in the distance, an incredible weight
was lifted off my shoulder. I sat their awestruck at the physical change that my body made and was suddenly filled with an
immense excitement and confusion as to what was about to happen.
I stepped off of the bus, walked a block, and entered
my favorite coffee shop and I was suddenly in an alternative reality. I walked into my favorite book store, was embraced with
the smell of incense and calming music, and knew that I had a connection with the town that was beyond just having lived their
for two weeks.
Here was a place that I could breathe, find balance, and center myself without the constraints of academia
and expectation. Ashland was the first place that I had ever felt that and also where I felt an internal, inexplicable pull
between the town's energy as well as mine. Who would have thought that this little hidden theatre town on the border of Oregon
and California would be my little escape? I definitely didn't think so.
I will be returning to Ashland this coming
weekend, and although I have too much homework to even rationalize my traveling up there, I know that once I'm up there, I'll
be fine. And with all of the chaos in my life right now, what a wonderful break it would be. And then I can return, centered,
balanced, and ready to plow through my finals. And with luck, I'll be able to share with you the beauty of Ashland after this
coming weekend!
Where is your happy place?
source site: www.selfgrowth.com
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The Art of Happiness… Be Happy
Now
By Beth Banning & Neill Gibson
End your "pursuit of happiness" by discovering the art of "having happiness now." Has it ever seemed to you that: relationships are free but happiness
is sold separately? Learn why authentic happiness is a choice you can start making today
& discover how to start finding the happiness you're looking for just one step away.
Would you like to be 100% happier than you are now? How about
1,000% happier? What stands between you & having greater
happiness now? Read on to see how you can discover the happiness you're looking for
in your life. It's just one step away.
Have you ever noticed how often people rely
on others in their pursuit of happiness? How they expect someone else to make them happy? You might hear people say things like: "If only he would
be nicer." "Didn't she know that would hurt my feelings?" "I would be happy if he would only talk to me more."
When
people have this idea in their head they can spend a lot of time figuring out how to fix or change other people.
What's the trouble if you try this strategy? Not only do the other people feel
irritated, they often get defensive at your attempt to "FIX" them. And it leaves you powerless. If THEY don't change, YOU can't be happy.
But
even more important is that, since what you focus your attention on grows, focusing on what you don't like will cause it to
become what you notice most in your life.
Say, for example, when your significant
other comes home they often leave a trail with their clothes, bags, books, whatever, strewn throughout the house. It drives
you nuts! Every time you look at the residue of stuff they leave behind them, you feel irritated.
This has gone on for so long that now you notice every little piece of debris, everywhere you look, all the
time.
And what you focus your attention on grows.
Perhaps
you say something like this to them: "Can't you pick up after yourself? You're such a slob."
It's
probably not the first time you've talked about the clothes on the floor. And probably not much has changed since that first
time. So what happens next?
The person leaving the clothes around probably gets
annoyed at being told what to do. You lose hope that things will ever change. And you focus more & more on what you don't
enjoy about your partner.
Remember, what you focus your attention on grows!
So here it is, the step that will move you closer to being happier
than ever before: Develop YOUR ability to focus your attention on what you ENJOY.
Maybe
this sounds too simple. But ask yourself: "What would my day be like if I started & ended it by simply noticing or remembering
everything that I enjoy in my life?"
Remember, what you focus your attention on
grows. Focus on what you enjoy - it's quite simply the fastest, easiest step you can take to start finding happiness in every moment.
Try this. Pretend that you have an emotional
bank account. Every one of your thoughts makes a deposit. This means that if you're constantly depositing painful memories in your emotional bank account, they'll
grow & grow.
They'll even start multiplying if you're using the law of compound
interest. What's this? It's compounding the effect of thoughts like: "What a slob!" with more thoughts like: "She doesn't care about me." or "He's the most selfish person I've ever met."
Now, do you feel happy?
Now imagine that each day, you look for things that you enjoy & you're thankful
for them.
Your significant other comes into the house & smiles. Is that something
to be thankful for? They ask you if you would like a cup of tea. Is that something to be thankful for? You see them put something
away, without being asked. Is that something to be thankful for?
Now imagine depositing
these memories in your emotional bank account, day after day. And compound them with as many other thankful, grateful thoughts as you can so they grow & grow. "It's lovely when he brings me tea; he's so considerate sometimes." "I'm so glad we like doing things together." "We just have so much in common; she is so much fun to be with"
How do you feel now?
Happy or sad, good
or bad, pleasure or pain - authentic happiness is up to you. Focus on what you enjoy. Enjoy
being thankful. It's something anyone can do, even you.
What you focus your attention
on will grow. You do have an emotional bank account so start saving your happiness up today.
With a bank-full of thankful, you'll be a master at the art of "having happiness now."
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