HAPPINESSWritten by dr charmaine saunders
Are you happy? This question is likely to bring either a defensive response like `Of course I am!’ or a bemused reply of , `No, should I be?’ Happiness is such a simple, natural concept and yet it seems so hard for average person to attain. Most os us are really bad at being happy! Why on earth should this be so? Firstly, let’s explode some myths and then we can look at some strategies for allowing happiness into our lives. Myths about happiness: *Happiness is somewhere `out there’ and we have to find it *It’s associated with goals, places, people, events *I can GET happiness and MAKE others happy too *Happiness is basically unattainable and certainly fleeting *It has to be earned. *It’s elusive and in future somewhere *You need a reason to be happy. Sounds familiar? Happiness lives within us, never outside of us. Therefore, it cannot come from external sources. The joy we get from things outside is cream on cake, an extra bonus but it can never be whole story. Relying on people, places and events to make us happy is ultimate fantasy. It can only bring transitory pleasure and disappointment in end. There is no need to try to get happiness because it is your natural birthright. It exists deep within you like a constant well-spring - infinite, always available, powerful. Imagine knowing that you can be happy at any time and forever, without having to do anything to earn it or make it happen. As happiness is linked to life-source energy, like sexuality, creativity, spirituality and joy, it rests in individual and therefore, cannot be bestowed by one person on another. This is one of our greatest myths - that we can make each other happy. At best, it is a romantic illusion created by songs, literature and popular culture. At worst, it causes a great deal of society’s heartache as this mistaken idea is taken into marriage and other relationships where it can only be ground into dust by heavy foot of disillusionment. The saddest part is that we don’t need to suffer if only we are prepared to accept responsibility for our own happiness. It works both ways. If no-one has to make you happy, neither do you have to do it for others. Think how liberating that is! It isn’t selfish or uncaring because as you feel your own happiness, you’ll have more to share with others, anyway.
| | Who Says Knowledge Is Power?Written by Steve Gillman
Whoever first said that knowledge is power was probably selling encyclopedias. Knowledge is a tool, like money and influence. Tools are only powerful if they are used effectively. How, then, do you make a headful of knowledge into a powerful tool? 1. By seeing clearly what can be done. 2. By seeing clearly your own limitations. 3. By acting on what you know. Wise Action, Not Knowledge, Is Power Investors often learn so much that they think they can consistently predict course of stock market. In reality, there are probably fewer than ten old investors that have never lost money. Wise investors know that best they can do is get odds in their favor, so they'll have more wins than losses. You have to see limitations of knowledge. I can read about how to sing, and even get advice from a voice coach, but I can't sing well. I'm not saying that I could never sing well, only that right now I cannot. If I'm not willing to do what is necessary, then I would be wise to look for a non-singing way to make money. You have to see our own limitations.
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