WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT - HAPPINESS

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm all for making life easier. Why struggle if there is a simpler, more efficient way to do something that will give you the same result? I think that's why I love this quote I received today from Robert Holden - one of my very favourite coaches and a hugely inspirational man.

"To be even happier you could learn 100 techniques, meditations and mental tricks, or you could just decide to be a more loving person."


I think that's wonderful and it really sums up what life's all about. I also think it explains why I have made the move away from teaching NLP to concentrate on personal success coaching. I get this now, it works for me and I want to get the message across to others too. I think that's why focusing on the techniques of NLP, as if happiness and success depended on them, was making me feel somehow inauthentic. That's not to say the techniques of NLP aren't wonderful - they are and they have their place, but that place isn't right here for me right now.

The bottom line of happiness really is all about deciding to be happy. Once you've made that decision, everything flows on from there. Once you have decided to be happy you will find it easy to appreciate all the great things around you. In that appreciative frame of mind you're more likely to see the opportunities life presents you and feel more able to act on them. It all starts with that one simple decision.

Decide to be happy right now and watch your life expand from there!

DOG GONE HAPPY!

I'm currently reading "Happiness Now!" by Robert Holden. It's an excellent book which you won't be surprised to hear from the title is all about being happy. The central message of the book so far is that happiness is something within us, not something that we can ever find externally. Being happy therefore involves realising this and just allowing the happiness that is within us to shine through.

With this in mind I took my dog Sox out for a walk yesterday lunchtime. I left home feeling really happy and was determined to stay that way. We had a lovely walk and after an hour or so, instead of heading back home I decided we'd head in the opposite direction and get a coffee at one of the canalside cafes.

I tied her up outside the cafe and went inside to order. Little did I realise that my resolution to be happy was about to be tested. Having ordered a cappuccino, the woman took my money and handed me the change without making any move to make my drink. When I didn't walk away she said - you've already had it haven't you, aren't you just paying? I told her very politely that no, I'd just got here and hadn't had a drink yet. She eyed me slightly suspiciously, even more so when I pointed out that she'd given me change form a fiver when I'd just paid with a ten pound note. I went back outside to sit at one of the tables alongside the towpath with Sox, to wait for my drink and enjoy the peace and quiet. It was a nice day, if a bit overcast and all I could hear was the gentle sound of a barge moving along the water  a few yards away. Less than a minute later, an elderly couple walked towards the cafe from my right. The old lady was full of complaints - telling her husband very grouchily that she was too cold, too tired and that he was holding her arm too tightly and walking too fast. She then turned her attention to us as we sat quietly minding our own business and muttered loudly "what a stupid place to bring a dog."

Now Sox is pretty smart and I'm sure she knew she was being talked about. She looked up at me then turned and growled at the woman (really out of character for her). The woman responded by calling her a "spiteful little bugger" and shuffling off into the cafe. Now once upon a time I'd have reacted to that, either by politely challenging the woman or more probably by keeping quiet but feeling irritated inside. Instead today, with that central core of happiness firmly in place, it just made me want to laugh. Sox picked up on this too as she turned and looked up at me and I swear she grinned. If she were able to I think she might even have high-fived me! As you can see from the picture above, she's a pretty special dog. Hope that story made you smile too. Enjoy the Bank Holiday.

INTERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE HAPPY MIND

I don't know about you but I woke up this morning to bright sunshine streaming into the room - wonderful. There is something about a sunny day that makes everyone feel so good isn't there? OK I know it's forecast to rain later but who cares - I guess we need it anyway. Certainly in the surgery patients are noticeably happier on a sunny day.

Great as that is, why wait? Why let your happiness be determined by the weather or indeed by any external factors at all. Why not just decide to be happy?

You see I believe that happiness starts from the inside and begins with a decision; a decision to start being happy right now. Michael Neill, coach and author of several great books, once said "When you are happy, nothing changes but everything is different" and I think that is so very true.

When you are happy you smile and that alone makes you feel good. If you don't believe me then just try it. Not only will it make you feel better but it makes other people behave differently to you. They respond warmly, they smile back, they talk to you. This further reinforces those good feelings.

So yes it's Friday, yes it's the weekend, yes it's sunny - all great reasons to be happy in themselves and I know you've got many many more of your own too, but my message today is don't let what's happening out there determine how you feel inside. Take a positive decision right now to be happy, from this moment on and just see what happens. I guarantee you'll be glad you did.

Have a wonderful, fun-packed inspired weekend and I'll see you on Monday.