Be Happy – Differentiate Between You and Others (Part 3)

We feel that there are a number of factors do not permit us to acquire the desired happiness. Hate, Anger or Irritations are amongst them. Just like fear, hate comes in many degrees. Intense hate causes individuals to kill and nations to go to war. It can manifest itself in lesser degrees, such as anger, or mild irritations. Since hate is a strong word and you may avoid relating to it, anger is substituted for hate in this section. Anger is harder to eliminate than fear because it is usually much more intense, appears in a flash and tends to stay with you. As a result, your chemistry falls farther and faster than with fear. Anger’s extreme negative chemical reaction throws off your ability to reason clearly, distorts your judgment and may lead to bizarre behavior. Plus, anger tends to linger because you dwell on it far longer than fear. Fear more readily disappears once you get past your concern about a future outcome, and return to the present.

Some of you have memory sheets with very little anger while others are full of rage, and explode at the drop of a hat. In either case, your anger affects your judgment and ability to reason. If you get angry, fast and furious, you have a lot of work ahead of you unless you are extremely determined and self-disciplined. However, by training your memory sheet you can greatly reduce your anger and shorten its duration if you try hard enough. It is just a matter of desire, awareness, time and effort.

It is imperative to totally and completely understand that negative emotions are poison. They destroy your chemistry and cause havoc with your performance, judgment and health. If you do not comprehend that anger causes unhappiness, you will allow it to continue.

If you are thirsty and I give you a glass of gasoline, would you drink it? Of course, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t even think twice about drinking it. So why allow a fact, fair or unfair, upset you and rob you of the ability to reason and function at your full potential while handling that fact? “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Whatever begins in anger, ends in shame.” -Benjamin Franklin. “There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.” -St. Francis De Sales. “Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased habit.” –Epictetus.

Now you can write down all of the things that you hate, get you angry or irritated on a piece of paper. It is important that you are honest with yourself and take the time right now to list what angers or irritates you as well as things that you hate.

I hate or get anger at or get irritated by:

1) _______________________________________

2) _______________________________________

3) _______________________________________

4) _______________________________________

5) _______________________________________

Take a look at what you have just written down. Whatever you have listed, they all have one thing in common. They are all facts that you react negatively to. While you may not be able to change the facts, you can change your negative emotional response to them if you choose to.

Any time you encounter a fact that you prefer not to have in your life, three possible situations exist. One, you can leave the situation and remove yourself from the fact. Two, you can change the situation and fact to one that you prefer. Three, you are stuck in the situation and have to deal with the fact.

No matter what facts you are stuck with or encounter in your life, you always have the choice of how you respond emotionally. It takes a very strong person not to hate or get angry at unjust actions or behavior. However, hate begets hate and anger begets anger. If you respond to an injustice with hate or anger, you are adding fuel to the fire. Why do you think mankind is in a continual state of war? Is it because of love or hate?

“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” -Albert Einstein. “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” -Albert Einstein. You may not be able to control the facts around you, but you can control your emotional response to them. A positive attitude is a great asset since it increases your brain's chemistry and creativity to help you find a solution to your situation.

Convert your anger into determination. Then work harder and smarter to change the facts into positives or accept them for what they are if you can’t change them. Always look for the best, no matter how adverse your situation may seem. My philosophy is “If it does not kill you, it makes you stronger by overcoming it and the negative emotions on your memory sheet.”

Our commitment is not for weaklings, brooders and pouters. It is for individuals who want to be great and fly with the eagles. Anger and the desire for revenge is not a show of strength and character. It is a lack of self-control. You are better off without anger. If my straightforwardness upsets you, look for the truth in my message. Learn to get rid of your hate, anger, and petty irritations. Otherwise, your memory sheet will have you repeat them over and over again.

If you repeat your commitment, “I am always truthful, positive, and helping others”, you will find that your self inspiration may transform your negative emotions of hate, anger, and irritations into positive emotions. As longer you live by this commitment, the easier it may become to remain positive and take the high road. After a while, it becomes hard to be negative or remain negative no matter what facts you may encounter. It just takes self-training, training, and more training until you can become that way. Whenever an injustice may happen to you or in the world, you will realize that ignorance is the cause. Then, you would pray for the person or those that perpetrates the injustice. The two quotes below may help you to keep you emotions on the high road, instead of stooping to the level of those that cause the injustice. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” -Jesus Christ, while hanging on the cross. “A good man is a bad man’s teacher, and a bad man is a good man’s job.” -Lao Tzu. Since the world’s injustices are not going to be solved by more injustices in the belief that the end will justify the means, you will realize ultimately that the solution is there in improving your emotions and encouraging millions others to do the same. Since you can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created it, hopefully the combined efforts will eventually make this world a better place for those who will follow us after we would have done a lot in this direction.

My friends, relatives and all those who ever came in my contact confirm that I very rarely get angry. When I do, I immediately notice the chemical changes in my body and just let the anger go. I don’t suppress the anger. I acknowledge the fact that I reacted negatively to and consciously choose to release my anger. Why be angry? It’s bad for your health and makes you do things that you regret doing once you have calmed down.

Here is a game plan for reducing and eliminating your anger. First, as soon as you notice you are angry, stop and acknowledge that you are angry. Do not suppress your anger, or it will build and fester. After acknowledging you are angry, realize that you are merely reacting to a fact and have a choice of how to respond. You can continue to be upset or you can decide to release your anger.

Here is an excellent method for releasing anger. Take ten deep breaths and slowly exhale after each breath. This will relax you and calm you down. Then, make a big smile and talk to your memory sheet. Tell it that you refuse to let a fact get you upset no matter how unfair or unjust the fact may be. Facts are merely facts! You may not be able to control the facts, but you can control your emotional response to them.

The more times that you consciously release your anger, the easier it becomes. After a while, you will start laughing at the things that use to get you angry. If I ever run across an angry person that wants to vent on me or argue, I just smile and let them vent. It takes two to tango, and two angry people to fight or argue. Since I don’t respond with anger, I know the angry person will eventually calm down. Once that happens, I have a civil conversation and discuss the facts that they were angry about. Sometimes we end up being friends.

Realize that there are three sides to every argument or disagreement. They are: your side, their side and the truth. Instead of defending my side, I look for the truth behind the facts and what I may have done or not have done to cause the problem. Even if I’m only at fault 1%, I’ll take responsibility for my actions and do my best to correct them. Many of your personal confrontations and our world’s challenges could be solved with a similar approach.

We should no longer have things in our life that we hate to do. We may divide our life into things that we prefer to do and prefer not to do. Most of the things in our life we love doing. When we have to do things that we prefer not to, we do it with a smile knowing that even the Buddha chopped wood and carried water. We use these opportunities to master my memory sheet and raise my chemistry.

The more our chemistry and understanding rises, we may out that there would be fewer things we prefer not to do. It would make us happy when we cross off tasks that we will finish from our daily-to-do list, especially the ones we prefer not doing and have to do.

When we find something that angers or irritates us, it may make us smile because we may find another fact on our memory sheet that we can change our negative response into a positive one and increase our chemistry in the process. We are more concerned about changing our negative emotional reactions into positive ones, than the facts -- fair or unfair -- that we encounter in our life. You will become that way too if you start reflecting you’re your commitment throughout the day.

If you are working to eliminate anger from your memory sheet, do not become discouraged or get mad at yourself when you respond to facts with anger. Remember, your memory sheet wants you to repeat your past and will not give up without a fight. Be patient. Be determined. Stick to your game plan. Before going to sleep, talk to your memory sheet. Tell it how you want to respond in the future to the facts that upset you during the day. After a while, your memory sheet will help you in your battle to change your emotional response to facts as you become less angry, and your anger lasts for shorter periods of time.

Some individuals feel that their anger fuels their determination. However, can you always quickly transform your anger into determination? If you can, why wait to get angry before you become determined? This may seem like unnatural way to go through life, but it sure beats going though life being angry and unhappy. Try it, you’ll like it.

Greed

Greed is excessive or reprehensible acquisitiveness. “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” -Erich Fromm. “The avarice person is ever in want; let your desired aim have a fixed limit” –Horace. There is nothing wrong about acquiring money, possessions and things to make your life more comfortable as long as you don’t lie or become selfish in the process. The best way to make a lot of money is to provide an honest product or service that helps others.

“Men are rich only as they give. He who gives great service gets great rewards.” -Elbert Hubbard. “If you would take, you must first give, This is the beginning of intelligence.” -Lao Tzu. “For it is in giving that we receive.” -St. Francis of Assisi. “The best way to keep greed from clouding your judgment is to dedicate your life to helping others and spend less time thinking about yourself. If you do, you will live a very rich and happy life. The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of oneself to others.” -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. “It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute … that gives meaning to our lives.”-Anthony Robbins. “For of those to whom much is given, much is required.” -John F. Kennedy.

Jealousy

Jealousy results when you desire something that another person possesses and you can’t have or you resent them for having what you want. “The disease of jealousy is so malignant that it converts all it takes into its own nourishment.” -Joseph Addison. “The jealous are possessed by a mad devil and a dull spirit at the same time.” -Johann Kaspar Lavater. Jealousy can only exist when you are looking outside of yourself for happiness. You came into this world alone and without possessions. When you leave this world, you can’t take anyone or anything with you, except your spirit. I don’t know what will happen to my spirit when it’s time to leave this world. However, my gut feelings tell me that I will move on to another dimension, higher or lower, depending upon the character I developed while I was here on Earth. Some people refer to it as “heaven or hell.” Since I can’t take any possessions or things with me when it’s time to move on, why be jealous of what others have. The only thing that I’ll take with me is my spirit. So I’m spending my time here helping others and developing my character by doing my best to live with my commitment 100% of the time.

I firmly believe the more truthful, positive and helpful to others that I become, the higher I will move up the ladder when it’s my time to move on. Hopefully, you will feel as I do and make living the commitment one of your methods to climb up the ladder as high as you can before it’s your time to move on. I’m positive that the commitment will enhance whatever religious beliefs you may have.

Wouldn’t our world be a better place if everyone else felt the same way? Why be jealous of people or things, when all you have that really matters is your character and how well you treat others? If you have faith in your own abilities and understand the big picture of life, you can achieve what you want through your own efforts and God’s help. Anytime you have any degree of love, generosity, praise, bravery or multiple combinations of these emotions, your brain secretes positive chemicals which enhance your natural ability and happiness.

Love is the strongest positive emotion. Love is what drives individuals to noble deeds. Love allows the spirit to push on against incredible odds, hardships and obstacles. Always love your fellow human beings and have compassion, in spite of the frustrations you encounter.

There is a huge difference between loving what you do and liking what you do. Love creates a passion within you that cannot be denied. Love overcomes the option of quitting when times get tough. If you want to be happy and successful, find what you love to do and do it with all your heart and soul. Success and happiness will follow!

Generosity is liberality in spirit, acts and giving. To me the best time of the year is Christmas or the Holiday Season because during this brief time of the year, the masses of society observe the spirit of giving and forgiving. It is a great time to be alive.

Why limit your generosity and kindness only to the religious days when you can do it every day of the year?

Praise is expressing a favorable judgment to or approval of another. When someone does something well, let them know. When someone fails, praise them for their efforts and encourage them never to give up striving to reach their dream.

Bravery allows you to face and overcome your fears. Bravery gives you the faith and courage to continue your quest against all odds. Learn to live in the present and keep improving the process until you achieve your desired outcomes. It takes extreme bravery and faith to commit yourself totally to a journey where there are no guarantees that you will reach your destination. You must be brave and have supreme confidence in yourself to always be truthful, positive and helping others without exceptions. If you do, a meaningful life full of joy and happiness will be yours.

Since the proof is in the pudding, all you have to do is reflect on your life and your level of happiness to know that what I’m sharing with you makes total sense. Don’t just take my word for it. Prove it to yourself by doing your best to live your commitment 100% of the time and watch how much happier you become as a result.

For getting happy, we need to differentiate between us and others by giving up the demerits which make us unhappy. Once we do, we would be different and happy. Be Happy - we must differentiate ourselves.

Be Happy – Differentiate Between You and Others (Part 2)

For being happy, you need to differentiate between you and others and in this process our thoughts play a major role. Whenever you form your thoughts, they get two components: facts and emotions. Every stimulus you receive through your nervous system is nothing more than a fact. However, you attach emotions to these facts and they are recorded on your memory sheet. Whenever a similar situation or fact recurs, your memory sheet automatically plays back the previously recorded emotional response.

Your emotional response is acceptable if the emotions are positive. However, negative emotions (big or small) cause adverse chemical secretions that literally poison your brain’s ability to function. Once you comprehend the profound influence negative emotions have on your brain’s chemistry, you can become much more objective and less emotionally involved with the facts in your life.

You may start restructuring your negative emotional attachments to certain facts recorded on your memory sheet. Facts are merely facts! However, you can choose your emotional response to them. You will have to accept the facts you can’t change but if you can change the facts you should do with a positive attitude. Anytime you have any degree of love, generosity, praise and bravery or multiple combinations of these emotions, your brain secretes positive chemicals and enhances your natural abilities to change the facts to what you desire.

It is a lot easier to be always truthful than to be always positive. To become always positive it is imperative that you are at least always truthful, especially to yourself. Otherwise, the negative emotions on your memory sheet will rule your life because they will lower your chemistry and diminish your ability to reason. You will continue to rationalize why you are justified for allowing negative emotions to remain on your memory sheet and influence your thoughts and actions to your detriment as well as to the detriment of those around you.

In the process of becoming always truthful, you will remove many of the negative emotions that motivate you to lie. Once you are honest with the outside world and yourself, the next step is to start reducing and eventually eliminating all the negative emotions on your memory sheet that you have associated with certain facts in your life. While you may not be able to control the facts, fair or unfair, you encounter in your life, you can choose how to respond emotionally to these facts. Anytime you have any degree of hate, greed, jealousy, and fear or multiple combinations of these emotions, you are lowering your brain’s chemistry and hurting yourself.

Fear

Fear normally leads the list of negative emotions in all sports and life in general. Yet, fear is the easiest negative emotion to overcome if you are objective and understand its source. It can be fear of failure, making a mistake, losing your job, spouse, health, life or the countless other fears you may have.

Fear can manifest itself as a strong emotion, causing you to hyperventilate and your knees to shake. It can create stress and ruin your health. Fear can be a weaker emotion and cause you to be indecisive and keep you from taking action. Anytime you allow fear to enter your emotions, whether it is strong or weak, your judgment and natural abilities suffer.

Reducing fear and eventually eliminating it is easier if you know why it exists and what to do about it. The first step is to clearly understand that the emotion of fear adversely affects the chemistry of your brain and all of your natural abilities. Next, realize your thoughts have two components: facts and emotions. Every situation you face in your life is nothing more than a fact. Facts are merely facts! It is the fear you have attached to certain facts that allows fear to exist, not the facts. Stop reading and write down all of your fears on a piece of paper. It is important that you are honest with yourself and take the time right now to list your fears in the following way:

I have fears about or I’m afraid of:

1) _______________________________________

2) _______________________________________

3) _______________________________________

4) _______________________________________

5) _______________________________________

After you have written down all of your fears, take a look at the facts that you have attached your fears to. Without seeing the list you have written down, all the facts that you have attached fear to have one thing in common. They are all potential outcomes that have not yet occurred. Once you clearly understand that you are afraid of something that has not happened, you are on your way to reducing or eliminating your fears. On reflection you’ll realize fear is always associated with concern over a future outcome before it even occurs. Fear cannot exist in the present.

Stop and let this sink in! It is only when you are concerned about a future outcome that fear can exist. Since you can only physically exist in the present, you only have control of the present. How well you control the present determines the future outcome -- good or bad. Once you clearly understand that your fear about a future outcome contributes to your downfall by lowering your chemistry and reducing your ability to function at your best, it becomes easier to face and handle your fear. The only way to successfully overcome fear is to stay in the present. Focus on what you can do in the present moment and let the outcome take care of itself – win or lose.

Fears are based on imagined scenarios that may or may not happen. Most imagined fears never happen. “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world” -Ralph Waldo Emerson. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” -Franklin D. Roosevelt. Napoleon Hill tells, “Fears are nothing more than states of mind”. “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” -Winston Churchill. “If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that 9 will run into the ditch before they reach you.” -Calvin Coolidge. “We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.” –Seneca. “Cowardice … is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.” -Ernest Hemingway.

“How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and have been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination.” -Jeremy Collier. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” -William Shakespeare. “Don’t be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin.” -Grace Hansen. “If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.” -Robert Schuller. “You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” -Dale Carnegie.

Since fear can only exist in your mind when you are concerned about a future outcome, separate the facts that you have fears attached to into two types. One by future outcomes that you have some degree of control over and the other by future outcomes that are out of your direct control.

Before you jump into the water, you have total control over the fact of being attacked by a shark. Once you jump into the water, you are at the mercy of your imagination and God or the attractor fields your mind creates. From my own personal experience I can tell you that it is a very eerie feeling when you are half a mile from shore and you start having fears about being attacked by a shark. If you dwell on it long enough, it can paralyze you and make you want to stop swimming so the sharks won’t notice you. However, you can’t stop swimming until you reach shore because you will drown or die from hypothermia since the water is so cold. The only way to eliminate the fear of sharks is to never get in the water or stop thinking about being attacked by a shark, especially while you are in the middle of a swim and really don’t have a choice.

There are many fears you can create in your imagination if you choose to. By merely changing your focus, you can immediately transform your negative emotions into neutral or positive ones, depending upon what you choose to focus on. Since fear can only exist when you are imagining a future outcome, change your focus and stop dwelling on your fears.

You can focus on the present task at hand, protection or help from God or a Higher Power in the form of a white light, or you can clear your mind of all thoughts by not thinking and allowing your subconscious to act on instinct. All it takes is training until changing your focus becomes second nature or instinctive.

Once you train your mind or memory sheet to focus solely on the present or whatever you choose, fear will no longer have a reason to exist in your life. Since the only thing that you can control is the present and your thoughts, why allow your imagined fears about the future to lower your chemistry and take away from your natural abilities?

Any time you are involved with a future outcome, there are probabilities of success and failure. Your thought selection affects your chemistry, which changes these probabilities and potential outcomes. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” -Winston Churchill. To increase your chemistry and probability of success, you must focus totally on being successful if everything goes right. No one is a fortune teller and you don’t know what is going to happen. However, you raise your chemistry and increase your probability of success if you are totally positive and have faith that everything will go right. You have the power to choose what you want to focus on. Even if the odds are a million to one against you, train yourself to focus solely on the one chance of being successful. If you allow any imagined fears or doubts about the future outcome to creep into your thoughts, you lower your chemistry and dramatically increase your probability of failure.

Of course, you won’t be successful all of the time. However, if you are brave and willingly accept the risk, learn from the valuable feedback that your mistakes provide and keep trying until you succeed, you will live a much fuller and happier life.

Take a lesson from the great inventor Thomas Edison, who didn’t have any formal education or scientific training. In the process of discovering how to make an incandescent light bulb work, he made over ten thousand experiments that failed. He learned from his numerous mistakes, never gave up and the rest is history. It is obvious that Edison had little or no fear of failure. So why should you?

Fear is the easiest negative emotion to reduce and eventually eliminate, if you train your mind to stop thinking about the future outcome, do the best you can do and learn from your mistakes. Scientific research has revealed that human beings learn and remember what they have learned through repetition. Isn’t it amazing then, that so many individuals expect to read a book one time and retain it forever? It takes time and effort to get rid of your fears as well as your other negative emotions. You can call it “polishing your wheel.” You have to keep polishing your wheel if you want it to shine and keep shining. The constant reference to living your commitment 100% of the time is somewhat repetitious, but that’s necessary. It is designed to be repetitious to encourage you to make living it a major goal in your life. Once you decide to use the commitment to guide your thoughts and actions, it’s important to keep repeating it over and over and over again until you live your life that way without any exceptions. “To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.” –Confucius.

In the next post, we may discuss more factors. Till that time, we may differentiate ourselves with others. Be Happy – differentiate yourself with others.

Be Happy – Differentiate Between You and Others (Part 1)

There is a vast difference between living and happy living. God has gifted us such a beautiful life with enormous sources to enjoy it. Why should we waste it? We have discrimination how to lead our life in the way we like. Those who are not courageous enough take strange plea why they could not lead a happy life – some contribute to their circumstances, spouse, fate etc. but would not keep themselves responsible for the failures. They would never like to analyze why they could not achieve their aims. Less focus, over-greed, short of competence or determination, over confidence or lack of confidence can be amongst the various reasons of such failures. But due to ego, a normal person does not accept his failures very easily unless he is continuously convinced and/or pursued to change his working method. Who will pursue you to convince about the reasons of your failures? Why should other person pursue you for this cause? Does he get sufficient time apart from his personal obligations? No, for your happiness, you will have to make efforts yourself. Yes, you can do it easily – just change your thinking pattern and when others follow you, you will feel that if there is heaven on the earth, that is available around you. It is true or not true is to experience it for yourself by being always truthful, positive and helping others. Then, please observe the results. It works in every one’s life and it will work for you in your daily life positively since our hardware is all the same. It’s only our software – how we think that differentiates us from everyone else.

The only difference between you and another person is how long it takes you to experience or recognize the repercussions from being untruthful, negative and selfish. In the world of high competition, the feedback is immediate and easy to see because negative emotions literally destroy your ability to perform at high levels. If you are active, you can learn from your mistakes.

If you still think that you are your mind, your commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others will force you to start witnessing how you behave according to what is on your memory sheet. Your spirit will become the witness of all your thoughts, actions and emotions. Your spirit will know when you are living according to the commitment and more importantly when you are not living accordingly.

Living with the commitment will help you to reprogram your memory sheet and increase awareness and natural abilities. It will help you realize that you are not your mind and your internal happiness is not dependent on the outside world. You will learn that the outside world is a reflection of your inner world, which you can control if you have a very strong desire and back it up with positive action. If your mind is resisting making a total commitment to live 100%, we must ask ourselves why and write down our reasons.

Whatever reason our memory sheet comes up with for not making the commitment a major goal of our life, there will be a negative emotion attached to it. Otherwise, why would we resist committing to being always truthful, positive and helping others? We must be aware that our negative emotions adversely affect our mind’s ability to think, function and reason.

If you have decided to live by your commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others 100% of the time or to the best of your ability until you can, here are some insights that can help you to do the same. These insights can be used to increase your success and happiness in everything you do in your life. However, the three prerequisites needed to benefit by these insights are desire, honesty and an open mind.

Desire

The first step in undertaking any journey begins with desire to reach a destination or goal. Without desire, you would not even get out of bed in the morning. The greater the journey to success and happiness, the greater the amount of desire required.

How much desire is required to reach your goals? The strength of desire needed is in direct proportion to the degree of success you wish to attain. If you desire to be the best in the world, you need to have the strongest desire. On the other hand, if you only want to be mediocre, you only need a mediocre desire. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, your level of desire must be a 10 plus if you expect to be the best at whatever you choose to accomplish.

DESIRE 10+

The following story will help you relate to what a desire of 10 plus is.

Once upon a time, a Zen student asked his master when he would reach enlightenment. The Zen master replied, “When your desire is strong enough, you will attain enlightenment.” The frustrated student, who had spent years studying under the master, felt his desire was already sufficiently strong. The master, sensing this frustration, led his student to a pond to teach him a lesson on desire. When they were waist high in the water, the master asked the student to kneel down. Then, the master held the student by the shoulders and submerged his head under the water. As the seconds without air became minutes, the student desperately needed to breathe. The student tried to raise his head above the water’s surface. The master relentlessly kept his student’s head firmly under the water.

After a great struggle, the student finally broke away from his master’s steel grip and caught a breath of air. The student gasping for breath cried out at his master, “Are you trying to kill me?” The master sternly replied, “When your desire for enlightenment becomes as strong as your overwhelming desire to breathe was, you will find enlightenment.”

When I started my search to find happiness and a more meaningful life, I had a very, very strong desire to find the answer. I wasn’t looking to become enlightened, I just wanted to be happy and live a meaningful life. In the process of using my commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others as my compass, my self-awareness and understanding of the big picture of life has grown immensely and continues to grow.

Since we live in a very orderly universe, we must limit our desires to stay within Natural and Universal Laws, or suffer the consequences that our misdirected desires create for us. Living the commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others has helped me to eliminate many desires and distractions that were leaving me unfulfilled. I was confusing short term pleasures that did not last with inner happiness that did.

It takes a very strong desire and total commitment to be able to live the change 100% of the time, otherwise your mind will rationalize why it’s OK to make exceptions whenever it is convenient.

Goals: Outcome versus Process

Many individuals do not realize that there are two types of goals. There are outcome goals that give you direction, such as: being happy, having a good education, being married, having children, having a job you love, having money, owning a house, car and etc. What are even more important are process goals, which include the dedication and hard work required to achieve your outcome goals.

Process means as “a series of actions or operations conducing to an end.” If you perform the process correctly, the outcome takes care of itself. If you want to be on the other side of the street (outcome), do the process of pointing yourself in the right direction and taking one step at a time until you reach the other side of the street. Living the commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others is both an outcome goal and a process. It is a process that will increase your natural abilities and create attractor fields that will help you to achieve all of your outcome goals that are aligned with the big picture.

While you may not be able to control the outcome, you can control your thoughts and actions required to improve the process. Success in doing and mastering the process builds confidence and improves your brain’s chemistry, making it easier to achieve your desired outcome.

If you pay the price required to master your memory sheet and the process, it is only a matter of time until you reach your outcome goals. You can only fail if you stop trying. Use your setbacks as opportunities to learn from the feedback and to increase your desire to improve. Motivate yourself to work harder and smarter until you reach the outcome you are striving for.

This applies to being able to live your commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others 100% of the time at your disposal. If you’re not able to be always truthful, become more truthful. If you’re not able to be always positive, become more positive. If you’re not able to always be helpful, become more helpful. If you keep striving to do your best to live your commitment, it is just a matter of time until you will be able to.

Setting goals and writing them down are very important steps on the road to success. However, most individuals do not have goals. If they do, they usually fail to write them down. Written goals have, what seems to be, a mysterious way of becoming real.

There are two reasons why people don’t write down goals. The first reason is similar to why many people stop making New Year Resolutions. They do not keep their resolutions or goals; so they stop making them. The second reason why individuals do not write down their goals is that it is time consuming. Also, their goals may change and have to be rewritten.

A short cut for keeping written goals is to use 3 by 5 index cards. Take a stack of index cards and write down each thing you desire to happen in your life (short, medium and long-term goals) on a separate index card. Then, put them in order of importance to you. Do not be concerned with what you consider is realistic or unrealistic to accomplish. Just write it down and place it in its order of importance. As your goals change, toss out the cards that no longer apply and add new ones. Then, rearrange the cards in their order of priority. This method for keeping written goals is easy. It saves you a lot of time.

Kindly read your cards at least twice a day; once at night before you go to sleep and once in the morning when you get up. If you do, you will be amazed how many of your dreams come true. Sometimes it may take months or years for your goals to materialize. However, if you do this on a regular basis, you will be way ahead of the game. The goal cards keep you and your memory sheet on course by reminding you where to focus your energy to attain your desires. Don’t forget to write down the process goals needed to accomplish your outcome goals.

Alternatively, you can print out your commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others and put it in a nice frame where you will see it frequently every day. The more times that you reflect upon these eight words through out the day, the easier it will become to live your life by them without making any exceptions.

Performance over Time

Rarely do individuals improve or change overnight. Normally, performance improves over time in a gradual up and down progression as your learn from the feedback how to keep getting better. By aligning your thoughts and actions with your commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others, you will gain the strength and ability to master your memory sheet and the processes that lead to reaching your goals. The amount of time required to reach your outcome goals depends on the strength of your desire and the action you take. It can be a fast journey or a slow one. You set your pace according to your desire and action. You can realize that desire without action is just a wish. A wish is not strong enough to change your memory sheet and your life.

If you have a strong desire to increase your success and happiness, make living your commitment of being always truthful, positive and helping others a major part of your life because this is the fastest way to change your memory sheet and improve your brain’s chemistry. If you do, you will increase all of your natural abilities and make your life a lot smoother and happier.

In the next post, we may discuss more factors. Till that time, we may differentiate ourselves with others. Be Happy – differentiate yourself with others.

Be Happy – Change Your View Point

We live in a world of physical form and can view the world from the outside easily, instead of the inside. To gain happiness, we need to look upon the world from both sides. In Science, we see that for every action there is reaction afterwards. Every cause has some effect. Same way, this theory applies to our thinking pattern also. If we analyze, we will find that the law of cause and effect is based on the phenomenon that our thoughts are a cause and manifest themselves as physical forms or effects over time. In other words, if we want to go from beginning to end, all that is required is that we may have to focus and hold all our thoughts and actions on the end conclusions, until they manifest themselves into physical form or effect.

We may discuss over two explanations as to how the law of cause and effect works. The first explanation is based on modern scientific discoveries. The physical world we live in is made up of objects in many configurations whose building blocks are comprised of atoms.

These atoms are made of infinitesimally small positive, neutral and negative energized subatomic particles, whirling around at great speeds and great distances from each other in relation to their size. If we think about it, we will realize that there is much more empty space than solid matter in the physical objects that surround us, including the body we occupy.

If we look at the stars in the sky at night, they will resemble a picture of what the subatomic particles which make up our body look like. There is a lot of empty space between each star. Whether we realize it or not, the vastness between stars is similar to the empty space between the subatomic particles that comprise our body. To a quantum physicist, solid matter does not exist as we know or perceive it. Atoms consist mainly of empty space! Since atoms continually exchange their subatomic particles with each other, there is a physical connection between all objects. We are all part of one inseparable web of interconnections and relationships of matter and energy.

At our present level of knowledge, physicists have identified only four forces that exist in the universe. They are the (1) strong and (2) weak forces of the atom, (3) gravity and (4) electromagnetic fields. These forces cause atoms to take their various shapes and forms.

Our electrochemical nervous system is an alternating electrical current that generates an electromagnetic field that is infinite in nature. Therefore, the quality and intensity of our daily thoughts (facts and emotions) generate varying electromagnetic fields. Consequently, our thoughts produce one of the forces that influence the atomic structure of the physical forms or objects that make up our so-called "real world." Our thoughts cause our physical world to take form according to the electromagnetic or attractor fields we create.

According to the law of cause and effect, we attract what we think about, both positive and negative. If you want to increase your happiness, use the Daily Affirmation to choose your thoughts and emotions wisely I emphasized upon in my earlier posts.

Our outer world is a mirror of our inner thoughts. If you want to change your outer world, start by changing your inner world. Another way to explain the law of cause and effect is to examine the nature of what we are. Most individuals agree with the concept that they have a spirit, mind and body even though they do not fully understand or comprehend it.

Since your body has physical form, it is comprised of matter which is limited by the dimensions of time and space. The scientific definition of time is the period it takes a body or object to move from one point in space to another.

Now we may ask ourselves this question. Does our spirit have physical form? We may think about this for a couple of minutes. Answer may be a confused one but it is true that our spirit does not have any physical form and exists in the past, present and future and has no boundaries of space, time or knowledge. Our spirit is a commanding force according to which we perform the most of our tasks. As a result, our spirit is not limited by the dimensions of time and space.

What a paradox! Our body has time and space limitations while our spirit or thoughts do not. This time paradox can lead to conflict and confusion if we are not aware of its existence. According to the law of cause and effect, our thoughts are a cause. Our thoughts cause our brain to secrete bio-chemicals that influence all our natural abilities and functions. They, also, influence the electromagnetic field that our electrochemical nervous system generates and initiate the law of cause and effect or attractor fields to manifest our thoughts into physical form or effect over time.

The reason our thoughts or desires seem not to manifest themselves is because of the time paradox. Physical objects have limitations of time and space, while our thoughts do not. Since it takes time for our thoughts to appear in the dimension of form, we begin to fear and doubt that we will achieve our desires, or ever reach our goals. Next, we become frustrated or angry because it is taking too long or too much time for our desires or goals to be realized.

The negative emotions of fear and anger we experience before our desired goals take physical form create conflicting electromagnetic fields. In many cases, these negate the positive goals we desire but end up manifesting our fears and frustrations, as well as any other negative thoughts we have. Our initial positive thoughts in the beginning about manifesting our prospective conclusions dissolve into a big question mark when we become negative in any degree.

Since we are not alone in the universe, there are other causes with which we must contend. If our thoughts are out of line with the order of the universe or God's Will, we can guess who will win. The Great Masters throughout the ages have taught that if we want to experience happiness and enlightenment, it is important to align our thoughts in harmony with God or the universe so we can use this Energy to work for us.

If our thoughts and actions are out of alignment with the Source of creation, the Source will work against you. It will eventually neutralize or destroy us unless we change our ways. In our spirituality related pursuits, we pray to God, “May thy force be with me" and not to let His anger open him up to the dark side of the force. If we swim in the direction the river is flowing, its energy assists us. However, if we swim upstream against the river's flow, it is only a matter of time until we become exhausted and flow downstream with the river. If we want to know how we can tell if our thoughts are in harmony with God or the cosmos, we must ask ourselves, "If we are always truthful, positive, and helping others, how far off can we be?" We may repeat it and one day, we will find the answer. Because the mind/body connection cannot be denied, the solution can be found in action and helping others will become more successful.

The law of cause and effect works, but it works over time. It is possible that in course of time when in spite of your expanding awareness, you may still be subject to fears and frustrations, but they would become less and less as your awareness continues to grow. I know from my own personal experience that it is only a matter of time until my dreams come true, as long as I keep my thoughts positive and eliminate any negativity. Our strong determination will help us to make our dreams come true, if we use it. For that, we will have to change our view point.

Be Happy – Ensure your happiness by changing your view point.

Be Happy – Differentiate Between External and Internal Happiness

We have never considered why we do the things we do and what makes us happy. After we take care of our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter for survival, we probably do things because they make us happy or keep us away from becoming unhappy.

Since everyone has different thoughts, actions and emotions on their memory sheet, we have to consider in general concepts instead of specifics. That’s why it’s so important for us to be true to ourselves when we think on our own life. We must take an honest look at our life and realize how much the different emotions on our memory sheet affect our view of the world and happiness. We do the things we do because of what is on our past memory sheet and your spirit’s level of awareness. It is our internal matter.

Now, we consider external factors. We must ask if we depend on possessions, people and things outside of ourselves to make us happy. Do we depend on escapisms like watching television, movies or sports, playing games and taking external substances to make us happy or mask our unhappiness? If we do so, it means that we are looking for happiness outside of ourselves. The business and advertising worlds know this very well. They use our dependence on things outside of ourselves that make us feel good, to entice us to buy what they are selling. Have we ever taken a serious look at why we buy the things or do the things, sometime unnecessary? We buy things and spend money on escapisms because they make us feel good. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the world outside of us by having lots of possessions or escaping to relax. However, we must not expect the outside world to produce lasting happiness because after the initial euphoria wears off, we will find ourselves looking outside of ourselves for more, or different things to make us feel good again.

It’s a vicious cycle. The more we get, the more we need to maintain our happiness. We end up being a junkie dependent on things outside of ourselves to make us happy. There may be hundred of books on how we look to the outside world and escapisms to make ourselves happy. However, it is better if we come to that realization ourselves. We must look around and consider all the things outside of ourselves that we depend on to make us happy, or unhappy.

We may start observing all the advertisements that promise to increase our happiness, directly or indirectly, if we buy what they are trying to sell us, and pay attention to what we desire to buy in order to be happy or happier. Here, we must consider if we are buying or trying to buy our happiness. Are we are waiting for things in the future to make us happy? Do I tell myself that “I’ll be happy when I get _________________ (fill in the blank)?”

Money can’t buy us happiness. Because true and lasting happiness always comes from within. Yet, many individuals depend on things outside of themselves to make them happy. How about us? If we want to reduce or eliminate our dependency on things outside of us to make us happy, we may have to structure our life so that we are able to generate our excitement and happiness from within. The great thing about internal happiness is that it doesn’t cost us any money to acquire it and no one, except ourselves, can ever take it away from us.

Now the pertinent question is how one can create internal happiness from within. It is very easy to do if we think about it. If we want to be happy, all we may have to do is stop thinking about ourselves and help others. The less we think about ourselves and the more we help others, the happier we will become. This is a fact. The reason is because our brain secretes positive chemicals corresponding to our positive emotions. When we help someone, we are being generous with our time and personal resources. We are going to be brave because we are not afraid of losing out while we are helping someone else, instead of ourselves. Plus, we experience the feeling of love and well being when we help someone.

As a side benefit, these positive emotions elevate our chemistry, allowing our natural abilities to increase as well as our health. Every one must take some time out of the busy schedules to help others because it will raise the individual’s chemistry and allow him to perform at higher levels in the competitive arena.

We may take time out of our life to help others because it will make us feel happy inside. Better yet, we may choose a vocation that we enjoy where we help others while we are earning our livelihood even if we make less money than we could earn doing something else. We may invest our time and energy wisely because the more people we help, the happier we will feel.

Also, the more honest and positive we become; the less stress we will experience in our life. Do you know how great it makes you feel when you know that you always do the right thing and you are here to help others? Because It puts a big smile on your face and makes your spirit glow inside. People can even see it in your eyes.

After going through the above lines, your memory sheet is telling you, “What nonsense” or, “I’d rather have lots of money and buy my happiness.” Some other may be thinking, “If I’m always truthful, I won’t make or have as much money to buy things that make me happy.”

Some of us don’t like what we do for a living, but resign ourselves to putting up with our job as a means to buy things that will make us happy, or escape on the weekend. Our memory sheet would rather have us work at something we don’t enjoy because we can make more money than you. Would you continue to work something you loved, but you are paid less? One day you will give up. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. If you love your work and make an honest living by helping others, you are a very rich person in many ways. “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”-Confucius

Have you ever heard the saying, “Do what you love and the money will come?” This is true. Zig Ziglar says, “You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” You can have the best of both your inner and outer worlds, as long as you are always truthful, positive and helping others.

The reason I say this is because the house always wins. Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the world, attracts millions of visitors a year and makes billions of dollars by playing the percentages. They make the rules and set the odds in their favor. You may win some money, but if you keep gambling in the hopes of winning more, you will end up losing because in the long run the house always wins.

What does Las Vegas have to do with our happiness? It is just an example to illustrate that the house always wins. Let’s take a look at ourselves and the big picture of life. If we were the Creator, the House in this example, who gave the over six billion individuals presently living on this planet a free will to do whatever they pleased, would we like to retain some element of control over our creation? It only seems logical that we would. But, how could we control these individuals and give them a free will at the same time? If I were the Creator, I would design individuals with a free will to choose and do as they desire. However, I would set up a system of checks and balances to maintain control of my creation. I would do it by designing them so when they were truthful, positive and helping others, their brains would secrete beneficial chemicals. This would enhance their ability to think, perform and co-create in the direction that I wanted the universe to evolve. When they were untruthful, negative, and selfish and going in the wrong direction from what I desired, their brains would secrete detrimental chemicals. This would hinder their thinking, health and performance. We may think about it. With this system of checks and balances, the odds would be in my favor. Every individual would have a free will and I would have control of my creation. This is the system I would design and use if I were the Creator. Does this make sense to you? How does this make you feel? If your spirit has evolved, this scenario probably makes a lot of sense to you. We were designed to function according to the laws of God, or a Higher Power, or the Universe, or whatever Cosmic Intelligence or Infinite Source you feel comfortable calling It. If you are truthful, positive and helping others, you get rewarded. If you are untruthful, negative and selfish, you pay the price until you learn your lesson because the House always wins.

It’s just a matter of time. If your memory sheet feels that it is unrealistic to be always truthful, positive and helping others in the “real world,” that may be right for the time being. However, when you find yourself unhappy, bored or depressed,you need to take a look at why. Is it because you are depending on the world outside of yourself to make you happy? Is it because you are paying the price for being untruthful, negative or selfish? If you depend on things outside of yourself to make you happy, the daily affirmation will create conflicts with your memory sheet. However, if you structure your life to live by the daily affirmation, you will find that your internal happiness will grow and your dependence on things outside of yourself for your happiness will diminish.

However, as our natural abilities increase by aligning our thoughts and actions with the daily affirmation, we may find ourselves more productive and creative. More than likely, we will end up making more money and be able to afford more outside pleasures as well. God gave us a free will to do as we please. We can look for happiness outside of ourselves or choose to find happiness within by doing the right thing. Fortunately, we can have both if we play our cards right. If we take care of the inside by playing by the House rules of always being truthful, positive and helping others, our outside world will take care of itself because we will have God on our side to help us out. Since God gave us a free will, the choice is ours.

Be Happy - You may kindly differentiate between external and internal happiness.

Be Happy – Create Self-Awareness

Many individuals relate to having a spirit, mind and body even though they do not fully understand or comprehend it. However, most individuals believe that they run through their mind. This causes them to think that their mind can make them happy.

Since the mind/body connection does not lie, none can deny it because the feedback is immediate and very obvious. But the feedback from our emotions generally originating from our heart may not be as obvious or as immediate. It may take us days, weeks, months or even years, to see or feel the repercussions from our negative thoughts and actions. However, be aware that it is just a matter of time until any negativity in our life eventually catches up with us and affects our happiness. There is a perfect accounting system in the universe. We can’t hide or escape from it.

Since the negative emotions on our memory sheet adversely affect our mind’s ability to function and reason, it’s a lot easier to relate to our spirit and what is on your memory sheet. If our memory sheet is very positive, we would agree with the selected words in the form of a daily affirmation. This affirmation will dramatically increase our awareness even if we don’t live this way 100% presently. If our memory sheet is full of negative emotions, we will feel that this daily affirmation is impossible to live by 100% of the time in the so-called “real world.” Whether our memory sheet is full of positive or negative emotions, our spirit will relate 100% to the affirmation. We may print out this daily affirmation and put it in a nice frame where we can see it frequently every day. It is possible that some of us might be already doing many things right in our life or else we wouldn’t have achieved our present level of success and happiness. We have to admit, however, that we all have room for improvement.

Why should we settle for less when we can have more? Why just we be happy or content when we can have a life full of joy and bliss? We may read the Daily Affirmation out loud to ourselves three times and see how we feel and imagine on what the world would be like if everyone lived this way.

Daily Affirmation:

I Am Always Truthful, Positive And Ready to Help Others. I Help Others Without Self Interest.

Can we even begin to imagine what the world would be like if everyone was always truthful, positive and ready to help others and help others without self interest? Would it change the world we live in? It would. It would probably come close to living as in heaven on earth. Is it possible for this to happen? Maybe not in our lifetime, but it can happen over time if everyone focused on living according to the Daily Affirmation. Wouldn’t a better world be a nice gift to leave to our children’s children or their children’s children? Even if only a small percentage of our earth’s population were always truthful, positive and helping others, our world would change for the better because the creativity and power of those that lived the Daily Affirmation would overwhelm and positively influence those that weren’t. The rest of the world’s population would eventually follow out of their own self-interest to become happier and more successful.

The only question left to be answered is, “Are we going to be one of the leaders that help change our world for the better by living the Daily Affirmation 100% of the time, or are we going to continue to live our life according to what is on our memory sheet?” The negative emotions on our memory sheet are limiting our ability to find creative solutions to our world’s challenges. After all, our world’s challenges are merely a reflection of the composite of the memory sheets of all the individuals that make up our global society.

We may imagine the power of one individual like Mahatma Gandhi who was able to defeat the force of the entire British Empire through the principle of nonviolence. Our spirit has enormous power at its disposal if we use it wisely. We can make a difference if we choose to. The Daily Affirmation will help us to realize how.

Now, we may ask ourselves three questions.

1. Are we always truthful 100% of the time?
2. Are we always positive 100% of the time?
3. How much of our time and energy do we spend helping others?

We may pay close attention to our gut feelings or other changes in how our body feels whenever our spirit asks our mind or memory sheet the same questions. Because of the spirit/mind/body connection we will experience chemical changes in our body corresponding to our answers. When we tell the truth, we will feel strong. When we don’t tell the truth, we will feel weak and sheepish.

Here we may stop reading, ask ourselves the following questions and spend some time reflecting on our honest answers to these questions again and if we answered 100% or came close to 100% to all three of these questions, we know exactly to ascertain that we are undoubtedly a very successful and happy person. If not, we may have to work more to do that which will increase our happiness.

I’m not there 100% yet, but I’m working on getting closer every day. If you desire to become happier and have an impact on changing your life and the world that we all live in, I invite you to make living the Daily Affirmation a major part of your life.

By the way, in reference to the above questions, who is doing the asking and who is doing the answering? Is it your mind talking to itself, or is it your spirit talking to your mind? Are you two different people in one? The purpose of this Daily Affirmation is not to create angels. Its purpose is to create self-awareness by having your spirit guide your thoughts and actions throughout your life instead of having your past memory sheet continue to run your life for you.

Start saying this Daily Affirmation out loud to yourself several times, or more, throughout the day for the next thirty days and watch your self-awareness increase as your spirit witnesses what is on your memory sheet. Hopefully, you will use the Daily Affirmation as your compass for the rest of your life.

Here is how the Daily Affirmation will increase your self-awareness and lead you to better choices that will increase your happiness. Your memory sheet automatically has you repeat or make similar responses to what you have previously done. If you have lied in your past, your memory sheet is programmed to have you lie again in the future unless you make a firm commitment to change your memory sheet’s programming.

I admit that I have lied in my past. If you are honest with yourself, you will admit that you have lied at least once in your life or maybe more often. By repeatedly telling your memory sheet that "I am always truthful" you create an internal conflict between your spirit and memory sheet when faced with a choice of lying in the present or telling the truth.

You will experience this conflict as a chemical change in your body. You know what guilt feelings feel like, don’t you? The Daily Affirmation will make you very sensitive to them and help you to do the right thing, in spite of what your memory sheet wants you to do. It will make it harder for you to rationalize why it’s OK to lie, especially when you see others around you that are not always truthful.

Your spirit will want to tell the truth and your memory sheet will want to do its job. Your memory sheet wants you to repeat what you have done in the past. This gives your spirit a great opportunity to take a hard look at why you have lied in the past. It forces you to start realizing that you are your spirit and not your mind. You have a choice and do not have to automatically repeat what is on your memory sheet even though your memory sheet is programmed to have you repeat the past thoughts and actions.

If you examine your motives for lying, you will find them based on the emotions of hate, greed, jealousy, fear or multiple combinations of these negative emotions. By eliminating lies from your life, you keep negative emotions from recurring on your memory sheet. This enhances your brain's chemical balance and increases your awareness, sensitivity and intelligence.

Whatever level of truthfulness you have achieved in your lifetime, try raising your standards until you are 100% honest. I can honestly say that I am 100% truthful, most of the time. As hard as I try to be 100% truthful, there are times when a reflex lie from my past memory sheet slips by or tries to. If I catch myself in a lie by feeling it in my body, I quickly take a look at why I lied, or why I am about to lie. Upon reviewing my memory sheet I find that some hate, greed, jealousy or fear is causing it. Then, I make the necessary adjustments in my life and tell my memory sheet to do my best never to lie again.

Most of the time I’m successful in not allowing a reflex lie to slip by. You’ll find this true for yourself if you start living the Daily Affirmation without exceptions. You have the right of privacy and silence. If someone asks you a question and you want to reserve your privacy, you do not have to answer them. Become a diplomat and answer with another question or tell them that you prefer not to answer their question. Also, it is better not to upset or disturb another person's feelings or chemistry. You do not have to tell white lies to protect them. Instead, be kind and diplomatic in your response.

Sometimes the truth, as harsh as it may be, is totally appropriate depending on the situation. Just make sure you intend to help the person, instead of venting any negativity on them. Once your awareness and sensitivity to the chemical reactions in your body increase, you will realize the person you lie to the most is yourself.

Every time you tell yourself that you are going to do something and do not do it or visa versa, you have lied to yourself and your memory sheet. Is it any wonder your memory sheet just laughs at you when you say you are going to change your negative habits or emotions? Your memory sheet knows all of your strengths and weakness. It does its best to keep you where you are. It takes self-discipline and direction to become the master of your memory sheet and in control of your happiness.

Two of the most important things that I have learned over the years are the power of self-discipline and the importance of making correct choices. Napoleon Hill writes, "Our Creator gave us all a free will to make our own choices. You are where you are and what you are because of your habits of thought. Your thought habits are subject to your control. Self-discipline is the principle by which you may voluntarily shape the patterns of thought to harmonize with your desires and goals. It is the one privilege which determines more than all others the position in life you occupy. Ponder this thought carefully for it is the key to your mental, physical and spiritual destiny. Put your thought habits in order and they will carry you to the attainment of any desired goal you aspire to reach. You must feed your mind with your definite major purpose in life and go the extra mile to control all of your thoughts."

If you desire to be happier and more successful, your thought selection gives you the ability to shape and mold your life into whatever you desire. Only your memory sheet and wrong choices can hold you back. With desire, self-discipline and the specific direction the Daily Affirmation provides, you can become the master of your memory sheet and destiny. More importantly, you can become very happy and live a fulfilled life.

Your memory sheet is going to continue doing whatever it is used to until it realizes that you mean what you say. If your memory sheet controls you in a certain part of your life, acknowledge your weakness.

By daily affirming that "I am always truthful, positive" your spirit will become very aware whenever you are or have been negative. This helps you to stop rationalizing and justifying the negative emotions that you have associated with certain facts on your memory sheet.

Negative emotions poison your thinking and are the cause of much unhappiness. It is a lot easier to become always truthful than to become always positive. However, you will be much happier if you make it a point to do your best to be always truthful and always positive. Your thoughts from outside stimuli have two components: facts and emotions. Realize that facts are merely facts. You may not be able to control the facts, fair or unfair, but you can change or transform any negative emotional response you may have to them.

By daily affirming "I am always truthful, positive and helping others", you remind your spirit that by helping others you are helping yourself. By merely shifting your focus from yourself to helping others, you will find that you automatically feel better and happier. Your spirit is elevated when you help others.

If you are already very positive and in a position of comfort, lend a helping hand to those who are in need. One of life’s greatest pleasures comes from helping others. If you do not believe this, ask any parent, teacher or individual who spends his or her life helping others. What do you think Mother Teresa would have replied if you asked her, “Does it make you happy when you help others?” If you really want to help someone, tell them to go through these lines again and again and strongly recommend that they make the daily affirmation a major part of their life. Better yet, be an example for them to follow by living the daily affirmation 100% of the time.

This daily affirmation is a wonderful compass that can help guide your spirit through the maze of life, if you use it. If you truly desire to be happy and have fun helping to change your life and the world around you, reflect on this affirmation at least three times a day, every day and observe how your gut or body feels. When necessary, make the appropriate adjustments on your memory sheet in order not to repeat any deviations from the daily affirmation.

Be Happy - Create Self Awareness.

Be happy - Change Your memory sheet

Our brain starts working at a very early age. Approximately six months after conception, our brain starts recording all of our mother’s thoughts and actions while we are in her womb. Our brain continues recording all our thoughts and actions throughout our entire life. It is still active even when we are going through this post, your brain is busy recording and comparing the information contained here. It is our memory sheet.

Our memory sheet is a conceptual representation of the entire history of all our previous thoughts and actions. The importance of our memory sheet is that our brain is programmed to make similar decisions according to what is in its data base which we can call our past memory sheet. There is a record of all our positive and negative thoughts and actions on our memory sheet, that make up our life.

Our brain spontaneously uses all of our strengths and weaknesses recorded on our memory sheet in its decision making process. Our memory sheet is programmed to keep us at our present level and within our comfort zone.

How we think and act today is merely a reflection of what is on our past memory sheet. Most of our current beliefs were put on our memory sheet by our parents and our social conditioning. The same holds true for our emotions.

Many of our beliefs and thoughts on our memory sheet are not our own. They were put there by others and we readily accept them as our own. Our present level of happiness is a reflection of what we have recorded on our memory sheet. Our owner’s manuals are very similar.

Since our brain is programmed to make decisions similar to what is on our memory sheet, the biggest challenge we face when trying to change our past thoughts and actions to increase our happiness in our present thinking and belief system. Our level of self-awareness of what exactly is on our memory sheet and understanding of how we were designed to function according to Universal and Natural Laws, greatly affects our ability to change and our current happiness.

Change is never easy. When we try to change, we have to overcome what is on our memory sheet. Our memory sheet’s job is to have we repeat what we have done in the past. Our job is to increase our desire and determination to change. Our memory sheet does not care whether we are positive or negative. It is only concerned with having us repeat our past thoughts and actions. Our memory sheet is not our enemy. It is our friend. Without our memory sheet, we would not have a memory. We would not know our name who we are, how to talk or anything else that we have learned during our lifetime. Our memory sheet provides us with our data base for going through life. It’s not our memory sheet's fault that we and our social conditioning have allowed it to accumulate negative thoughts and actions that are holding back us and affecting our happiness.

We must learn to be very honest with ourselves. We must find out what is on our memory sheet. To reprogram our memory sheet, we must increase our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. We are not going to change ourselves overnight. It takes time, depending on the strength of our desire, and the positive actions we take to change.

If we decide to change, but repeat the same mistakes or negative behaviors, we should not become depressed or beat ourselves up. Instead, laugh at ourselves. We must acknowledge that our memory sheet is strong and very good at what it does. After all, it knows everything about us. It uses all our weaknesses and excuses to keep us where we are. We must learn to become comfortable with who we are and what is on our memory sheet.

After we acknowledge that our memory sheet has beaten us, we must decide who is in control -- we or our memory sheet. There are some things our memory sheet has total control over, since we may not presently be strong enough to change them. We should not become discouraged and get more determined and work harder and smarter to change what we can. Eventually, we will acquire enough strength and wisdom to overcome our memory sheet in the areas where it presently controls us. It is just a matter of time and effort until we master our memory sheet and increase our happiness.

Fortunately, we can change our past tendencies because the most current portion of our memory sheet has the biggest impact on our decision making process. Otherwise, we would be a robot and never could change.

Whenever we attempt to change anything on our memory sheet, we face a battle between our desire to change and our memory sheet's desire to do its job. The strength of our desire to change determines our success against our memory sheet.

Many individuals in our society are overweight and out of condition. Most of them have a desire to change for the better, but their desire is too weak to overcome the strength of their memory sheet. However, when faced with a life threatening heart attack or stroke, many of these individuals change their behavior. Their strong desire to live gives them the strength to overcome their past memory sheet. They exercise, change their diet and lose weight.

Desiring to increase our happiness may not be a life or death decision for us. The greater our desire to increase our happiness, the greater will be our success. We do not have to go to the extremes but it certainly accelerates the process. The better we understand how our memory sheet operates; what is holding us back; and how to implement change; the easier our journey becomes to higher levels of happiness and bliss. Our level of desire is one of the major keys to success.

When we go to sleep, our brain is busy processing all the thoughts and actions that went on our memory sheet during the day. If we did something different from our normal routine, like exercising or dieting, our brain has to decide to either assimilate this as a new behavior, or reject it. Our brain needs to know how to respond in the future. By putting new thoughts and actions on our memory sheet consistently for thirty days or more, our brain assimilates these as new habits. They become a part of our normal memory sheet response.

The best times to give our memory sheet goals or instructions on how to improve our behavior are just before going to sleep and when we wake up. While we sleep, our brain examines the goals or instructions that we just put on our memory sheet. It has to make a decision how to respond when we wake up. It asks itself, "Whom do I believe, the new we or the old we?” The old we probably has been making similar goals or resolutions off and on for years, seldom carrying them out and behaving the same way for most of our life.

Our brain, more than likely, will believe the old we and instruct our memory sheet to forget last night's goals or instructions. Our memory sheet will go about business as usual. Therefore, immediately upon awakening reinforce our goals and put the instructions back on our memory sheet. We must remember, the most current portion of our memory sheet has the biggest impact on our decision making process.

We may assume we achieve our goals for several days in a row. For example, we actually do exercise or diet. Now, while we are sleeping, our brain starts to realize that it should begin listening to the new we. It begins to tell our memory sheet to start responding accordingly and in about thirty days we develop a new habit. Then, our memory sheet works for us, instead of against us.

The more success we achieve, the easier it is to be even more successful because our memory sheet becomes our ally. Now, it insists that we keep on improving and expands to accommodate the new we as the old we drifts away.

If we do something new or behave differently for thirty days, our memory sheet will accept it as the new way to respond. However, if we give our memory sheet an inch, it will go back to its old way of responding. That’s why change is never easy.

Whenever we attempt to change anything on our memory sheet, we face a battle between our desire to change and our memory sheet’s programming to keep us where we are. Our degree of self-awareness and the strength of our desire to change determine our success against our memory sheet. The time and effort we spend reducing the negative emotions and increasing the positive ones on our memory sheet will determine how much we can increase our happiness. Wouldn’t it be nice to be happy all of the time and live in a state of continual bliss?

How to increase our self-awareness, we can make better choices, reprogram our memory sheet to increase our happiness, and consider the key points of the Owner’s Manual.

Key Points of Owner’s Manual:

1) The power of our brain or our wonderful personal computer varies according to its chemistry.

2) Our brain’s chemistry is affected by our thoughts, diet, exercise, rest, environment and physiology.

3) Our thoughts affect our electrochemical nervous system and generate electromagnetic fields that create attractor fields which affect our life and happiness.

4) Our present thoughts and actions reflect what is recorded on our memory sheet.

5) Our memory sheet is programmed to repeat its past and does not want to change.

6) Strong desire and proper direction are necessary to change what is recorded on our memory sheet.

7) Increasing our positive emotions and decreasing our negative emotions will enhance our brain’s chemistry and natural abilities.

8) Increasing our self-awareness leads to better choices that increase our chemistry and happiness.

We may consider to revisit our memory sheet and make necessary adjustments by adding, modifying, deleting or replacing the contents.

Be Happy- we may change our memory sheet.