On Being Happy

Take a moment and think: Are you happy?

Don't be surprised if you don't know. We don't often think about being happy these days. Seeking and finding happiness is more often a quest for the future -- something we'll do "later." We've decided that we can only be happy after we get the house, the cars, the job, the education, the 401K, the fame, the fortune, etc. Only that's not the path to happiness. According to experts, happiness can not be bought. It does not come in a manufactured package and it does not depend on other people. Happiness is a state of mind.

In THE ART OF HAPPINESS, co-author Howard C. Butler, M.D. described a large Arizona audience listening to the Dalai Lama giving a talk on how to be happy. The Dalai Lama said, "I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness." The Dalai Lama believes that if we train our minds to be happy, we will be.

Arne Klingenberg clearly agrees. Klingenberg, a Swiss Mystic, now living in Australia's tropical rain forest, authored YES, I AM HAPPY NOW! specifically for the purpose of helping people learn how to be happy.

For most of us, maintaining -- let alone finding -- a happy state of mind requires breaking old habits and forming new ones. Klingenberg says that happiness was our original goal as children, but as we grew up this goal was displaced by a striving for "things." Our world encouraged us to seek material good -- to buy happiness. Only the materialistic approach didn't work.

We also learned as we gre to adulthood that we must postpone our happiness until some time in the future. That, Klingenberg says, is another near-universal mistake that people make. To get back on the raod to happiness, Klingenberg encourages us to make smarter choices in our lives. We can start by believing that we deserve happiness and that we have the power to change our lives now. Not a pie in the sky, by and by...happy now! When we have fully realized that truth, then we can begin to make life choices that will lead to our personal happiness.

Klingenberg's book, YES, I AM HAPPY NOW! is a step-by-step approach to regaining the happy state of mind that we all once cherished. It begins with a self-test that will let you determine for yourself your own state of happiness -- your "HQ", your Happiness Quotient. (This test is also available at no change in an interactive version at http://www.yesiamhappynow.com.)nnKlingenberg suggests that we are energetic beings living in an energy field of consciousness. We are constantly giving and receiving energy. And in so doing, we are constantly affecting all things. If we are in a bad mood, or troubled, or ill, that low energy state will attract more low energy states to us. We end up in a depressed muddle. As the Chinese say, "If you plant soybeans, you will not harvest melons." So, if we do nothing to change our negative state of mind, we will be sowing the seeds of our own unhappiness. However, if we make a conscious choice to remove ourselves from such a negative state and make effort to improve our state of mind, we will attract more positive energy that can help us reach our goals -- including our goal of being happy.

Many people have spent years in misery. Often they require a step-by-step approach to getting out of their limited state of perpetual unhappiness. However, like the Dalai Lama, Arne Klingenberg encourages us to maket he cho8ices that bring us the most happiness. Soon, following these steps, we will be in a happier state of mind no matter what our life circumstances.

He also reminds us that there is a lot of "free happiness" in the world: laughing, loving, admiring the beauty of nature, enjoying friends...all of these activities help to keep us happy. But isn't seeking happiness self-serving? Are we being selfish and self-absorbed to spend our lives trying to be happy? No.

Ardis Whitman, author of "Secrets of Survivors" (Readers Digest 7/89), says, "If we can live our lives well in suffering, hardship or failure, if we can use all our talents and courage, then something of great worth will emerge and be added to the common good." So it behooves each of us to seek happiness, for ourselves and for our world.

Making a choice to be happy is the first step on that magical road that will change your life. Before long you can ask yourself again, Am I happy? Only this time the answer will be, YES, I AM HAPPY NOW! ***nn(YES, I AM HAPPY NOW! Beam Publishing c2000 - ISBN 187653801-5, 189 pages - trade paperback $16.00 USD. Available from Amazon.com and http://www.yesiamhappynow.com)nn