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Greetings,
Welcome to May--the month that celebrates mothers,
flowers, as well as warmer and longer days!
It's been a few months since my last newsletter and
I'm happy to be back in communication.
I recently received a handout from my yoga instructor
entitled "The Six Happiness Tools," adapted from the
book What Happy People Know by Dan Baker,
PhD and Cameron Stauth. I found these tools to be in
alignment with my own personal philosophy and with
the "Laws of Attraction" that I have written about
previously. Over the next six months, I invite you to join
me in exploring these tools--and become inspired
to
allow as much happiness into your life as you desire.
Feedback on each month's topic is welcomed!
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Happiness Tool #1: Appreciation
If you look to others for
fulfillment,
you
will never
truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will
never
be happy with yourself.
Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way
things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the
whole
world belongs to you.
--Lao Tzu
The authors of What Happy People Know say
that appreciation is the fundamental happiness tool. I
couldn't agree more. By expressing appreciation or
gratitude, we direct our focus to what already exists
rather than what we may perceive as lacking. At the
same time, it opens up the heart and allows
the "doors" for receiving to be unlocked.
This makes perfect sense. After all, how can we truly
be happy when we consistently focus on what we
lack? This kind of thinking produces an unsatisfying
feeling of heaviness. This doesn't mean we can't have
goals or desires, but it does mean when we change
our attitude into gratitude, as author M.J. Ryan says in
her book Attitudes of Gratitude "the world is
suddenly transformed into a beautiful wonderland, in
which you are invited to play." Doesn't that sound
great?
Why is the invitation to play so appealing? When we
play, our energy changes; we are filled with a much
lighter feeling. When we feel lighter, we are naturally
attract what we desire in life--we find solutions more
easily, we intuit the appropriate actions to take, life just
flows.
So, if appreciation is a tool for happiness, how can we
use it? Take a look at the simple exercise below.
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In appreciation,
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