These are stressful times for many people. The global financial meltdown, job insecurity, our investments decreasing in value, slow growth; we can understandingly feel depressed or anxious, and I haven’t even mentioned the daily media bombardment of negativity. What is one to do in these times? Well… why not be happy? Sounds paradoxical, but no, not at all. In fact in these unsettling times happiness can best be the best antidote to help us through it all. There is never a better time to be happy. But how can you be happy when all this is happening, you might ask. It’s simple—you choose happiness as a daily practice in your life, and then you practice it. Readers of this site probably know that I have written a book called The Practice of Happiness. The title reveals the approach I take to happiness. It is the “practice” of happiness, not the “pursuit” of happiness, that is the key. And there is a big difference between these two approaches. If you are pursing happiness in your life then you need your circumstances to be exactly as you want them in order to be happy. You need to be healthy, financially successful, in a good relationship, stimulated and excited; you need many things to unfold every day in exactly the way you want them to in order to have the happiness you desire. And even then your happiness can be fleeting, as soon something more will be needed. That’s why those who pursue happiness rarely achieve it—they are always requiring something more and different from what is happening now. But what is happening now is all that you have, at least for today, so a far more intelligent approach is to find something to be happy about today. But is there something to be happy about today? That depends on your habits of perception. Now I’m going to reveal to you a secret that I reveal in the book (if you haven’t read this book, reward yourself and order it today; it will make you very happy), and the secret is simple. There will always be reasons to be happy in your life, and there will always be reasons to be unhappy in your life. Even though all of us have completely different lives and circumstances, each of us has reasons to be happy and reasons to be unhappy, in fact lots of both. So we choose happiness as the better option. But how can you choose happiness when you’ve lost your job, have cancer, been left by a spouse, have no hope, are struggling with finances, see no opportunities in sight, have kids demanding your every moment, (add your own reasons for being unhappy)? You choose it because you can choose it and it is good for you. Happiness makes you feel less stressed; it energizes your immune system; it lets you think more clearly; it’s more fun, and of course it makes you feel happy, which is a wonderful energy to [...]

"Our spirits are offended if we think too much.” -Inuit shaman It is very valuable to become familiar with our ways of thinking and the routines of our mind. Our mind forms habits too, and many of them, we will discover, are not beneficial to us. For example, did you know the mind talks to itself almost constantly? Listen carefully and you will hear it. One of the first things we will notice when we begin stalking our mind is how our internal chatter keeps us prisoner in a fantasy world of its own creation. Stalking Internal Dialogue It was shocking for me the first time I discovered the nearly constant chatter going on inside me moment by moment. I thought I knew myself, but I didn’t know this about myself, but then I had never stalked myself before either. We have become so accustomed to our inner chatter that often we don’t even notice it. Like a constant hum from a refrigerator in the room, we adjust to the sound, get used to it and eventually don’t even hear it. Stalking the internal dialogue is like noticing for the first time the secret conversation going on within us. It is in fact the conversation we are having with ourselves. This constant talking to ourselves is a problem. Besides distracting ourselves with this internal dialogue, causing us to not be present with what is happening in that particular moment of our life, we confuse ourselves as our thoughts shift from one position and opinion to another. Within any given hour we can shift from being desperate, to being ecstatic, and everything in between. We can be happy and then miserable and then happy again, then bored, all depending on the thoughts and inner conversations we’re having with ourselves. Living like this means there is no inner stability, no place to find peace and rest in the assurance of who we are, no confidence in the mystery of life. We can’t even sit in the park and read a book or take an afternoon off without our chattering mind asking, “What are you doing? There is so much work to do.” Noticing our internal dialogue reveals much to us. Over a period of days and weeks you will detect patterns and themes that repeat themselves, and this is extremely valuable to know. You will also come to realize how ridiculous it all is, how utterly dysfunctional and self-defeating this inner chatter is. You begin to suspect that this constant internal dialogue is undoubtedly holding you back, which of course it is. For most of us it is a total revelation the first time we discover that we have an internal dialogue. I’m not talking about the thoughts you are actively thinking, but rather the inner chatter beyond thought that comments and has opinions about everything. Watch for it. By watching and listening to your chatter, you will notice that there is also a narrator who becomes judge, critic and commentator alongside [...]

A wonderful gift to ourselves and those whom we are close to is to make a decision to drop as much pettiness from our lives as we possibly can. A simple decision and promise to ourselves to try to not be petty can, as we implicate this new strategy, cause a radical change in our energy. Every thought and act of ours carries an energetic vibration, and when we act from authenticity, living up to our highest ideals, we gain real and noticeable benefits from this practice. Our vibration will always shift to match our thoughts, beliefs and actions, and as our vibration shifts so too does our entire relationship with life. This is how energy works in the universe. We are not separate and independent from our life; we are always and continuously interacting with it. Everything we do and think counts. So it is only logical to assume that when we indulge in pettiness with our thoughts, words or actions, it will have an effect on us, which of course it does. From a Mind Power perspective you would expect this. The vibration of pettiness, not surprisingly, keeps us small, limited and caught in a scarcity consciousness. It shows that we have no generosity for either ourselves or others, that we let the little things trip us up. Let’s drop this nonsense and be magnanimous, loving, giving and positive about ourselves and others. Let’s do it because it looks good on us, makes us feel better, and by doing it we change our vibration. Why not make the decision to just drop pettiness as a flawed thinking habit that doesn’t work for us, never worked for us, and was a mistake right from the beginning? Where and how do we start? Let’s begin by giving up criticism. By stalking energy (one of our future audio podcasts), we discover that when we are critical of ourselves or others we feel weakened and drained afterwards. Do not think of criticism as good or bad from a moral, social or spiritual point of view, though there are those aspects too; simply notice from an energetic perspective if it weakens or strengthens your energy. Stalking ourselves, it becomes clear that when we indulge in critical thinking we lose energy. This is valuable to know. There is another aspect of criticism that we must also be aware of. When we are criticizing another person, going over their faults and limitations, the subconscious mind—which cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined—registers this criticism within, and if criticizing people becomes a habit, before long your subconscious begins criticizing you. It will turn back on you. What other pettiness might we give up? How about self-pity or self-importance? Both of these petty indulgences signify the mind being overly preoccupied with itself, albeit in distinct ways. This too, we discover, weakens us. There is nothing to be overly proud or puffed-up about no matter how powerful, successful, rich or good looking we [...]

The inner battles that athletes wage within themselves are numerous. The fear of failure as well as the fear of success, are common. Each person deals with it in his or her own way. Canadian golf sensation Lorie Kane knows as well as anyone what this battle entails. "When I’m confident I move forward and when I’m not, I don’t." Sounds simple enough, but confidence and winning can be illusive in both sports and life. Lorie has first hand experience in this matter and her approach to finally winning her first LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) tournament has lessons for all of us. In 1997, her first full year on the LPGA tour, her goal was simply to get experience and get better. She stood on the brink of victory four times that season. Two of her four second-place finishes came in agonizing sudden-death playoffs, but still she won U.S. $425,964, eleventh on the money list. A stellar first year. The questions began circulating amongst media and fellow players: When would she win? Did she have the right stuff? Was she tough enough? Did she have the will? After nine second-place finishes, she began to wonder herself. Here is where her caddy Danny Sharp played an integral role in helping her over that final hurdle. "When she started to have all those seconds, it became obvious that she had a fear of success," said Sharp. "Winning was going to put her out in front. Prior to that she could hide in the pack." It might sound odd having a fear of success, but it is more common than you might suspect. Kane had been secretly managing her fear by focusing on lowering her stroke average and never talking about winning. Sharp believed that this strategy had to change. It had put her into contention nearly every tournament but it did not help her win. "You have to think about winning, embrace it, talk about it," said Sharp. "Once she got into a position to win, no one helped her to think about winning." Heading into the Michelob Light Classic in St. Louis last August, she decided to face her fears head on. Early in the tournament, the attention was where she wanted it — on the tour stars. The cameras only shifted to Kane after she followed a first round 68 with a scorching 66, putting her in the lead. "The night before the final round I visualized the whole course," she said. "I have a great memory for golf courses. I played my way through each hole, each shot. Then, driving to the golf course, Danny and I talked strategy to get focused. I wasn’t comfortable through the first nine holes. I was fighting things. I can remember standing on the second green after I bogeyed the hole and I turned to Danny and told him I felt like I was going to throw up." Kane was one over par through the front nine, but when she made [...]

It is an incredible discovery when we realize that fun, joy, happiness and beauty are not simply enjoyable experiences but valuable sources of energy as well. They increase our energy when we activate them. We should increase our intake of these activities as much as possible, many times every day. Learning how to be creative and attentive and making fun, joy and beauty a priority in our life is easy once we realize their importance. There are many ways we can bring fun, joy and beauty into our lives and most of them don’t cost a cent. It’s simply attuning ourselves to what is already happening in our lives and harvesting fun, joy and happiness as a daily practice. In 2002 I wrote a book called The Practice of Happiness. I can’t tell you the number times in media interviews that I had to correct an interviewer when they confused the words pursuit and practice. They would usually start out with a statement like, “In your book the ‘Pursuit of Happiness’…” and I would correct them: “It’s not the pursuit of happiness. It’s the practice of happiness.” This Freudian slip happened time and time again even though they had the title right in front of them. We are so indoctrinated to pursue things in order to achieve them that it is hard, at first, to understand the concept of practice rather than pursuit. But that is the whole point of my book: you don’t pursue happiness, you practice it daily, and discover it many times in your day-to-day activities. When you do this an extraordinary thing happens - you discover your happiness. Fun, joy and beauty have never truly been recognized as energy sources before. Nobody thinks of them this way, and so they have not been utilized as uplifting sources of energy. They have been neglected and misunderstood. Fun increases our flow and intake of energy, and when our energy is at a high level we function better. Think about it. How do you “feel” when you’re having fun? This in itself should teach us an important lesson. Fun, pleasure and having a good time are not frivolous activities, but forgotten sources of energy. When you think about it in these terms you suddenly realize how negligent we are in accessing this energy. In my book The Practice of Happiness, I emphasized the importance of fun and joy: Having fun daily, even if it’s only for a few minutes, is a life-affirming practice. It’s also a powerful symbol to our subconscious. It is saying I am worthy. Life is good. Even small amounts of fun every day can have a profound effect. We must be diligent in taking time to nourish ourselves. If, no matter how busy we are, we still have the wisdom to take time for ourselves, we will be well compensated. Don’t be fooled by pressures and responsibilities; they will wait for you. We set the agenda for our life, and in our agenda there must [...]

January is typically a month of reflection, a time to look back at past choices to see how the year unfolded, and to look ahead. It is a time of new resolutions and commitments, and to choose again. Choice is our ultimate act of creativity. It is the way we express ourselves. It is through choice that we navigate through life. The choices we encounter are incalculable. For example, think of how many choices you've already made just today. You have chosen the clothes you are now wearing. You have chosen what you ate. You have chosen a number of activities today, including the choice to log on to this website and read this month's Topic of the Month. Each day unfolds like this. Countless choices, many of them made without much thought, following the programming and habitual routines we have built for ourselves. When we are unconscious in the act of choosing, or too busy to notice why and what we are choosing, we cease to have free will and give up our powers of choice. Instead we allow our programming to choose for us. This works well if our programming has been carefully selected by us to assist in our unfolding destiny. But if our programming is the result of neglect, fears, worries or destructive habits, then we are apt to simply follow the path of least resistance. In these cases we often make poor choices. Choosing well necessitates knowing ourselves, as well as our objectives. Knowing where we tend to procrastinate, make excuses and fall short is valuable information. Knowing these aspects of ourselves, we can design strategies and choose actions to compensate. Success is not achieved by luck or fate, but by understanding the dynamics of who we are, and then harnessing the power of our thoughts in a creative way. We have complete free will to choose the actions we pursue, the thoughts we entertain, and the beliefs we hold. We are the product of our choices. Knowing this, the Mind Power student works diligently with consciousness to create his life. He creates the thoughts, beliefs and visions that best serve him. And this is done in a very systematic way, understanding the laws of manifestation. We become the artist and creator of our life. What beliefs would you desire to have vibrating within you day and night? Practice Mind Power and you will create them. The subconscious is ever listening. The ways and means of programming and imprinting into the subconscious are well known and tested. We can create beliefs and habits of thought to support us. This website is filled with this knowledge. We can adjust our habits and create ourselves with applied thought. This is why Mind Power is such a valuable practice to master. Each day propels us into unknown and new territory, giving us an opportunity to practice our techniques. Master the daily practice of Mind Power and you will be successful. This practice will become habit and drive us [...]