3 Actions That Create Happiness

Dated: date March 4, 2011 – 10:31 am

Over the years, I’ve discovered three actions that can guarantee your happiness. To start off, it’s important for you to know that happiness is a skill that anybody can learn. Most people believe that happiness is some kind of circumference that is outside of yourself. To be happy, many people think that have to own a certain thing, live a certain place, make a certain amount of money, etc. They think, “if this thing happens, then I’ll be happy.” Also, a lot of people think happiness is formula. They need certain events, things, etc to all align in order to be happy. “All I need is the Super Bowl, having a cigar, drinking a drink with a hot girl on my side, man, then I’m happy.”

Those formulas certainly have their momentary hit, but long-term happiness is really just a skill. It’s a shift in the way that you’re thinking about yourself and about your circumstances in life. Nothing needs to change to make you happy.

So here are three actions that you can take that will make you happy. The first action is called devotion. What exactly does devotion mean? It’s a way of being. It’s about being in the moment, and doing what you’re doing in that moment to the very best of your ability. When your operating from that standpoint of really focusing in and doing your best, it will create an extreme sense of happiness for you. If you’re doing the dishes, walking the dog, playing with the kids, hanging out with your spouse, with your friends, whatever it is that you’re doing, focus on that and do your best. You’ll be surprised how much happiness you feel in that moment.

The second is to take actions of service. This is about taking your attention out of your own head. Help others, contribute, make a difference, support something. Anytime that you are able take your focus off of you and out of your head, and move it out there into the world, you will experience a sudden rise in happiness. In other words, consider the following. Your unhappiness is just a self-centered focus. So, by getting your focus out there and serving others, your happiness is going to go through the roof.

The last action to take is appreciation. Look at things in a new way, find what you like about people, find what you like about situations, and find things you like about yourself. This is really the anti-mind. The mind, all that talking in your head, is not focused on what’s right, what’s working, what you like, and what you’re happy about. It’s not focused on that. It’s a survival mechanism, so its job is to look for what doesn’t work and then focus on those things. And that, of course, makes you unhappy. So, work to appreciate your situation, the people around you, and yourself, and your happiness will grow exponentially.

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Let Go of Body Fascination and Be Happy!

Dated: date March 1, 2011 – 12:57 pm

I’d like to invite you to release your body fascination, so that you can become a happier human being. Your body is a part of the earth. It’s doing whatever it’s doing. You can certainly manipulate it into different forms, that’s for sure. We’ve seen people become stunning bodybuilders. We’ve seen models sculpt their body and adjust it so that they can be more beautiful for the photographs or movies that they’re in. You can certainly do that.

But the majority of us do not have the patience, tenacity or the persistence it takes to make these huge changes. You know, it can take two, three, four hours a day sometimes to sculpt your body into the shape that you want it to be. And you know what? For most people it doesn’t actually even lead to happiness. Some of the most miserable people that I’ve coached are some of the most beautiful that I’ve ever met. And yet, they’re holding themselves accountable to standards that don’t exist.

I request that you release your body fascination, that you realize that your body is just a part of the earth, that your body is just an animal. It’s really your tool for experiencing this particular event that you call your life. Just take care of it!

Here’s what I wrote down. These are part of my intentions that I have for myself and my body. I wrote down, “I’ve befriended my body, and I enjoy it like a childhood pet. I accept my body’s efficiencies and deficiencies, and I allow it to play out my own genetics. I’ve befriended my body.” See, I treat this hunk of meat like it is a pet. You know, I walk it, I move it, I stretch it. I do all the things. I feed it correctly, because it’s my tool, it’s my apparatus for experiencing the world.

I wrote down, “I move, stretch, stress and stimulate my body every day in some way.” I’d like to invite you to do the same thing. “I honor my body’s impulses and signals and I let it guide me to what it needs.” See, so often I have tried to force my body into some regiment, and it was counter to what the impulses were that my body was sending me. And, ultimately, it led to unhappiness. I was unhappy with my body. I was unhappy with the reactions I was having. I was unhappy that I couldn’t discipline it. I wasn’t going with the flow of the body.

I wrote down, “I am totally free of body fascination and have let go of the need to have my body measure up to standards created by my mind’s fascination to survive and fit in.” See, ultimately, where do these standards come from that you’ve been holding yourself to? They don’t exist in the world. You don’t have to be anything. You get to be what you are, and the perfect aspect of you is exactly what you are. Your mind is judging, assessing and evaluating you based on standards that don’t exist.

Begin to catch what I call the drunk monkey in your head beating you up and holding you to standards that don’t exist. And when you do, you’re going to get much happier.

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Serve Without an Agenda

Dated: date February 28, 2011 – 3:22 pm

Do you feel as though you’re pushing, struggling and forcing for the things you want in your life? I’d like to invite you to serve, contribute and make a difference for others, and do so with no agenda whatsoever. That means you give up that you need to get anything from people at all. The reason to do this is because more you serve selflessly, without any agenda at all, the more prosperity, happiness and peace comes to you.

See, ultimately, everything that you want comes to you naturally, when you’re in complete alignment and focus. And I have seen that getting yourself to a place where you are serving others, that is the place in which you get into total alignment with who you are.

I request that today you give up that need to produce results for the giving that you’re doing. A lot of people who are contributing, for example, to charities, they’re doing it in an unconscious attempt to purchase salvation. They’re thinking “I want to do this good to try to erase some of the bad doing that I’ve done in the past.” Give that up and just give to give.

On top of that, I want you to really focus on giving up your agenda, when you’re out there in the world. Let’s say you’re networking and you meet someone who is amazing. You just want to do things for them, so that you can, ultimately, bind them into doing things for you. Give that up and just do things for people, support, contribute and make a difference, because it makes you feel great. And ultimately trust that, when you feel great and you’re focused on others, what you want comes to you naturally.

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Happiness is For Stupid People

Dated: date February 18, 2011 – 11:34 am

I don’t think this is going to be very politically correct, but I’d like to point out that happiness is really for stupid people.  Because those who over think things, can’t be happy.  Thinking, in general, doesn’t lead to happiness.  Ultimately, happiness is a function of no thought, no mind.  When no mind is there, then you are happy.  It is only the mind that gobbles up your happiness, like Pac-Man.  It’s always thinking about this and what, “What about this? What’s going to happen with that?”, etc.

Happiness, my friends, is for those who are committed to moving beyond the rational and moving into the experiential.  I’d like to invite you there.  It’s pretty amazing.

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Your Happiness Changes the World

Dated: date February 16, 2011 – 2:36 pm

Something that I want you to notice is that nobody else is really ever changing. What is changing is your perspective or point of view. So many of my friends who are engaged in the Inspired Action Weekly program are radically changing their point of view, and they’re becoming so much happier, so much more attractive, so much more productive.

One of the things that we do in the Inspired Action Weekly is we report once a week on what’s going on. So many of the reports are, “My relationship with my spouse is so much better. She’s changed. He’s changed. My kids, they’re becoming these amazing people.” And I keep sending back replies, “No, they’re not. They were always this way. It’s you changing your perspective. You’re becoming more accepting, more appreciative, more honoring.”

When you’re happy, when you’re satisfied, when you’re fulfilled, when you’re lit up, when you’re excited about life, everyone around you seems better. But they’re not. They’ve always been this way. It’s just that, when you’re down, glum and bummed out, everyone around you seems the same way. The world is a reflection of you. It’s mirroring your attitude, your ideas, your thoughts back to you. You see yourself in others.

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Sue McDaniel Interview

Dated: date February 8, 2011 – 4:55 pm

I’m bringing you another interview with someone you should know! Sue McDaniel has a love of animals, music, books, nature, gardening, writing and art. She has co-authored Learning, Changing and Leading: Keys to Success in the 21st Century, with Chet Dixon. I.M. Heart is her first solo self-publication. Sue’s professional experience includes: teaching, development, state agency governance, speaking nationally and internationally, and research. A teacher at heart, Sue wants to make a difference in the lives of people. You can find her on her web site, http://www.imheart.net/

Click the audio player below to listen to this awesome interview!
[audio:http://matthewferry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Sue-McDaniel.mp3|titles=Sue McDaniel]

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