Denzel Washington - Fall Forward

Your Happiness Is Up To You

Secrets Of The World's Happiest People

When it comes to being happy, you have more control than you think.

When it comes to being happy, you have more control than you think. Dan Buettner spent five years studying happiness, and is the author of “Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way.” Blue Zones are regions of the world where people commonly live to 100 and beyond. And here’s what he found to be common characteristics among the happiest people: 

• They don’t watch TV. Most of us spend over four hours a day watching television. But in places where happiness levels are the highest, people spend more time with family and friends and less time with the tube. That’s why Buettner suggests owning no more than one TV, and keeping it in an out-of-the-way place, like the basement. Then watching it will become a deliberate activity, instead of an “automatic” one. 

• Happy people are also less likely to shop. In North America, we often feel pressured by the media to always want more. But a study found that the high you get from buying something new lasts no more than 14 minutes. Instead, put your money toward something that gives you a life-changing experience, like a class or a weekend retreat.

• The final characteristic of happy people: They’re religious. When people in Mexico were asked, on a scale of one to 10, “How important is God in your life?” More than 80-percent of them responded with a “10.” Experts say this explains why Mexican people are among the world’s happiest, despite being among the world’s poorest.

from tesh.com, "Intelligence for Your Life"

I Can See Clearly Now by Wayne Dyer - Excerpts, Part 2

This is a continuation of excerpts from Wayne Dyer's book I Can See Clearly Now, beginning with Chapter 31.


See also I Can See Clearly Now by Wayne Dyer - Excerpts, Part 1


31
I repeatedly offer my clients tools that will facilitate their discovering that they are the sum total of all the choices they make.  They resist at first, wanting to blame, and I point out this is a choice.  I tell them that to do so is not just crazy, it is an error in thinking - that is their erroneous zone.

Change your thinking, take responsibility for everything in your life and conquer your erroneous thinking.

To become independent of the good opinion of others and be free from the need for approval is precisely what I was teaching - this was one of the most common kinds of neurotic disorders that I had been helping clients overcome for years.

"Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place.  And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all changes that matter in the world come about.  So be that one person." - Buckminster Fuller

I knew inside that I couldn't be that self-actualized person if I was afraid of what anyone else might think of me.

32
Opportunities to fulfill one's own dharma are omnipresent when there's an inner picture of one's intention firmly planted in the imagination.

The inner vision that says yes to life and is open to all possibilities impels you to look about with more intense vision, to anticipate things working out, and to jump on even the slightest omen that indicates you're being guided.

The key to my seeing more clearly is alignment. By maintaining a burning desire with an image that's like an inner flame that is impervious to any distractions, I began to look outward at every circumstance as an omen. It wasn't luck that pushed me then; it was my willingness to hold on to an inner vision until it became intention - and then to humbly follow my instincts and say yes to every break that came along. By being active and fearless, I was allowing doors to open that would have remained locked, or worse yet, unnoticed.

"The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs...one step at a time." - Joe Girard

33
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
- from Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken"

Supernatural moments of insight that are often life-transforming:
First, they are always surprising. Second, they are vivid. Third, quantum moments are always benevolent. Fourth, they are enduring.

As individuals begin to align with their original intent and live a life on purpose, they invite in their highest guidance.

It does no good to pray for guidance and help if we're living an ego-centered life.

...[become] more like those who live to serve in Divine love.  They see themselves in that energy, and can and will guide us to a more God-realized path.

Only the insecure strive for security.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the true source of all art and science." - Albert Einstein

34
My second choice was to refuse to allow anyone's opinion to get in the way of what I had placed in my imagination, and to take total responsibility for every single aspect of this journey I was undertaking.

When Alexander the Great visited the greatest spiritual teacher of his time, Diogenes, and asked if he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied, "Only stand out of my light."

I had an inner conviction about what I intended to do.  I knew that I could not simply stand by and allow all of my dreams to be wiped away because of others, who were more experienced, felt that they knew better - knew the way. I asked them to please stand out of my light and let me be guided by my own vision.

...it was imperative for me to remain independent of the good and bad opinions of others.

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Maya Angelou

I must ignore the opinions and advice of others when they interfere with my own inner knowing.

35
The importance of feeling the fear - acknowledging it rather than pretending it wasn't there - and then doing what my heart and soul were telling me I had to do.

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." - Patanjali

When we stay on purpose and steadfastly refuse to be discouraged, accepting our fears and doing it anyway, those seemingly dormant forces do come alive and show us that we are greater people than we ever dreamed ourselves to be.  We discover that we are one with our Source of being, and as Jesus put it so perfectly, 'With God all things are possible."

Being with God means living out one's purpose and always coming from a place of love.  I see so clearly now that my resolve to follow my own innermost calling and to do it from an inner mantra of How may I serve? rather than What's in it for me? is what dissipated my worrying about financial catastrophe.

Self-actualizing people do what they do because they are following their heart, the call of their soul, not because of what might accrue to them.

This is what is clear to me today: follow your heart, stay aligned with your Source of being - love - and let the universe take care of the details.

36
I want to teach people how to stop feeling victimized in all of their interactions in life - to operate from strength rather than weakness when dealing with family members, authority figures, and the demons that live inside that continually pull them away from their own well-being.

Clearly there's an invisible force in the universe that handles everything. No exceptions. This force is in me and it is in everything and everyone else alive - it connects us all. When I stay in harmony with this force, which is really pure unconditional love, it leaves nothing undone by doing nothing.

Clearly this force that is within all of us works to assist each of us if we stay true to our calling.

One can summon the courage to stand up to those who attempt to replace one's knowing what's right, with their will, or their policies, or their regulations.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
  ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
- John Keats

37
When I decided to run a marathon, I already saw myself triumphantly crossing the finish line. As a result, I acted on the idea as if it were a completed fact. This prompted me to go out every day and challenge myself to live up to the idea I had in my imagination, since it was already a fait accompli.

I'm convinced that some of our greatest and most influential teachers show up in our lives disguised as people we resent or even despise.

"If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place." - Lao-tzu

38
"Everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

The truth - that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

You must teach people to find meaning in their suffering, and in so doing they will be able to turn their personal tragedies into personal triumphs." - Viktor Frankl

The essence of greatness is the ability to choose personal fulfillment in circumstances where others choose madness.

"He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how." - Nietzche

39
We can...change ourselves and make new choices in the face of circumstances that cannot be altered - this includes our past and our entire personal history.

Be wary - very wary - of those who would step into my life and decide for me what my life's work ought to look like.

40
I am much more than a body that is weary. I am a spirit, and this spirit can do anything because it isn't restricted by time and space and physical form.

I can clearly see now that there's much more to this whole idea of being human than what is measurable by our physical accomplishments. I know there's a reservoir of inner strength that can be called upon in crucial moments - and even more amazing, there's Divine guidance available to us if we are willing to believe in it and allow it to work with us.

41
I want my children to enjoy life, to value themselves, to be risk takers, to become self-reliant, to be free from stress and anxiety, to have peaceful lives, to celebrate their present moments, to experience a lifetime of wellness, to be creative, and above all to fulfill their highest needs and to feel a sense of purpose.

The best way to truly learn and understand something is to teach it.

Learn to rely upon yourself. Take total responsibility for everything that comes into your life, and as Dr. Viktor Frankl has taught, you always have a choice in how you react to anything that life offers you.

42
You'll see it when you believe it. And the it is anything that people place their attention on in their imagination, which will become observable in the physical realm because of the power of the mind to create anything it believes in.

I saw it all come to fruition because I first believed it.

43
"With God, all things are possible." - New Testament, Matthew 19:26

It's been said that when Jesus entered a village, just his presence and nothing more would elevate the consciousness of everyone in the village.

With Mother Teresa, there was the element of spiritual impact as well. This saintly woman's presence seemed to make everyone around her want to be more Christlike - to be less judgmental, to overlook and forgive any shortcoming, to literally feel closer to God because of the pheromones of love she emitted by her very presence.

44
...my highest self, the individualized expression of God, which is pure love. I came from perfect health and well-being, and I intend to stay aligned with this and keep alcohol out of my body, because alcohol destroys brain cells and therefore is destructive to my well-being. I have a senior partner in this undertaking and I feel confident, blessed, and truly inspired to change this habit - one day at a time - and  love every minute of it.

Every day I become increasingly aware that deep within all of us is a unified field of limitless possibilities.

"I have been all things unholy; if God can work through me, he can work through anyone." - St. Francis of Assisi

Breaking self-sabotaging habits is not difficult when I invest myself in my highest God-realized self.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. - Buddhist homily

45
... it's about recognizing God within us. Living beyond the ego, which is really the false self. We all come from God, therefore we must be sacred - a piece of what we come from.

"My stand is clear; produce to distribute, feed before you eat, give before you take, think of others before you think of yourself. Only a selfless society based on sharing can be stable and happy. This is the only practical solution. If you do not want it, then - fight." - Nisargadatta Maharaj

We are all spiritual beings having a human experience.

That which is real is that which never changes.

"While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us." - Benjamin Franklin

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.  Beautiful people do not just happen." - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

46
...the opportunity to live as God lives - to align myself with the pure energy of giving without asking anything in return. This is how God works. This is how the great ascended masters lived and worked. Asking only, How may I serve? rather than What's in it for me?

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.
- Rabindranath Tagore

47
When we fully align ourselves with our original nature, we are one with the creative Source of the universe, and we therefore gain all of the same powers as the creator.

48
There's a flame of intense desire when it comes to fulfilling the wishes that are burning within me. No one else can do it for me, and I can find no acceptable excuses for participating in a project that flounders.

I had nothing at all on my unwilling-to-do list in order to make my future dream a present fact.

Something within me...excitedly murmured, I could do this. I know I could. Those inner promptings are the work of angelic forces that have always been there, inviting me to pursue wider and more far-reaching vistas.

...two mental lists that I carried with me. On one list is everything I am willing to do to make my future dream a present fact. On the second list is everything I am unwilling to do - that list is always blank.

We all have a destiny, a dharma to fulfill, and there are endless opportunities, people, and circumstances that surface throughout our lives to illuminate our path. The incidents and the people create tiny sparks that cause us to recognize, This is for me - this is important; this is why I'm here. Those sparks are signals to pay attention and be astonished and know that those little sparks are being ignited by the same Divine Source that is responsible for all of creation.

49
The Prayer of St. Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
Amen

This is not a prayer: it is a technology.  It is about being an alchemist and converting hatred to love, doubt to faith, despair to hope, and sadness to joy.

Miracles happen when we think and act as God does. I now see clearly that this means serving without hesitation, ignoring the demands of the ego, and asking for nothing in return.

Man's inhumanity to man will only be solved when we take up the mantle of the life and teaching of St. Francis of Assisi.

50
"In the universe there is an unmeasurable, indescribable force which sorcerers call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link." - Carlos Castaneda, The Power of Silence

I am enthralled by this idea of intention not being something that we do, but rather an energy that we are connected to.

I have a small frame on my desk that I look at each day as I begin to write. It says:
Good morning,
This is God.
I will be handling
All of your
Problems today.
I will not need
Your help, so have
A miraculous day.

I consider that I truly need to go to the lowest point in my life in order to advance to the next stage of my own Divine mission.

I know as I hold this book in my hands that God writes all the books, and builds all the bridges, and delivers all the speeches.

I can see clearly that this traumatic episode shifted me upward into becoming a more compassionate and spiritually aware person. Virtually all spiritual advances that we make in our lives are preceded by some kind of a fall. That fall of living in the middle of melancholy forced me to figure out a way to climb out and reach higher.

I have come to understand that I should always strive to be in a state of gratitude, not simply for the niceties that show up, but also for the things that appear to be so devastating. A hard lesson, but one that I apply regularly now, ever since I saw the enormous spiritual advances I was able to make over what I thought at the time was the end of my happiness.

"The sun is shining behind the clouds." - Shri Guruji

The clouds represent any and all of the so-called problems that are omnipresent in all of our lives. The sun behind the clouds is God - the field of intention, the Divine mind.

"Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of the carvings." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

51
The word yoga means "union." That is, union with God, our creative Source of being. The word inspiration means "in-Spirit." A way of experiencing union with our spiritual Source and to stay in-Spirit.

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza (recommended reading)

Immaculee brought a whole new sense of the possibilities of miracles occurring when a person is 100 percent aligned with his or her Source of being.

52
I am being called to do something...I'm not sure what, but I know I am being told to let go, and let God.

We come no-where to now-here with nothing. We leave now-here for no-where with nothing. No-where, now-here; it's all the same. It's just a question of spacing.

The Tao Te Ching...is a book filled with paradox. Do less. Achieve more. Think small and accomplish big things. The Tao does nothing and leaves nothing undone. We are all doing nothing; rather, we are being done. God is everywhere. God is nowhere.

The word Tao is the Chinese version of the word God - the invisible, nameless energy that's responsible for all of life.

I was being directed to overcome all of my resistance and do what is associated with the recovery movement: Let go and let God. It was so clear that what I had to do was let go of the strong pull of the ego and allow Spirit, or the invisible Tao, to do what it knows how to do perfectly.

Lao-tsu teaches that we gain awareness of love or Tao-nature through the loss of emphasis on the physical conditions of our lives.

I began to see that all of my attachments to objects, status, my culture, and even those close to me were keeping me from being free in the great way of the Tao.

Verse 57: "If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself."

53
I let go, and like I've been doing for so many years, I let God. I turn it over to a higher aspect of myself - to the God within that knows exactly how to be..."

I can see the truth in the idea that when I follow my excitement, I align myself with who I am as an infinite being. The excitement or feeling of inner bliss that arises when I contemplate what I truly know I must do is God-realization.

When I'm following my excitement with integrity, I know I truly am on the path I'm meant to be on in this lifetime.

We must all work toward being steadfast in our abstention of thoughts of harm directed toward ourselves and all others, and simply refuse to have any judgment, criticism, or condemnation toward anyone or any part of God's creation.

54
"I came to the conclusion that we are not victims of our genes, but masters of our fates... the primacy of DNA in controlling life is not a scientific truth." - Dr. Bruce Lipton, The Biology of Belief

What if we were raised to truly believe in my oft-quoted maxim offered by Jesus, "With God, all things possible"?

...these excuses that are so frequently employed are really a way to avoid responsibility and shift to a blame mentality.

I feel deep within me that lifelong self-defeating habits can be eliminated.

"My life is my message." - Gandhi

...substitute a conscious response that is fully aligned with my commitment to live a healthy life. Practice more meditation and reduce the noise level of my life. Spend more time in the ocean and in nature. Make my connection to my Source of being my number one relationship in life.

55
Suddenly I'm overcome by a very strong sensation that I need to be an instrument of an outpouring of unconditional love.

I take a wad of $50 bills and head out of the St. Francis Hotel, and spend the better part of my birthday passing out love and money to homeless people. I give passionate hugs and listen attentively to men with no teeth who are as grubby as you can imagine. I reach out to little ladies who are inspecting trash containers in Union Square for the possibility of a prize in the form of an empty soda can or a discarded plastic water bottle.I don't notice the filth; I see only the unfolding of God in these vacant eyes. And I am so in love with everyone I touch.

I pass out all of the money and return to my hotel room and sit on my bed sobbing in gratitude for what I have been able to experience today. This is the most memorable birthday in my 71 years.

When we shift our energies to live from our original nature, and practice the four cardinal virtues outlined by Lao-tzu, which include: (1) reverence for all life, (2) natural sincerity, (3) gentleness, and (4) supportiveness, we align with our one Source of being and receive universal cooperation.

I have long held the belief taught in A Course in Miracles that there are really only two emotions - fear and love. When we are in fear, there is no room for love; when we're in love, there is no room for fear.

I can see clearly now that it is my own I am presence that is truly who I am and determines my state of health. My job is to live each day in a state of gratitude for this I am presence. I am here to also teach all who will listen that they too have this invisible Divine I am presence - it is their very essence - and they must trust in it and stay in an exalted state of appreciation for it every day.


See also 
Quotes by Wayne W. Dyer
You'll See it When You Believe it