Is There a Limit to What Money Can Buy You?
We live our lives in the hopes that just one more thing will complete our happiness. The ego’s conditioned thought is that something is missing. And so we look for the missing piece to bring us salvation. And yet, no matter how many things we purchase, gather, and collect, we still feel as if something’s missing. Indeed, there is-the unconditional awareness that nothing is missing. We are, in truth, complete and whole already.
Nothing can make you happy if you won’t accept for yourself that happiness rests within you. You see . . . I know people with fancy dishwashers who aren’t happy. I’ve met people with elaborate stereo sound TV sets, complete with remote control, who are absolutely miserable. I know men who wear Armani and still feel inferior. I know women who can afford to buy a dozen Gucci watches but still have no time for themselves.
Continue Reading
Do You Recognize These Qualities in Yourself?
Joy is the soul of happiness. Like pleasure, it can express itself through the body, but it is not of the body. Like satisfaction, it can be felt emotionally and appreciated mentally, but it is so much more than just an emotion or a state of mind.
Other words used to describe this type of happiness include “bliss” and “felicity,” and also “ecstasy,” which, translated from the ancient Greek ek-stasis, means “to stand outside oneself.” Joy is bigger than your ego.
It exists before the thought of “I.”
Joy is impossible to define, but it can be described. The most inspirational people to have walked this earth have tried to express what joy means to them. For example, Helen Keller described joy as “the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.” Mother Teresa wrote, “Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” And C. S. Lewis referred to joy as “the serious business of Heaven.” Continue Reading
Including the Surprising Choices Others Made
Imagine you were granted one personal wish for your life. What would you wish for?
Remember, it’s a personal wish of which you are the sole recipient. So really, it’s your chance to give yourself a gift.
One good answer is, “I’d wish for a lot more wishes.” But let’s imagine this is a one-shot deal.
What do you most wish for yourself? Think carefully. Continue Reading
Taking the Time to Identify Your True Priorities
It’s nearly 6pm on New Year’s Eve. Hollie, Bo, Christopher and I have just finished our last supper of 2012. Hollie has taken the children upstairs for a bath before bedtime. I’m cleaning up in the kitchen (or I will after I’ve written this blog).
The house is full of stillness. It feels like there’s an angel in the house. The stillness fells the same as the pause that happens between each exhalation and inhalation.
It’s like the whole world is taking a deep breath. We are all breathing out, and letting go. We are all breathing in, and getting ready.
At 10am, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the New Year celebrations begin. The people of Christmas Island and Samoa send out a wave across the planet. At 11am (GMT), the people of New Zealand catch the wave, and they then pass it on. Continue Reading
The Power of Keeping a Daily Gratitude Journal
On January 1st 2009 I made my first entry in a journal called 365 Gratitudes.
One of my new year’s resolutions to myself was to make a daily entry of “one-gratitude-per-day” for a calendar year. Why? Because I wanted to experience the power of gratitude and how it might affect my life, my relationships, and my ideas about happiness, success, and abundance.
Just now, with a few hours to go before mid-night on December 31st, I made my final entry for the year.
365 Gratitudes, as I like to call it, has been a challenging and enlightening experiment. Continue Reading
My daughter, Bo, has recently celebrated her second birthday. As you can see by the picture of her below, she is all grown up now.
Recently, Bo has taken to waking me up each morning with a little question that she whispers ever so sweetly into my ear. The question is, Daddy, shall we have some fun today?
What an invitation.
It’s the way Bo says it that really gets me. She makes it sound so appealing. How can I say “No” to her? Continue Reading