Be Happy – Don’t put off Your Plans Frequently (Part 2)

There are several reasons when you put off your plans. Sometime, they are circumstantial or some time they are put off due to your lackadaisical attitude. If the putting off is due to some specific circumstances, it does not seek any comments but if procrastinating has become your habit, it needs to be reviewed, corrective actions are required to be taken for the sake of improving your productivity.

How to do?

What's the solution? Give up PROCRASTINATING. Yes, you can eliminate the procrastination, turn things around and become the "go to" person who gets things done.

Work with it everyday and you'll enjoy dramatic results. S Procrastinating re-programs your mind... so you go from being the person who puts things off over and over again - to being the go to person - who gets things done. You can enjoy the success you want. You can put an end to procrastinating. You will get more done in less time.

Now that you know a little bit about why you may have procrastinated in the past, let's explore some of the strategies you might use to combat your procrastination tendencies, now and in the future. Experiment with whichever of these strategies appeals to you; if you try something and it doesn't work, try something else! Be patient; improvement will come with practice.

Take an inventory.

Figuring out exactly when and how you procrastinate can help you in the behavior. It can be difficult to tell when you are procrastinating. Think about the clues that tell you that's what you're doing: for example, a nagging voice in your head, a visual image of what you are avoiding or the consequences of not doing it, physical ailments (stomach tightness, headaches, muscle tension), inability to concentrate, inability to enjoy what you are doing.

How do you procrastinate?

• Try to ignore the task, hoping against hope that it will go away?
• Over- or under-estimate the degree of difficulty that the task involves?
• Minimize the impact that your performance now may have on your future?
• Substitute something important for something really important? (For example, cleaning instead of writing your paper.)
• Let a short break become a long one, or an evening in which you do no work at all? (For example, claiming that you are going to watch TV for ½ hour, then watching it all night.)
• Focus on one part of the task, at the expense of the rest? (For example, keep working on the introduction, while putting off writing the body and conclusion).
• Spend too much time researching or choosing a ic Once you better understand how you procrastinate, you will be better able to catch yourself doing it. Too often, we don't even realize that we are procrastinating—until it's too late.

Create a productive environment.

If you have made the decision to s delaying on a particular writing project, it is critical that you find a place to work where you have at least half a chance of actually getting some writing done. Your dorm room may not be the place where you are most productive. Ditto the computer lab. If you have a lap computer, try going someplace where you can't connect to the Internet (e-mail and the Web are the bane of the procrastinator's existence—as you probably already know). If you are a procrastinator, then chances are you are already pretty exasperated; don't risk frustrating yourself even more by trying to write in an environment that doesn't meet your needs.

[CAUTION: The most skilled procrastinators will be tempted to take this suggestion too far, spending an inordinate amount of time "creating a productive environment" (cleaning, filing, etc.) and not nearly enough time actually writing. Don't fall into that trap! While cleaning and filing are indeed worthy and necessary activities, if you only do this when you have an approaching writing deadline, then you are procrastinating.]

While you are thinking about where to write, consider also when you will write. When are you most alert? Is it at 8 a.m., mid-morning, mid-afternoon, early evening, or late at night? Try to schedule writing time when you know you will be at your best. Don't worry about when you "should" be able to write; just focus on when you are able to write.

There are many other reasons why we put off our tasks. We would definitely like to discuss them but in the next posts. Meanwhile, Be Happy – Don’t put off Your Plans Frequently.

Be Happy – Don’t put off Your Plans Frequently (Part 1)

Do you put things off very frequently... hoping to get it done someday... you keep saying later...but that ‘later’ never happens. Putting things off, especially to the last minute is common... but putting them off forever... now that's a sever case of constant procrastination.

It's the kind of procrastinating that can destroy your life, limit your success and even impact your family and income. Procrastination may result in stress, a sense of guilt and crisis, severe loss of personal productivity, as well as societal disapproval for not meeting responsibilities or commitments. These feelings combined may promote further procrastination. While it is regarded as normal for people to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological disorder.

It's more than just saying "I'll do it later"... it’s a chronic way of thinking that eventually leaves you incapable of achieving anything. Regularly procrastinating, putting things off over and over again creates a sub-conscious mindset that forces you to put things off. This attitude and mindset impacts your family, work and personal life... sping you from achieving the best you can be and preventing you for enjoying the success you want and deserve. Once this habit of procrastinating become ingrained... you'll procrastinate to no end... it will always be later, later, later.

You may want to be your best and maximize your potential but your habit of procrastinating doesn't let you do that. You know you can succeed, you know you can do better...but the habit of procrastinating ss you... every time. Everyone procrastinates. We put things off because we don't want to do them, or because we have too many other things on our plates. Putting things off—big or small—is part of being human. If you are reading this handout, however, it is likely that your procrastination is troubling you. You suspect that you could be a much better writer if only you didn't put off writing projects until the last minute. You find that just when you have really gotten going on a paper, it's time to turn it in; so, you never really have time to revise or proofread carefully. You love the rush of adrenalin you get when you finish a paper ten minutes before it's due, but you (and your body) are getting tired of pulling all-nighters. You feel okay about procrastinating while in college, but you worry that this habit will follow you into your working life.

You can tell whether or not you need to do something about your procrastination by examining its consequences. Procrastination can have external consequences (you get a zero on the paper because you never turned it in) or internal consequences (you feel anxious much of the time, even when you are doing something that you enjoy). If you put off washing the dishes, but the dishes don't bother you, who cares? When your procrastination leaves you feeling discouraged and overburdened, however, it is time to take action.

Is there any hope? If you think you are a hopeless procrastinator, take heart! No one is beyond help. The fact that you procrastinate does not mean that you are inherently lazy or inefficient. Your procrastination is not an untamable beast. It is a habit that has some specific origin, and it is a habit that you can overcome. This handout will help you begin to understand why you procrastinate and give you some strategies for turning things around. For most procrastinators, however, there are no quick fixes. You aren't going to wake up tomorrow and never procrastinate again. But you might wake up tomorrow and do one or two simple things that will help you finish that draft a little earlier or with less stress.

You may not be surprised to learn that procrastinators tend to be self-critical. So, as you consider your procrastination and struggle to develop different work habits, try to be gentle with yourself. Punishing yourself every time you realize you have put something off won't help you change. Rewarding yourself when you make progress will.
If you don't care why you procrastinate—you just want to know what to do about it—then you might as well skip the next section of this handout and go right to the section labeled "What to do about it." If you skip to the strategies, however, you may only end up more frustrated. Taking the time to learn about why you procrastinate may help you avoid the cycle whereby you swear up and down that you will never procrastinate again, only to find that the next time you have a paper due, you are up until 3 a.m. trying to complete the first (and only) draft—without knowing why or how you got there.

Why we do it

In order to s putting off your writing assignments, it is important to understand why you tend to do so in the first place. Some of the reasons that people procrastinate include the following:

Because we are afraid.

• Fear of failure: If you are scared that a particular piece of writing isn't going to turn out well, then you may avoid working on it in order to avoid feeling the fear.

• Fear of success: Some procrastinators (the author of this handout included) fear that if they start working at their full capacity, they will turn into workaholics. Since we procrastinate compulsively, we assume that we will also write compulsively; we envision ourselves locked in a library carrel, hunched over the computer, barely eating and sleeping and never seeing friends or going out. The procrastinator who fears success may also assume that if they work too hard, they will become mean and cold to the people around them, thus losing their capacity to be friendly and to have fun. Finally, this type of procrastinator may think that if they s procrastinating, then they will start writing better, which will increase other people's expectations, thus ultimately increasing the amount of pressure they experience.

• Fear of losing autonomy: Some people delay writing projects as a way of maintaining their independence. When they receive a writing assignment, they procrastinate as a way of saying, "You can't make me do this. I am my own person." Procrastinating helps them feel more in control of situations (such as college) in which they believe that other people have authority.

• Fear of being alone: Other writers procrastinate because they want to feel constantly connected to other people. For instance, you may procrastinate until you are in such a bind that someone has to come and rescue you. Procrastination therefore ensures that other people will be involved in your life. You may also put off writing because you don't want to be alone, and writing is oftentimes a solitary activity. In its worst form, procrastination itself can become a companion, constantly reminding you of all that you have to do.

• Fear of attachment: Rather than fearing separation, some people procrastinate in order to create a barrier between themselves and others. They may delay in order to create chaos in their lives, believing that the chaos will keep other people away.

Whether these fears appear in our conscious or subconscious minds, they paralyze us and keep us from taking action, until discomfort and anxiety overwhelms us and forces us to either a) get the piece of writing done or b) give up.

Because we expect ourselves to be perfect.

Procrastination and perfectionism often go hand in hand. Perfectionists tend to procrastinate because they expect so much of themselves, and they are scared about whether or not they can meet those high standards. Perfectionists sometimes think that it is better to give a half-hearted effort and maintain the belief that they could have written a great paper, than to give a full effort and risk writing a mediocre paper. Procrastinating guarantees failure, but it helps perfectionists maintain their belief that they could have excelled if they had tried harder. Another pitfall for perfectionists is that they tend to ignore progress toward a goal. As long as the writing project is incomplete, they feel as though they aren't getting anywhere, rather than recognizing that each paragraph moves them closer to a finished product.

Because we don't like our writing.

You may procrastinate on writing because you don't like to re-read what you have written; you hate writing a first draft and then being forced to evaluate it, in all its imperfection. By procrastinating, you ensure that you don't have time to read over your work, thus avoiding that uncomfortable moment.

Because we're too busy.

Practical concerns: jobs, other classes, etc.

Because it works.

Unfortunately, procrastination helps reinforce itself. When we avoid doing something we dread (like writing) by doing something we enjoy (such as watching TV, hanging out with friends, etc.), we escape the dreaded task. Given such a choice, it's no wonder that many of us choose to procrastinate. When we write a paper at the last minute and still manage to get a good grade, we feel all the more compelled to procrastinate next time around.

Tomorrow, we may discuss about the solution of this problem. In the meanwhile, please be happy by not putting off your plans frequently.

Be Happy – Don’t put off Your Plans Frequently

Be Happy – Live Every Moment Of Your Life.

Why do you wish to adore to spirituality at some point of age? Is it for the reason that you think of God? Or is it your materialistic requirements having been met with to the satisfactory extent? Actually some people think that spiritual longing comes to you not because you think of God. If people do not think of God, they will not become spiritual, they will only think of how to acquire more. If God comes and blesses them, they will want more money, property, health, everything. Only when you think about death, these questions come up: What is this about, where will I go, what will happen to me? This quest to know will come naturally. When we talk about living well, we are also talking about dying well. Dying gracefully, joyfully, is important. It is the final thing you get to do; but most people are doing it horribly.

When we say a spiritual possibility, a space, there is also room to die. Spirituality is a means to life; it is also means to die because living and dying are not different. Right now, I can say you are living, or I can say you are dying. The process of dying is on; one day it will be complete. It is just that so much negativity is attached to the word “death”. But death is a part of life. It is a universal truth none could or can escape whether he is a king or a humble employee, beggar or some professional or so called Godman. If you understand this fact, you can live the life fully. One who does not know how to die, or is unwilling to die, cannot live.

If you are afraid of death, you will only avoid life, you cannot avoid death. Every day of your life you need to be aware that you are mortal. In Shoonya medittion everything that you consider as “myself” will become nothing; it is as if you die. Again, when you open your eyes, it is all there. If you practice this consciously, twice a day, when the time to die comes, it will no more be a big issue.

Even if you live a thousand years and do everything that you wish to do, still something better could be done. This is the way of life. But death is perfect and absolute when it happens; death does not need anybody’s assistance. You don’t have to think about it; you don’t have to reflect upon it. But the limited nature of life needs to be reflected upon. So always the first training for spiritual aspirant is to go and sit in the cremation ground. You are just like a miracle happening and one day you are gone. Busy in between, but you like a bubble: when the bubble is on, is so real; one prick gone!

Look at this life right now: inhalation, exhalation. If the next inhalation does not happen, that’s it… That is how fragile this life is. People always think death is something that happens to somebody else; it’s not so, it will happen to you and me. If you remind yourself every day that you will also die, you will move towards knowing higher perception. If you are aware of the mortal nature of your life, is there time to get angry with somebody, to quarrel or do anything stupid?

Once you are conscious that you will die, you will want to make every moment of your life as beautiful as possible. Those who are constantly aware of the fragile nature of existence, they don’t want to miss single moment; they will naturally be aware. They can’t take anything for granted; they will live purposefully, becoming aware. They live every moment of their life. You too can do this.

Be Happy – Live Every Moment of Your Life.

Be Happy – Enjoy Fully What You Acquire

Whatever we desire, we are motivated by our wishes of acquisition and enjoyment. We want to acquire whatever we desire from the world. And after acquiring we long to enjoy what we have acquired. For instance, we build a house and enjoy living in it. We prepare a tennis court and enjoy playing the game. Propelled by these two motivations – of acquisition and enjoyment – every human being craves to acquire and enjoy more and more in the world. But no one has found true happiness in mere acquisition or enjoyment. Yet the chase never ends. People are ultimately exhausted with their futile efforts and become frustrated and unhappy.

Our mind has a tendency to acquire, yet it cannot qualify or quantify what it wants. Even in the present, when the mind acquires the object of its desire it forth-with pitches up something else. This thirst for acquisition continues. The wealthiest man in the world wants more wealth. The most powerful seems more power. The most beautiful seeks more beauty. All this despite knowing that on most accounts, the process of acquiring and enjoying these things only bring in their wake agitation and loss of peace of mind.

The thirst can never be quenched by sheer acquisition of whatever the mind demands. Neither can the problem be solved by suppressing the desire for acquisition. However, there is no taboo to acquisition. You are advised only to control, to regulate the mind’s indiscriminate craving for acquisition.

The second motivation is the desire to enjoy what has been acquired. Here again, there is no objection to enjoyment. You are not to refrain from enjoying what the world offers you but to restrain, control your indulgence in them. You enjoy objects or beings only when you exercise voluntary regulation and moderation. Otherwise what you acquire loses its charm. You cannot enjoy it anymore. Unrestricted indulgence kills enjoyment.

In truth there is no joy content in the objects and beings of the world. But an average person cannot be convinced of this. He equates enjoyment with the pleasure he gets eating ice cream or chocolate. How can he be convinced that none can find enjoyment in the external world.

The following example can perhaps help you examine the veracity of the statement. You sit outside in your garden on a full moon night. You ‘enjoy’ the beautiful moonlight. Just think. Does the moon actually produce light? Does it have light in it per se? No, not at all. Yet some believe that the light comes from the moon. Educated as you are, you know that there is no light in the moon. It only reflects the light of the sun. whatever arguments you put forth, the ignoramuses can never accept that there is no light in the moon. They see the light coming from the moon. They experience it. They enjoy it. So it becomes impossible for them to conceive that the moon has no light it.

Similarly, many lack the wisdom to accept the truth that there is no joy content in the world. Their argument is similar. They can perceive the joy in sense-objects. And argue that they gain enjoyment out of them. Hence they can never accept there is no joy external world. You may likewise hold on to your views but just ponder over the moonlight example.

It is therefore depending upon your conscience how you enjoy your acquisitions – whether they are materialistic or spiritual. But the essence of enjoyment lies in the fact that whatever you acquire, you must feel happiness fully, on your acquisition. If you do not do so, it may provoke you to acquire more and more as a normal human does it. An average person does not feel happy. You may have to climb up a little more to enjoy the happiness, however without giving up your urge to gain more.

Be Happy – Enjoy Fully What You Acquire

Be Happy – Be Active.

Do You know Shigeaki Hinohara? At the age of 97 years and 4 months he is said to be one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators, healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing since 1941.

Since his 75th birthday, he is reported to have published around 150 books, including one Living Long, Living Good that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself. He says that:

Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping a lot.

We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. He believes that we can keep that attitude as adults, too, and that it's best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime. We should not keep ourselves tight to some schedule like this is our time of taking lunch or that time, we must have our dinner etc. As much we are free of our schedules, we can gain energy. The tight schedules of taking meals create tensions and tensions are responsible for many diseases. Eat whenever you like and whatever you like – never keep yourself overfed or underfed.

All people who live long -- regardless of nationality, race or gender -- share one thing in common: None should be overweight.

For breakfast, you may drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Your lunch may have milk and a few cookies. In dinner, you may take veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week 100 grams of lean meat. Dr.Hinohara usually follows this plan.

Always plan ahead.

You should have your plan of working fixed in advance. It would save a lot of time being wasted in haphazard way of working. Dr.Hinohara’s schedule book is already full until 2014. In 2016 he plans to attend the Tokyo Olympics!

There is no need to ever retire.

The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was much lower. Due to advancement in medical sciences, the life expectancy has gone up in the meanwhile. We should keep our retirement after 75 years of age.

Share what you know.

Hinohara gives 150 lectures a year, some for 100 elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. As much you share your knowledge, you would get the same more practiced and you may perhaps get added further.

When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure.
Contrary to popular belief, doctors can't cure everyone -- so why cause unnecessary pain with surgery? Hinohara thinks that music and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine. You can have some regular yoga exercises, walking or work-outs according to your requirements.

To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff.

For attending your office, take stairs if the office is located at 2nd or 3rd floor, say below 4th floor, of the building. Try to take two stairs at a time, to get your muscles moving.

Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it.

Hospitals must cater to the basic need of patients, and we all want to have fun. Nursing Homes, Hospitals or waiting halls in the doctors’ clinics must have entertainment means to keep happy the patients taking rest or waiting for their calls.

Don't be crazy about amassing material things.

Remember: You don't know when your number is up, and you can't take it with you to the next place. You must have only essentials with you. More possessions mean more worries for you to look after them.

Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and they must accept every patient who appears at their doors.

Hinohara helped design St. Luke's so that it was possible to operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors, in the chapel. Most people thought he was crazy, but on March 20, 1995, he was unfortunately proven right when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. St. Luke’s accepted 740 victims and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly they lost one person, but they saved 739 lives.

Further, every citizen must be compulsorily trained to carry out first-aid treatment and apprised of traffic rules, civil defense systems and civic duties. The Government can grant some incentives to those who qualify their awareness tests to be held from time to time and those who do not care for must be punished.

Science alone can't cure or help people.

Illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to the hearts, emotional conditions and living standards. To know the illness and help people, there is a need for liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones. A thorough study of the living methods of the patients can make the doctor understand easily the root of disease. We must care for the upkeep of our basic facilities.

Life is filled with incidents.

On March 31, 1970, when Hinohara was 59 years old, he boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. The plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. He spent the next four days handcuffed to his seat. As a doctor, he looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how his body slowed down in a crisis. We must keep ourselves always ready to face any crisis. For this purpose, a mock drill can be conducted by you on your friends after making their well wishers aware of your attempts stating that you are going to do in his interest, to prepare him mentally ready to meet any exigency.

Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could ever do.

Hinohara’s role model was his father, who went to the United States in 1900 to study at Duke University, in North Carolina. You can too have some role model in your life and try to follow. If you are able to make him your friend, you can get guidance and close up over his working style.

It's wonderful to live long.

Since the age of 65, Hinohara has worked as a volunteer. He still puts in 18 hours, seven days a week, and loves every minute of it. If you keep yourself active all the time, the death knell may also be afraid to come closer to you and you can lead your life happily. If you live long, you can contribute to the society a lot with your experience - experience of your success, experience of your failures and how you dealt with them i n your life. You can ask the well- to- do families to ensure equitable distribution of the resources to avoid any unrest.

Be Happy – Be Active.

Be Happy – Be Successful

Every one of us wishes to be successful. For sure and certain success in our mission, the first requirement is how we communicate well or how we present ourselves to the outer world. The most copywriters, marketers and entrepreneurs desperately search for the best approach to communicate or market a written message -- when the most obvious tools are staring them right in the face. Many of them have to search for the "best way" to motivate prospects to buy their product and services -- instead of first understanding what unconsciously motivates them to act. If you haven't guessed what the most obvious tools are that's staring you right in the face, its unconscious psychological devices -- more particularly, the thinking habits of every brain.

Unconscious psychological devices are "motivations" of the mind that are embedded deep within a person's brain, and require a simple "push button" trigger to activate an automatic response action from their brain in the form of placing an order, a request for more information (generating leads), and/or a phone call or visit to the store or other place of business or to have more discussions on the subject matter you desire to have.

The concept of mind control has always been irresistible to copywriters, salespeople, marketers and entrepreneurs. Why? Obviously, it gives the person who knows these psychological devices the privileged benefits to "push button" automatic fortunes.

If you're a writer, in business or in the marketing arena who's interested in specializing in this million dollar knowledge, we may like to try upon the following steps to the extent that we are able to convince ourselves that we are successful in our attempts.

1. Story -- Everyone loves a good story

There's a magic that happens when you tell a story. The reader or listener has to become part of the story, in order to make sense of it. This is where you get them to FEEL, and almost realistically experience -- in their imaginations, what you're telling them. Unconsciously, this creates a memory and it is harder to forget. Finally, it helps you create a bond with your prospect.

Application: Relate to your prospect and come up with a story that gives them imaginative reasons to use your product or service.

2. Time Distortion -- "Pretending They Already Are"

Here's the attitude: "You already want and own this product and let me show you what it's like to." Basically, what you're doing is future pacing their thoughts as if they are holding your product or service in their hands. Use simple descriptive phrases that initiate a "sense" or "touch" response, and it instills in the mind of your prospects that they already own it. They will begin to imagine the benefits of doing so all on their own.

Application: If you sell books, they are flipping though the pages. Electronics, they are using this neat gadget (pushing the buttons, twisting knobs etc). Cars, boats, anything -- get in and drive it, grab the wheel.

3. Credibility -- To Project Authority

Make what you say believable, and nothing outrageous. Who is backing your message? Do you have happy buyers of your products or services? What do they have to say? Put that in your message. Show them experts endorse your products. If it's not believable, your prospects are going to "pick up" on that. Credibility instills what you're saying is true, period. Just give proof.

Application: Ask your customers for testimonials, even if you have to ethically bribe them for one. Offer a free sample, bonus, or report. Simply put, the more credibility you create for you and your product or service, the more believable the message becomes, and the less resistance they have when it comes to make a buying decision.

4. Urgency -- To Act Now

Even if your sales message is emotionally driven and powerful -- making them feel like they want to buy, place a sense of urgency to reinforce them to buy it now, and to not wait, period. Limited offers, supplies won't last, this deal won't last long. No matter how powerful your sales message is, if they get away -- after so long, the feeling and their buying decision erodes away their desire to buy now, until it's gone.

Application: Come up with a compelling reason to get your prospect to feel so compelled it's absolutely necessary they must buy it now, because it's urgent. Maybe use "fear of loss."

5. I Gave It To You Free, You're Guilty -- To Create The Return Effect

Ever get an offer in the mail of a free sample of a product? Ever go to a website and get 3 free chapters of a book? Giving something to someone for free creates guilt, the feeling to give back. If your friend buys you dinner, you might feel the need to buy it next time. It's human nature. When something's given, the desire to give back is created.

Application: Give away a free sample or report -- anything for free. Make sure it is something of real value. After, suggest that you've given them something and how they're one tuff nut to crack, because you've given them something for free, and you haven't heard back from them. Sit back, and watch them buy.

6. Commit then remain Consistent -- To Create Long-Term Friendships/Action

Here's the attitude: "If you're buying from me now, we're friends; you'll buy more from me too." You've won the customers trust once you've established the first sale, and once they're happy, make them happy again, and again. Buy something from the television and you're almost always asked to buy more, it's simple. Then, two months later, another offer from that same company rings on your phone in the other room, or the offer is waiting in your mail box when you get home. Normally, being a much higher priced product or service. Why not ask? You're obviously
qualified.

Application: If they buy once, get them to buy again and again. If you sell information memberships, sell all the tools and products that the membership consists of (improving your golf game membership website -- sell golf clubs, balls, clothing, shoes etc.) If you sell them a book, sell them a home study course that's more expensive.

7. Curiosity -- To Keep Your Prospect Tuned In

Early in your sales presentation, promise what will happen when they finish and complete your sales presentation, and keep them curious. Curiosity is a powerful tool you can use to keep your prospect in suspense, and to search out the answers to satisfy that strong desire to "fill in" the missing information. Leave out certain information in your benefits that "trigger" the thought "What will happen if?"

Application: Instill and arouse curiosity early in your sales presentation to cause your prospect to want to complete your message (i.e. tell them there's a misspelled word in your sales copy, and if they can find it -- they get a special deal. Ask them if they want to compelling benefit, and tell them they'll find the answer as they continue to read, or pay attention to you.

As you've probably noticed, it's infinitely more powerful to apply these psychological devices in your presentation when you realize they all open the flood gates of a person's brain, and deliver compelling emotions and complex thoughts and meaning. Anyone who comes across one of these seven applications will "undergo" the spell of this covert influence because it sparks response below a person's surface awareness.

So, the only question to ask yourself is: "Are *you* going to use them? To find out, simply go through the following checklist, and count the number of items that apply to you.

1. You want more sales
2. You're willing to look through your sales presentation making sure each of these devices are applied
3. You prefer to *use* powerful knowledge over just "knowing it"
4. You want more power in your ability to influence others on undetectable brain levels
5. You are curious and interested in creating more powerful "unconscious" influence
6. Covert persuasion and influence doesn't scare you and you'll use it to your advantage in ethical and judicious ways
7. You are willing to sit down and brainstorm how you can apply these psychological devices to your sales presentations, even if only applying one device a day, because you know it'll bring your more sales, and consequently, profits.

If at least 5 of the 7 above statements are true for you, then you're ready to use the most powerful form of undetectable communication that exists today. This is the best time to break into the covert persuasion and influence segment of communication. You will be successful. I wish all the best!

Be Happy – Be Successful.

Be Happy – Give Up Your Disappointment

You are more successful than you think... you just don't realize it. Most people don't realize just how successful they are. And it's only because they choose to focus on their failures. But if you focus on success, you'll attract more success. Why? Because when you focus on success you create a success energy. You give off this energy that says: "I'm successful" and successful people are drawn to that energy. So they'll be drawn to you and will in turn help you be more successful. You'll end up attracting more success.

Focus on the failures and you'll attract more failures and more of what you don't want. Professional baseball players are a great example of how focusing on success leads to greater success. They've got their mind and subconscious mind fixated on success... so they send out success energy... people pick up on their success energy and forget about all the failures. Instead, they only see the success... and so they get paid millions and millions, even though their bosses and everyone else knows they will fail more often than they succeed.

Their formula is simple... so simple that you can follow it and have the same success. Every time a baseball player goes to the plate (to hit the ball) he will miss more often than he will succeed. But they don't focus on the failures, their bosses don't focus on their failures, and the fans (who love them so much) don't focus on their failures. They focus on their success.

You see baseball players are measured by the number of times they hit a ball. Their batting average (the number of times they hit the ball in relation to the number times they go to bat) often determines their salary (though there could be other factors). A really good baseball player will hit the ball only 30% of the time and make tens of millions of dollars a year. The fact that he will actually miss 70% of the time is completely ignored. An average baseball player will hit 25% of the time, miss 75% of the time and still make millions a year. Again, no one focuses on the number of times he misses. Professional Athletes are not focused on failure. They're focused on success.

For years one of friends was a Sports Reporter and covered all the major sports. He talked to hundreds of athletes all over the world. The one thing he noticed is that they all focused on their success and learned from their mistakes. Are you focused on the failures or are you focused on your success? Do you think about how you didn't succeed and what went wrong?

Are you learning from your mistakes and failures or are you giving up just because things didn't work out? What you regularly think about is what you will attract. Think about the failures in life and you'll keep failing. Think about the success and you'll attract more success.

In my own life I've failed more often than I have succeeded - I know that. But if you ask me how many times - I can't tell you an exact number. If you ask me what was a recent failure - I'd have to think long and hard about it.

That's only because I don't regularly think about the failures. I choose to focus on the success and learn from the failures and mistakes and move on. If baseball players and professional athletes focused on their they would never succeed. They've conditioned their mind and subconscious mind to focus on success and attract more success.

Now you can do the same. You can be successful. You can put aside the failures. You can attract what you want in life. You can re-program your mind direct your subconscious mind to create the success you want - start today. You will be happy again. You should give up your disappointment first.

Be Happy – Give Up Your Disappointment.

Be Happy - Enjoy Your Present

Enjoy the present moment... it's a gift... one that is very special and precious. Each moment in time is unique - and will never happen again. Most of us may yearn for a time when we felt happy and alive. Perhaps you look back at fond memories and wish they could happen again. But they won't.

Instead you can create new memories, which will fill your heart with the same kind of joy, only you can do that right now - in the present moment when you realize just how special each moment really is. Maybe you look back at the past, hoping you could change some events so that things would be better now... but you can't.

However, you can create the life you want now, by living in the present moment. You are here now; exactly where you need to be... it's the perfect place to begin creating the life you want now... don't let these precious moments slip away. To do that you have to live in the present moment, are you living in the present moment?

I mean are you really here, focused on each and every moment, appreciating these moments, knowing that they will never happen again? You're probably like most people, just trying to get through the day, not really paying attention to every moment or appreciating them. You can't appreciate each and every single moment, but how many moments do you recognize as being special?

Each day brings many, many special moments, and there is tremendous power in appreciating these moments. To do that, you may have to be here now. Unfortunately most people are thinking about the past or worrying about the future. When you're thinking about the past or the future - you're not here - you're not living in the now. You're not here now and you're not drawing from the power of each present and special moment.

If you want to achieve success, happiness and live the life you want - start living in the now; be here now by experiencing the present moment for the gift that it is.

To enjoy the present, you need to be here now.

Very few of us utilize the power of the present moment. The only thing that truly exists is what is happening right now. The past does not exist; it's over with and should be nothing but a fading memory. The future does not exist; it simply hasn't happened yet. From this present moment you can draw tremendous power; the kind of power that can change your life and allow you to enjoy greater success and happiness.

You may not like the present moment but that's only because you're thinking about what you feel the present should be. You're comparing the present moment to something else and not appreciating what is happening right now. Today, you must be thinking that you don't have a job and the bank is about to foreclose. Plus your spouse just left you and you are stuck with 3 kids. Your present is not exactly pleasant. If your present or current situation is not pleasant then you're comparing it to something else. You're probably thinking about what the now should be instead of dealing with what is going on.

If you don't have a job then it's time to look for one. Don't focus on the fact that you don't have a job, and don't focus on how difficult it may seem to get a job. Instead, simply concentrate on going out and getting a job. You live in the present moment so do what has to be done now and don't worry about the way things should be.

At the end of the day see where you are and focus on what needs to be done next. You need to deal with your present situation and do everything you can to improve your life.

When you begin working on the present moment with the intent of improving your life you begin to utilize the power of now you leave the past in the past, you don't concentrate on the future and instead you start living in the present moment doing everything that you can to improve your life now.

This sends a powerful message to your subconscious mind forcing it to attract the people, and situations that will make your life more better.

How You Can Live In The Now

If you feel that things are not going well then ask yourself these next questions:

Do you find yourself waiting for something to happen? Are you waiting to get some more time? Make more money? Meet the right person? Are you waiting for the right opportunity? Waiting is another game the mind plays because it doesn't want to live in the present moment.

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then you're not living in the present moment you are focusing on anything but the present moment. Perhaps you are not able to focus on the present moment or live in the now 24 hours a day. So the next time you are driving or walking pay attention only to what is happening around you. Listen to the sounds, observe the people. Don't think about what you have to do or what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow or what might happen in five minutes.

Focus your attention only on what is happening right now. Doing this will get your mind to start living in the present moment and before you know it you'll be able to focus your mind and utilize the power of now. Start utilizing the power of now - you'll be more focused and you'll enjoy the present moment. Best of all you'll start moving toward achieving your goals and living the life you want.

Have Some Fun!

Remember to have some fun. To enjoy life, you need to do things differently. Act like a kid when you can; kids are always living in the present. That's all they know. Forget about your troubles and just do something completely different and have some fun.

Once you start doing this you'll see things begin to fall into place. If you have a passion for sports then start playing a sport you like. If you have a passion for cooking make a meal or two over the next couple of days. Do what you enjoy and you'll start attracting more positive situations into you life.

Here is one of my favorite quotes that I thought you might like to ponder: "Don't hurry, don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So be sure to stop and smell the flowers." – Walter Hagen. When it comes to attracting abundance, a big problem arises when you get stressed or approach it too seriously. The true essence of abundance is completely opposite "negativity" in all its forms - which would include stress, pessimism, doubt, frustration, anger, and the like. Getting stressed or being too serious about attracting abundance only keeps pushing it away because the frequencies are so different. On the other hand, when you take Walter Hagen's advice and stop to smell the flowers - abundance flows easily and naturally.

One of the simplest and most effective ways to get abundance flowing to you is through daily meditation. Scientific studies have proven that regular meditation provides many physical and emotional health benefits, and one of them is helping you to feel more relaxed and happy. Feeling relaxed and happy is perfectly in alignment with the essence of abundance, so you begin drawing more of it into your life when you treat yourself to be in present only, forgetting the past for the time being and with a target of future.

Be Happy - Enjoy Your Present.

Be Happy – Simplify Your Life

Life is like a roller coaster having a number of ups and downs mostly without any prior information. We plan for something but sometime, results come beyond our imagination and calculations. Very rarely we see someone carrying his/her life smoothly. I understand that for majority of us, life may not be hassle-free but we can simplify it. If someone believes that working long hours and maintaining busy lifestyles are exciting and enriching, he knows that it can lead to a feeling of constant stress also.

Now-a-days, it has become a sort of fashion that for fitness, people take up complex exercises. If they undertake yoga or simple walk regularly, a number of their problems may stand solved. Even in terms of diet, instead of hard discipline, they can serve the purpose by taking high fibre food, regular meals and cutting back junk food. There are many ways to simplify your life. They are very simple.

Focussing

Many times, we do not focus on the small problems. In course of time, they escalate and become a bigger one. We must try to focus what is beginning to go wrong. Don’t let it proceed further. We may make a list of such issues to be attended soon and the goals to be achieved ultimately. After making the list and keeping it updated, we must be aggressive to implement our intentions to work really well.

Clearing Clutter

We should not hoard things. If we keep only those things which are relevant and required really, we can get ourselves well organized. The useful articles would be with us to find quickly when we actually need. We must throw away the articles not required.

Automating What We Can

With the new inventions and technologies, many petty jobs can be accomplished without any manual interference. We must keep our look on such advancements and try to absorb them as soon as they become feasible for us to afford and learn their operation. Making little changes in our daily routine life by setting up automatic timers to watering our plants or turning off the lights when not required, signing up automatic bill pay options or getting off junk mails are some of such efforts which can make our life simpler. You must use the technologies appropriately but without making yourself wholly dependent upon. Try other options also. Imagine our forefathers had enjoyable life when there were no mobile phones, no tech gadgets, no fast conveyances, no communication methods and internet.

Learning to say NO

Very frequently, we agree to requests from others because we like not to disappoint them. But all the time, this policy does not work sound. You have got some jobs important for you and your family. You need to care for yourself and your family. If you continue to do pleasing everyone coming to you, you won’t find time to accomplish your jobs and expectations of those who are very much close to you and you owe some duties to them – if you devote your time to others, you won’t be able to please your owns. You must learn to say NO to such requests which may encroach over your personal time which you require for your hobbies, exercise and other stress relieving activities. You must consider yourself which is right for you – none other than you is able to decide it and kindly do not let them prevail upon you. Choose your real well wishers and make your priorities. Try to save your emotional life but your emotions should not be permitted to black mail you. You must come to real world immediately and try to examine if you are not too emotional with some issue.

There are many other methods to simplify – you can choose and implement as per your individual circumstances.

Be Happy – Simplify your Life.

Be Happy - Ensure Equitable Distribution of the Resources amongst All

In the early stages of mankind, there were lesser number of people with abundant resources for survival. Slowly, slowly with the increase of population world over, exploitation of the resources grew up. New technologies are coming into process and we are ensuring maximum output.

A rough estimate is there which says that 15% of the total population has occupied 85% of the world resources and the other 85% of the total population is compelled to meet their requirements out of the rest 15% resources. There is no equitable distribution of the resources amongst all and this inequality is the bone of contention creating various groups of people trying to snatching from other group.

Today, India has the 2nd largest urban system in the world. 310 million people live in 5161 cities and towns. That is like cramming the entire population of America into a third of the space. Most Indian cities are probably operating at their peak levels of occupancy. Perhaps in some cases it is a miracle that they still work. To make matters worse in the next 30 years almost 400 million people will migrate to these cities. That is about 20 Australia's for you. And by 2030 India’s urban population is estimated to reach a staggering 575 million. It is about time somebody asked the question: In the years to come, where will India live? How will India live? Similarly, it applies, almost, to all the developing and developed countries.


Today, I found one message very much appealing. That message was addressed to the terrorists asking them to rethink over their strategy of getting solution to their problems of unemployment and poverty. The message supposed long time unemployment, responsible for the poverty amongst the masses creates the need of using violence to solve the problems of getting essentials for the survival. The terrorists never think that by adopting violent means, they get only immediate solution of their problem of food for their family and themselves. But in long term, they are not able to face or merge into society, once they are in criminal world. They would again be unemployed and at that time, they won’t be able to live with their family, nor are they able to provide proper feed and schooling to their children. To avoid unemployment and resultant poverty, they must equip themselves with proper education and technical qualification.

This message is, however, one sided. What about those who create unemployment? An industrialist deserves welcome when he starts an industry to provide employment to some man-hands. But after commissioning his industry, he concentrates over getting recovery of his investments only – he never thinks about his contribution to the society when he acquires a lot of land on cheap rates, when he pollutes the surrounding areas by emitting harmful gases and letting out the polluted water untreated, when the set up of his industry puts an end to the greenery and many trees there, when he charges more than the fair margin of profit by holding up the essentials in his warehouses for the sake of increasing the prices by creating artificial shortage in the market, by using substandard materials in the production, by using corrupt methods to earn more and more, by evading taxes and so many wrong practices. When they are wrong, they should not expect right from the other end.

Bureaucrats and political leaders are also responsible for the chaos. When a bureaucrat does not perform well, he affects the interests of the people at large. Those bureaucrats not performing well must be removed immediately so that sincere persons are employed for smooth working. When a political leader uses politics for his invested interests only, he creates imbalance in the society creating dissatisfaction and frustration. Such political leaders must be boycotted and voted out at the earliest opportunity. If they are found wrong with the nation’s interests, they must be hanged unto death so that none other could repeat their practices.

When the courts of law do not deliver the judgments in time, the affected persons loose confidence in the law machinery. Improper delivery of judgments is also responsible for the social turbulence. We waste a lot of funds in wasteful activities for organizing proper infrastructure for judiciary; we make the plea of short of finance. We can have proper priorities and think that timely delivery of judgments and implementation thereof can solve majority of the problems.

There would not be any viable solution of the problem if we just punish Madhuri Gupta who is alleged to have been spying for the other country, we must take into account why she got involved in such heinous activities and who were the responsible persons creating such circumstances compelling or luring her to do such activities. If after deep and impartial investigation it is found that Madhuri Gupta did it all at her own sweet will, she must be hanged in public to show that none other may repeat her activities as she put the security of millions at stake. A fast track investigating agency and court must decide it. Similarly, Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai must be done away and for that cause, all the concerned countries must have cooperated. That day, it occurred in India, tomorrow, it can happen in Pakistan or some other country. Why this occurred and who were responsible, we need to investigate that too impartially.

For equitable distribution of resources, we must make out an assessment of the basic requirements of an individual and ensure that none of us should get lesser than that. The individual getting basic and essentials must be ready to contribute equally in reciprocation. If he does not do so, he can be penalized appropriately by the state. If someone earns more than he deserves, the surplus must be confiscated. Everything must be accountable. We can remove all the social problems when we are able to ensure that right is might.

The whole world must be treated as a single unit and all the inhabitants must be granted to equal rights to move everywhere and settle without any prohibition in name of the safeguards of the tradition of a specific culture or caste. After the World War II, there was a good start by organizing UNO but as soon it became the puppet in the hands of veto powered nations, it lost the importance. It must have become a supreme authority to ensure peaceful and happy life by granting uniform rights of life to all on this beautiful earth. If there is no uniformity of rights granted, we can not ensure peace.

Be Happy - Ensure Equitable Distribution of the Resources amongst All

Be Happy – Give Up Your Selfishness

What do you wish for by working so hard? What is your fundamental and lasting interest in life? Isn’t it yourself? That is what most of us would say if we answered truthfully. We are interested in our progress, our job, our family, our estate, in getting a better position for ourselves, more prestige, more power and more domination over others, and so on. Some of us would say that it is wrong to be primarily interested in ourselves. But what is wrong about it except that we seldom decently, honestly, admit it? If we do, we are rather ashamed of it. So there it is – one is fundamentally interested in oneself, and for various ideological or traditional reasons one thinks it is wrong.

You may say that it is more satisfactory to help another than to think about yourself. What is the difference? It is still self-concern. If it gives you greater satisfaction to help others, you are concerned with what will give you greater satisfaction. Why bring any ideological concept into it? Why this double thinking? Why not say? ‘What I rally want is satisfaction, whether in sex, or in helping others, or in becoming a great saint, scientist, or politician?’

It is the same process, isn’t it? Satisfaction, in all sorts of ways, subtle and obvious, is what we want. When we say we want freedom, we want it because we want it because we think it may be wonderfully satisfying, and the ultimate satisfaction, of course, is this peculiar idea of self-realization. What we are really seeking is a satisfaction in which there is no dissatisfaction at all.

Most of us crave the satisfaction of having a position in society because we are afraid of being nobody. Society is so constructed that a citizen who has a position of respect is treated with great courtesy, whereas a man who has no position is kicked around… This craving for position, for prestige, for power, to be recognized by society as being outstanding in some way, is a wish to dominate others, and this wish to dominate is a form of aggression. The saint who seeks a position in regard to his saintliness is as aggressive as the chicken pecking in the farmyard. And what is the cause of this aggressiveness? It is fear, isn’t it?

Fear is one of the greatest problems in life. A mind that is caught in fear lives in confusion, in conflict, and therefore must be violent, distorted, and aggressive. Living in such a corrupt, stupid society as we do, with the competitive education we receive, which engenders fear, we all are burdened with fears of some kind, and fear is a dreadful thing that warps, twists, and dulls our days… We are all afraid of something; there is no fear in abstraction, it is always in relation to something. Do you know your own fears – fear of losing your job, of not having enough food or money, or what your neighbours or the public think about you, or of not being a success, of losing your position in society of being despised or ridiculed…? And what do you usually do about them? You run away from them don’t you, or invent ideas and images to cover them? But to run away from fear is only to increase it.

One of the major causes of fear is that we do not want to face ourselves as we are. So, as well as the fears themselves, we have to examine the network of escapes we have developed to rid ourselves of them. If the mind, in which is included the brain, tries to overcome fear, to suppress it, discipline it, control it, translate it into terms of something else, there is friction, there is conflict, and that conflict is a waste of energy.

We can be happy if we give up our selfishness. We must forget ourselves and contribute to humanity. If we start today doing so, the other day some other person may also do and one day, we will get every second and third person to be doing so. At that time, we may find the heaven here itself. Just, there is a need to take initiative of organizing essentials only for self and giving up our greed for gathering those which are not required immediately.

Be Happy – Give Up Your Selfishness.

Be Happy - Experience Your Self

You have the free will to feel anything that you can imagine or create. Your free will can be influenced by your aptitude or if you are not prejudiced. One day, I was sitting outside on the patio in the morning with a cup of tea watching the sun coming up, and feeling a cool breeze from the water below me. I was trying to Imagine being in a realm where you could not experience the five senses.

What would it be like to know everything that is to know all the secrets of the universe? What would it be like to know a fresh cup of tea in the morning but not be able to see, taste, or smell it? What would it be like to know a sunrise, but not be able to experience it? We may imagine ourselves all alone in a space where we could only experience nothing. Now from time to time, I long to be in that space. At this moment with my cup in hand and the warmth of the sun on my face, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I can imagine being before God, being all there is, all knowing, and all-powerful experiencing just that. To know everything and not being able to experience that knowing - no sensations, no feelings and no emotion - what would it be like?

You can imagine yourself, but until you have experienced that awareness. It’s just a thought with no purpose. I can imagine myself studying for years to be a doctor or a lawyer and then not being able to be a lawyer or doctor. There would be no purpose in the absolute world. The purpose of life is simply to experience being alive. It is humanity that acknowledges his own existence and creates a purpose for his physical life. That purpose is experienced by the creator through you. You are in fact, the creator experiencing all the things that it knows, in three dimensional physical life.

Within you, you have all the attributes and characteristics of the creator. You have the power of the free will to experience anything that you can imagine or create. All your present belief systems and experiences are real only for the time that you are experiencing them. They are all illusions; they are your personal experiences. They are meant to be sensationalized and experienced. They are addictive. None other than you can experience or you can not be dictated upon to experience a particular imagination.
All aspects of the one mind, the one should, work together in a beautifully choreographed experience that is shared. There are no victims, only souls that are working together from free will to experience it. There are no accidents, no tragedies, no natural disasters, no births or deaths that do not have the complete consent of those involved, at some level of consciousness. The awareness of these things brings with it the ability to participate at a conscious level, and the ability to change at will your involvement in these things. You can go through life as a victim, or as a willing partner – either one is a personal choice. Life happens with or without your conscious awareness of what is going on. This awareness brings only the conscious free will to understand and appreciate what is going on.

From this area of enlightenment comes the understanding of how things work, and all experiences are welcomed and sought after. From this awareness comes the true meaning of absolute freedom and unconditional love - the love of self, and the life you are living because you are doing it willingly. From this perspective, tragedy is no longer experienced that way death is welcomed as a new beginning and struggle is appreciated for the experience. From this awareness one can see all the beginnings and the endings, and most choose to come back and experience the trip again and again under reincarnation.

Life is seen for what it is when you are no longer a prisoner, when you let go of old thoughts and beliefs. You cannot experience the full potential of which you are capable while you languish in restrictive imagination and limiting thoughts. You are beautiful, you are free, and you are God living in this body. Be Godlike in your thoughts and in what you want to experience. Set yourself free to imagine anything without being pre-biased. You can be friend to your enemy if you once put on his shoes, if you once think out why the enmity started and where you were responsible for the strained relationship. If you did some wrong, you should find out why it could not be avoided. You must find out how you can repair the damage – try it and you may get success to restore your mental peace.

Be Happy - Experience Your Self.

Be Happy - Materialism Never Provides Real Happiness

In our life, we intend to gather two types of possessions - the essential, and the luxurious possessions. The essentials are required for our survival but the luxurious possessions are gathered once we are able to have essentials sufficiently. God has given us this beautiful life with sufficient resources to enjoy and brain to exploit those resources. But in course of time, we have been so busy in collection of earthly possessions that we miss our mental peace in process of satisfying our greed and needs more and more. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Really, it is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents men from living freely and peacefully.

With the advancement of civilization, we have forgotten the universal truth that a child comes to this world empty hand and goes back with empty hands after living the life. But when the child grows up, he gets inclined to materialism which coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false. It is true that materialism, at its simpler level, involves the focus on material "things" as opposed to that which is spiritual or intellectual in nature. We live in a world surrounded by and composed of matter. It is natural, therefore, that we may become distracted from spiritual or intellectual pursuits by material possessions, but this is frequently where problems occur. We can become obsessed by a desire to obtain them, or simply frustrated by the need to maintain them

When we try in good faith to believe in materialism, in the exclusive reality of the physical, we are asking our selves to step aside; we are disavowing the very realm where we exist and where all things precious are kept -- the realm of emotion and conscience, of memory and intention and sensation and why we frequently come and go through this world. Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time. If we attach undue importance to them, exceeding our essential requirement, we become slave to them. Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment. We feel momentary happiness after getting that material thing.

It is true that the most men love money and security more, and creation and construction less, as they get older. Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth. Unfortunately, the people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment. He tries to gather more and more and gets himself busy all the time to maintain. But he forgets that there is one advantage to having nothing, it never needs repair.

Benefits make a man a slave. There must be more to life than having everything. Most people seek after what they do not possess and are thus enslaved by the very things they want to acquire. Much of our activity these days is nothing more than a cheap anesthetic to deaden the pain of an empty life. It is usually assumed that purposeless activity may be a phase of death. They think that there is something perverse about more than enough. When we have more, it is never enough. It is always somewhere out there, just out of reach. The more we acquire, the more elusive enough becomes. The saddest thing we can imagine is to get used to luxury. We cry over spilled champagne! Our complaints are not over the lack of necessities, but the abundance of benefits. You bellyache over the frills, not the basics, over benefits, not essentials. You forget your duties about those, your parents who gave you this beautiful life, you forget those friends and relatives who wished you best when you were in process of growing up and not able to stand on your own feet. In materialism, you care for your own interests only; you attach no value to emotional relationship and moral values. You compare your sense of humanity versus your gains.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants. The man who pets a lion may tame it, but the man who coddles the body makes it ravenous. The most terrible thing about materialism even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offers a prospect of deliverance. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness, except greed. Our lust is all GET—Love is all GIVE. All earthly joy begins pleasantly, but at the end it gnaws and kills.

Let us treasure up in our soul some of those things which are permanent..., not of those which will forsake us and be destroyed, and which only tickle our senses for a little while. Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss. You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied even if it were doubled.

You become attached to money but money is accidental. It has nothing to do with essential life. You become attached to your house or car, spouse, children and relationships. These all are accidental; it has nothing essential in it. It is not your real being.

You have become attached to ‘my’ and ‘mine’- to possessions. And you have completely lost track of your being. You have completely lost track of your being. You have completely lost track of ‘I’. ‘My’ has become more important. When ‘my’ becomes more important then you are getting attached to the accidental. When ’I’ remains a servant, you are a master. Then, you live in a totally different way. Using the word ‘I’, in an absolutely non-egoistic sense it means your being. The accidental man lives on the periphery. The essential man remains centered.

You create a world of illusions around you. You get attached to things which you die. You go on being identified with things which are going to be taken away from you. Become more and more essential and less and less accidental. Only that which is eternal is true; only that which is going to be for ever and ever is true. That which is momentary is untrue. The momentary has to be watched and not to be identified with.

This game of ‘my’ and ‘mine’ is an absurd game-but this is the whole game of life. This earth was there before you ever came here, and this will be here when you are gone. The diamonds that you possess were there before you ever came here, and when you are gone those diamonds will remain here-and they will not even remember you. This game of possessiveness is the most foolish game there is-but this is the whole game.

People who become certain about the accidental are going to be frustrated; their certainty is going to create much frustration for them. Their certainty will create expectations, and they cannot be fulfilled- because the universe is not there to fulfill your expectations. It has its own destiny. It is moving towards its own goal, it does not care about your private goals.

All private goals are against the goal of the universe itself. The essential man comes to know, to feel, that ‘I am not separate from the Whole and there is no need to seek and search for any destiny on my own. Things are happening, the world is moving. There is no need for me to make any struggle, any effort; there is no need for me to fight for anything. I can relax and be’.

When things are no longer important, only consciousness becomes important. When things are no longer significant, a new search, a new door opens. Then you are not rushing towards the without; you start slipping into the within. The kingdom of godliness is within.

The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaninglessness and hopelessness that characterizes the thoughts of men today. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. We should reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. Materialism never provides you real happiness.

Be Happy - Materialism Never Provides Real Happiness.

Be Happy – Diversity is Still Beautiful

God has very beautifully fabricated this Universe. Every day, we see a new happening. In spite of all the best efforts, man is not able to measure up the length and breadth of the universe. We could not ascertain how it came into the present form and what the ultimate is, since it is said to be expanding continuously. Very rarely, we find two persons having same features. Peoples, races, tribes and Communities have different and varied customs, habits, tastes, character, inclinations and ideas. Their opinions and thoughts are often contrary to one another. Yet it is possible for unity to be revealed and perfect accord among human souls to exist. Different notes in music blend to strike a perfect chord. Separately, each note is so different from the other. When strung together with care, they make beautiful music. The inherent diversity is beautiful.

In our daily life, we can witness differences of two kinds. One is the cause of annihilation and is like the antipathy existing among warring nations and conflicting tribes who seek each other’s destruction, uprooting one another’s families, depriving one another of rest and comfort and unleashing carnage. The other kind, so diverse, is the essence of perfection and the cause of the appearance of the bestowals by God for all the creatures alike.

If we consider the flowers of a garden: though different in kind, colour, form and shape, yet, in as much as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, the diversity increases their charm, and adds to their beauty. Thus, when the unifying force, the penetrating influence of the Word of God, takes effect, the difference of customs, manners, habits, ideas, opinions and dispositions embellishes the world of humanity.

This diversity is like the naturally created dissimilarity and variety of the limbs and organs of the human body, for each one contributes to the beauty, efficiency and perfection of the whole. Under the influence of human’s sovereign soul, and its power, the limbs and members, veins and arteries of the body reinforce harmony. So diversity strengthens love, and multiplicity is the greatest factor for coordination.

How unpleasing it would be to the eye if all the flowers and plants, leaves and blossoms, fruits, branches and trees of a garden were all of the same shape and colour. Diversity of hues, forms and shapes enriches and adorns the garden, and heightens the effect thereof. In like manner, when diverse shades of thought, temperament, character are brought together under the power and influence of one central agency, the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest. The celestial potency of the Word of God, which oversees and transcends the realities to all things, is capable of harmonising the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of people. It is the penetrating power in all things, the mover in all things, the mover of souls and the binder and regulator of humanity.

The disease which afflicts the body politic is lack of love and absence of altruism. When there is no real love, and the condition is such that, unless their susceptibilities are quickened by some power so that unity, love and accord may develop within them, there can be no healing, no agreement. Without love and unity there can be no progress or prosperity. Therefore, adhere to the power which creates this love and unity in our hearts. Science cannot cure the illness of the body politic. Science cannot create amity and fellowship in the human heart, nor can patriotism and racial allegiance effect a remedy. It must be accomplished solely though the divine bounties and spiritual bestowals by God.

Be Happy – Diversity is Still Beautiful

Be Happy – How To Be Happy

No therapy can diagnose how we feel. Only patients can tell how they feel and how they are recovering. No doctors would be telling us soon how happy we were. They can not decide how exactly we felt on a particular day. Our moods may fit into a formula devised by scientists, who would define what it meant to be happy, sad or otherwise. The scientists are doing astounding work by scanning electrodes to produce changing colours in various parts of our brains with the change in emotions. In some emotive moods, we radiate delightfully toothless grins, others pucker in distress. The happy babies show distinctly different, and apparently quantifiable, blobs of blue in the area of the brain where happy moods reside. You can thus see on a screen how happy you are; or, so the scientists claim, adding they are on the job of precisely measuring happiness.

You are not going to crowd my skull with electrodes any day soon to tell my mood. And you are not going to define for me what it means to be happy at particular point of time, on a particular day, in a particular situation and in a particular place. I will decide for myself, or maybe my temperament will. And, will, you measure me after stuffing me full of chocolates or will you deprive me of the one human invention that can make me hit an instant high? Besides, do you know we sometimes smile when we’re actually fuming inside? I do often. It’s stressful but controlling one’s temper with a smile is a wise forward deal on long-term happiness.

I am always happy at happy meetings, positively jolly, as such occasions demand. But, to raise another problem, the degree of happiness can vary from one meeting to another meeting. And, if you measure my mood in the middle of the festive hours, you might find the happiness area colorful, but with a marked decrease in intensity as the evening wears into the late night. The next morning could show a plenty of remorse at having indulged too much for too long. I crawl out of bed swearing, never again. Until the next party, that is. So, what do you measure, and exactly when and where, if you want to declare me happy or unhappy?

But common sense arguments never stopped scientists. Neurologists, psychiatrists and geneticists will carry on turning common sense on its head, as indeed they must if they are true scientists. And now, political scientists and social psychologists have joined the band. They have gone one beyond to classify whole nations in a global happiness index.

Researchers at Britain’s University of Leicester used a battery of statistical data and surveyed 80,000 people worldwide to chart the state of happiness in 178 countries. The happiest nation? Denmark and Switzerland, which tied for first place. The most unhappy? Zimbabwe and Burundi. The United States came in 23rd in the list, even though it was the first republican democracy in the world to incorporate the pursuit of happiness in its Constitution as a worthy national goal.

You might assume the people in India are a pretty happy bunch, going by the delirious, musical acrobatics that inundate our TV screens day in ad night out or by the sheer number of supposedly happy festivals they celebrate year in and year out. Well, India figures a lowly 125th on the index. If that makes anyone sad, you can feel happy by looking at Pakistan, which is 166th, just one step above Russia. But, then again, China is higher at 82nd.

Interestingly, the countries that fare well on the index are almost all well-off, Being healthy and wealthy boosts national moods. But does it make people wise? If being healthy and wealthy made nations wise, the Iraq war may not have happened. Capitalism, however, is a winner. All the nations listed high on the index are market economies.

Democracy, curiously, does not seem to feature in the global happiness equation, much to the chagrin of the liberals who value freedom – of expression, in particular as key ingredient of any national happiness formula, although most nations in the top 50 in the list are democracies. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Kuwait are also up there, underscoring the wealth factor but raising doubts about popular yearning for freedom.
The one intriguing entry in the list, at number 8, is the happy state of Bhutan. It is neither wealthy nor is it a market economy. But it is only country which officially measures its well-being not by GDP alone but also by a national happiness index. Bhutan’s culture minister explained on the BBC show how people were kept happy by strict government supervision of what they could see on TV and what outside influences would be allowed into the landlocked kingdom. Clearly, if you don’t let people know what excitement lies out there in the wide world, ignorance can indeed be bliss.

You need to be happy – it is our birthright because we do not wish to live in misery or disappointment. How? It is very easy – just you are to keep control over your ever increasing needs by balancing it with your resources, keeping yourself emotionally high and taking the bad things as these too shall pass away. You need to rejoice with every moment giving up your unnecessary ego and value your time and keep care of your health. A single right decision of marriage with a right person can make up 90% of your happiness throughout your life. You must consider your matrimonial proposals very carefully. You must have proper management of your time and ensure how every unit of time available with you is productive and how its productivity can be enhanced further. You must find out the solutions of your problems rather than postponing them or accumulating for a future date. You may ignore the little follies and find out the reasons so that they are not repeated. There are many do’s and don’ts depending upon your individual circumstances – for being happy, you need to identify what can make you really happy.

Be Happy – Try to Learn How To be Happy.