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Be Happy Now!
by Arne Klingenberg
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How do we find joy and happiness?
Can we be happy all the time?
Yes, you can be
happy--now--and all the time! And it is a lot easier
than you might think it is…Let’s start with defining
happiness. Just think back to a very happy moment in
your life. How did you feel? Yes, you were joyful and
playful--you were laughing and smiling. You felt relaxed
and confident--totally at ease with yourself--completely
satisfied.
These are all
common characteristics of happy people. Of course we all
have different tastes and preferences in life--these are
individual choices and we should respect each person’s
right to choose for themselves. Based upon such ‘happy
characteristics’, I’ve developed a Happy Quiz that
will let you find out your HQ--or Happiness Quotient. It
also serves as the prologue to my book "Yes I Am
Happy Now!" and can be accessed, free of charge, at
my website, (www.yesiamhappynow.com). Probably you already feel what’s
coming next: In the same way as we can define a happy
person, we can identify the common mistakes that prevent
us from being happy and joyful. When you feel truly
happy, you can’t be angry at the same time - or sad
and depressed. You can’t be joyful and stressed out at
the same time. In your happy moment you didn’t worry
about the future…
In "Yes I
Am Happy Now!" I defined emotions as a re-active
feeling. They are based upon a fact or an event from the
past, or something anticipated in the future. For
example, anger or fear. In a sense, they are not real
although they certainly appear to be at times. Emotions
like regrets, self pity, sadness, worries, anxiety and
guilt are negative in the sense that they disrupt our
goal of being a happier person. We can’t be really
happy when we are thrown around constantly by emotions.
As mentioned before, emotions appear to be real, but
once we have learned to deal with them, they won’t be
anymore. I don’t suggest to just suppress these
emotions, to put them in a little corner of our mind and
lock them up. No, on the contrary. How does it work? Let’s
take anger as an example because it is a primetime
killer of joy and happiness. The less time we spend
being annoyed or outright angry, the happier we will be.
Many ‘established’
experts would not agree with this; they say that
expressing emotions like anger is important for a
healthy balance. But anger always attracts more anger…Whenever
we vent our anger we may feel relieved for a moment, but
in reality, more anger has been added to all the past
anger accumulated and stored deep within. And our latent
anger potential can become more easily activated. The
solution must be permanent and not just temporary if we
want to be very happy all the time. Of course it is
important to be assertive and have the confidence to
confront people if necessary, but being emotionally
involved to the point where we become all jacked
up--accompanied by high blood pressure and all that--is
very counter-productive. We can calmly make our points,
stay centered and calm--and happy! So many people are
constantly pushing and shoving around anger, guilt and
blame. I call the sum total of negativity swirling
around ‘emotional smog’. Some people can feel it
consciously and others unconsciously--nevertheless, it
always produces unwanted effects. In order to stop
participating actively or being affected by the anger of
others, we have to first clean up all the past and
stored anger within ourselves. That is not a hard thing
to do although it may sound like.
Once we’ve
succeeded, we have literally departed from--or ‘checked
out’ of--this particular frequency or wavelength of
energy. Angry vibes have nothing left to resonate
with... You may not reach that point right from the
start but then again - why not? You can do it if your
really want! This may or may not sound too ‘esoteric’
for you and yet, that’s how it works. I’ve tried to
cover the theoretical parts of energy matters and all
its practical applications in "Yes I Am Happy
Now!" in an easy and fun way. But you can be the
judge on that! : )
Once you have
checked out of all lower vibrating energy frequencies
that disturb your joy and happiness, you will freely
decide how you react to people and events, in other
words, you’re in charge of your life and you
happiness.
Why is possible
to get rid of negative conditions? Through positive
thinking or affirmations? No, not at all! Positive
thinking and affirmations only work for what is really
real in the first place. Otherwise there’s a real
danger of actually ensuring more miserable experiences.
The reason why it works is very simple: Feelings are
totally different from emotions. They are real. Feelings
are not just positive and desirable but natural to all
of us! The feeling of happiness is an integral part of
our innermost being. So is true love and friendship.
Passion and joy. Being relaxed, calm and confident.
Happiness and joy are already a part of us in the same
way as water in its liquid state is wet. You don’t
really need techniques of any kind and you don’t have
to struggle to find joy, peace and happiness. All you
need to do is claiming your birthright. How? The road to
happiness starts with the simple but very conscious
choice: "I want to be happy now!"
You may say
that of course, everybody wants to be happy. This is
true for most people--when they were younger…But
suddenly we have become so immersed in our daily
competing and fighting for our place in the sun--all of
a sudden we have forgotten our goal. Then there are
people who--often unconsciously--believe that life is
not meant to be enjoyed, that having miserable
experiences are good for ‘building character’ or
even worse, sent by a revengeful God to be feared. Is it
a surprise that these people often do have miserable
experiences?
From an early
age we become conditioned to all kinds of thoughts and
belief systems that prevent us from being happy now. We
learn that following our instincts--or intuition--is
bad--instead we have to follow external authority
figures, starting with parents, teachers etc…And how
many times have you heard something like: "You have
to work hard to make it in life"?… So many people
and organizations use fear and guilt--more or less
consciously--to manipulate others… Phew; this is all
tough stuff if you want to be happy and are not aware of
it.
Be happy now!
Don’t postpone your happiness to later because
tomorrow you might not be living in this dimension
anymore. Plenty of hard working people suddenly
collapsed in the middle of their stressful lives. The
universal law of Action=Reaction or Karma is quite clear
on this too: every action is followed by a reaction; as
you sow so shall you reap or, what goes around will come
around. So, by leading an unhappy life now, we plant the
seeds for our future unhappiness. And the logical
conclusion follows, that if we are happy now, we will
also be happy in the future! This is much more than just
a happy and inspirational thought…
What’s the
conclusion? Make your happiness your very first priority
in life! Nobody else can or will do that for you… And
nobody will ever come to you and say "Thank
you" for leading an unfulfilled and unhappy life in
sacrifice for this or that…
I’ve been
asked in a radio interview: "You’re telling
people that the road to perfect happiness starts with
making happiness your first priority in life. Are you
saying that we should become egotistic and not care
anymore for our family and friends?"
You probably
know the answer already. Happiness is contagious too! :
) Also, in order to experience happiness as discussed in
the beginning, we have to experience love--in its active
and passive forms and their different flavors…
So, make your
happiness your first priority, not just once but all the
time and especially in times of trouble. This little
step will work wonders. Immediately. If you truly desire
finding joy and being happy--you’re almost there
already. You will be able to enjoy life a lot more right
away! Amazing things will start to happen within and
without--more and more often. And this is just the
beginning because there is no limits to joy and
happiness…
‘Check out’
of all that holds you back from being really happy and
feeling the joy that is yours already. Let the sun
dissipate all the clouds and darkness. Become aware of
all your dimensions--integrate your body, mind and
spirit (or soul) to the whole and happy self you really
are! Many people are so involved in their daily stress
and struggles--they only identify with the physical and
mental aspects of their being--and they limit their
enjoyment to these dimensions. They may or may not
believe that they ‘have’ a spirit or soul. People
who don’t ‘believe’ in a soul are limiting
themselves to enjoying what this world has to offer them
through their physical senses--all controlled by a more
or less ‘superior’ brain. People who identify
themselves as body and mind but believe to ‘have’ a
soul are limiting themselves too--in a different way.
They have a certain advantage but haven’t realized
their full potential of being happy yet--for all kinds
of reasons. Please note here the difference between ‘believing’
and knowing…Know and fully realize all your
dimensions! You don’t ‘have’ a soul but you *are*
the soul or spirit. It is you--and not something
external. You are the eternal you-- full of joy and
happiness--and yes, you have a body and mind too… So
enjoy yourself to the fullest - throughout all
dimensions-- not just now, but all the time. And
remember, it is always now…
Here I could
only touch a few points about joy and happiness, but I
hope that you will feel inspired to be happy now! It is
really an easy and fun-filled journey; a trip very much
worth taking. If you’d like a bit of friendly
assistance, I’ve written "Yes I Am Happy
Now!" for you. You really really deserve to be
happy and feel so much joy--without limits. And you can
do it if you really want! These few words are the key…
How do I know?
I have searched for happiness all my life, made just
about every possible mistake, gone through many real
highs and (too) many more real lows. My only little ‘claim
to fame’ is that I never gave up on my dream--no
matter what. "Yes I Am Happy Now!" is the
result of my search; I’m convinced that the 99
realizations do work for all of us--no matter our race
or culture, religion, lifestyle or
circumstances--because we are not all that different
from each other… The last of the 99 realizations is…yes,
you guessed it right: Yes I Am Happy Now!
Love your life--live your
life--And be happy!
Copyright 2000 Arne
Klingenberg. The above article contains excerpts from
"Yes I Am Happy Now!", published by Beam
Publishing, Australia. This article may be reprinted or distributed without specific permission as long as the
entire text stays intact.
Arne Klingenberg is known around the
world for his independent and original research into
happiness and human potential. He’s the author of www.The-Happy-Side.com,
based on his bestseller Yes I Am Happy Now! The
title says it best: it's a powerful book helping you to
say "Yes I Am Happy Now!", every moment and
every day!
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