When was the last time you did something good for yourself? It's time to start treating yourself better. If you don't think about yourself, you won't be very helpful to others. Kindness starts with the way you treat yourself. Respect for others is just a reflection of your own self-respect. Happiness releases the virtues we all care about. Once you do things with happiness, you release the lightness of being that makes life so much easier and stress free...Be Happy!

Six years ago today, I wrote my first article called: BE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND, for the Be Happy Zone column in the Fairfield Citizen-News. Thanks for allowing me to spread happiness for the last six years. Readers like you have shown me how important happiness is to all of us. I would like to introduce you to a new friend of mine. His name is Gary van Warmerdam, and the following is his story in his own words.

"I finally hit bottom when the woman I was living with got so angry that she picked up a fire poker and came at me. In her previous fits of anger she had thrown things or taken a swing at me. I grabbed hold of the fire poker until she relaxed and put it down. I was exhausted from trying to fix the relationship. I didn't have the tools to change the dynamics of emotional drama. Even if I did, I didn't want to work on it in that environment. I packed up my things and left.

It took me a few days to stop focusing on what other people did wrong and acknowledge my half in all of it. I was the one responsible for getting myself into the career and relationships I was in. I was responsible for choosing to stay when things were miserable. My girlfriend talked me into believing I was at fault for her anger, but I was the one that believed it. I resisted swallowing responsibility for my choices but as I reviewed my half I couldn't escape the truth. I finally accepted that I had a responsibility for the events and what I was feeling in my life. What surprised me was that it came with great power.

I realized that if I was responsible for creating my misery, then I also had the power to create joy and happiness as well. I just had to figure out how. I vowed that I would figure out what was in my unconscious decision making process that had gotten me into unhappy situations, and what had kept me there. I made a deep commitment to change this unconscious decision process so I didn't end up there again. I committed to being happy no matter what. I would no longer live in the fear and miserable emotions I was living in.

Two weeks later I was sitting and listening to a gentle man by the name of Don Miguel Ruiz. Nothing profound happened that evening, but his common sense, kind insights, and perspective were a breath of fresh air to my own. As I left that evening I knew that I could learn a lot from this man. Since that day in April 1994 Don Miguel went on to write best selling books such as The Four Agreements, The Mastery of Love, and The Voice of Knowledge.

As Epictetus said: "It is difficulties that show what men are."

I worked with Don Miguel personally to change all my beliefs and completely change my perspective on everything in life. I learned how to be happy in the face of life’s chaos. If I can do it, you can do it. The key is learning how to deal with and master the beliefs in your mind. Most of your emotional reactions are driven by beliefs and interpretations in your mind that you are not even aware of. Without mastery over your beliefs you have no control over your interpretations, perspective, or emotions. The result is that your emotional reactions take you for a ride that you didn't choose. You didn't choose your emotion because you didn't choose the interpretation, the belief did.

When you have mastery over your core beliefs you have the power to direct the expressions of your life towards truth, love and happiness. It is the beliefs buried in your mind that interferes with happiness being a choice.

One of the beautiful gifts of creating conscious happiness for yourself is that since it is something you create from within, there is no fear of losing it. It is not dependent on career success, another person, financial gains, or even your health. Once you know how to create conscious happiness from within, you can enjoy it the rest of your life...no matter what.

The critical step in the process is to develop a different perspective. It is with a different perspective that you create different interpretations of events in your life. With a different interpretation you change your emotional experience of events. By mastering your perspective you can master happiness in your life.

To create happiness in your life requires conscious commitment. Without the conscious commitment the chaos of the day, hidden agendas of core beliefs, and habits from our ego mind overrun how we spend our time and attention. With a conscious commitment it is only inevitable that we return to our natural emotional state of happiness."

Be Impeccable With Your Word

Don't Take Anything Personally

Don't Make Assumptions

Always Do Your Best

Don Miguel Ruiz said: "When we become authentic, when we no longer pretend to be what we are not, we recover all the power that we had invested in other people’s opinions. We can invest this power in our own happiness."

BE HAPPY ZONE by Lionel Ketchian

Published in the Fairfield Citizen-News - August 9, 2006

Life is complicated, happiness is simple! LIVE RICHLY...PRACTICE HAPPINESS!

Everything we do in life is for the purpose of obtaining happiness!

Happiness Empowerment to You! Reminding you to make the "Happiness Decision."

Think Smart, Look Smart, Be Smart...Be Happy!

Sharing Love, Peace and Happiness with you,
Lionel Ketchian

Happ-E-Mail :)
I enjoyed your newsletter and comments about the Middle East situation. Too bad most individuals don't realize that the Universe is in Divine Order and provides us with the perfect opportunity in this life time to grow by looking for happiness within in spite of the BS outside :-) Keep up your great work, Michael

Use this meditation to embrace and then let go of fear that bubbles up in the face of worldwide and personal tragedies.

Happ-E-Mail :)
This is the article written for the Bridge House Newsletter.

The Happy Hour
Early this year, I got a call from Lionel Ketchian, a wonderful man who I call the "Johnny Appleseed of Happiness." He asked if I was interested in creating a Happiness Club at Bridge House, similar to the one that he has been running for 6 years at the Fairfield Library. I took him up on his offer at once!

Every Tuesday, Lionel comes at noon, and engages a roomful of members and staff in the happiest lunch hour you ever saw. Sometimes he brings friends to add to the happy mix. We eat lunch, talk about the most uplifting subjects, sing and if the spirit moves us, we dance. William Acosta, our talented staff, plays the piano and as our voices soar, so do our spirits.

We all have the opportunity to choose our thoughts. The members of the Happiness Club believe that you should choose to be happy. We know that sometimes the world seems to be going to pieces. But our being unhappy will not help. Being happy helps you to face your world in the most effective way; it makes the people you meet want to be around you. Happiness is a decision. Make the decision to join us and you will see why everyone walks out of Club 880 beaming!

The meetings are just what the doctor ordered! In extreme gratitude, Phyllis Freeman, MS

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm sure you already have seen this quote, but thought I would send it anyway. - Cathy Jewell Fischer

"If you don't have a vision, then your reality will always be determined by other's perceptions." - Melanee Addison

Happ-E-Mail :)
Loved reading your thoughts on happiness and the current world situations. A VOICE OF REASON...thank you, Just Laugh Now

Happ-E-Poem :)
This wonderful poem sent us from our friend David Lazar

Savor the Moment
It is filled with joy and praise
It is filled with celebration
It is filled with choice and creativity
It can change life and change the world.

I was just told that another article I wrote .... on happiness was published

"At the moment of death, to be able to say to oneself: I have gone through life without being fooled. I have not believed the false values I was asked to believe; I have carried my living happiness untouched by the noisy marketplaces; I have fulfilled myself beyond belief; I was truly a free human being." - Dr. Robert Muller

Happiness is a skill that can be learned. The essential factor whether or not you will live a happy life is based less on external factors such as wealth, success and fame, and more on your attitude toward life, toward yourself, toward other people, and toward events and situations. Regardless of your attitudes in the past, you have the ability to change and become a master of happiness.

Today is the best day to improve your skills. Either things will go EXACTLY the way you want -- and then you can focus on the feeling of joy. Or things will NOT go the way you want and you'll have the opportunity to attain greater mastery over your attitude. Throughout the day, keep asking yourself: "What attitude will enable me to experience joy and empowerment RIGHT NOW?

Happ-E-Mail :)
I just read the August 1st edition of your great newsletter. Here in the Middle East there is a strong need for universal peace and harmony. Everyone would gain greatly with true peace. I wish you everything wonderful and much happiness. Zelig (Rabbi Zelig Pliskin)

Happ-E-Quote :)
"Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin." - John Lubbock

"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose." - William Cowper

Happ-E-Quote :)
"To give happiness is to deserve happiness." - from Dr. Robert Muller's book, Robert's Golden Sayings

The Happiness Show on TV:)
"The Happiness Show," is on every Monday night, from 9:30 - 10:00 PM. Your co-hosts are Lionel Ketchian and George Ortega. Cablevision of Connecticut broadcasts the TV show on channel 77. Airs in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Milford, Orange, Stratford & Woodbridge.

Happ-E-Quote :)
"Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble." - French Proverb

"Enjoy the Good Life, Happiness!," by Lionel Ketchian

What does it take for an individual human being to have a good life?

Find out what happiness is and what it takes to achieve it!

We will have three wonderful book door prizes. The book is called:

Searching for the Waters of Antiquity, A Follow-Along Meditation Process by Shirley Ryan

This is a beautiful full color book with fantastic illustrations in this large coffee table book. Thank you Shirley Ryan for your beautiful work.

Date :) Thursday, August 17, 2006

Time :) 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Place :) At the Fairfield Public Library, in the Rotary Room

Address :) 1080 Old Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06824

Everyone is welcome; admission is free. Meet some wonderful people using happiness in their lives. Future meetings at the Fairfield Library will be: Thursday, September 21, Thursday, October 12, Thursday, November 16, 2006.

Directions to Fairfield Public Library: (movie theatre is diagonally across the street)

I-95 Northbound Exit 21: From New York - I-95, Exit 21, Mill Plain Road. Right at bottom of ramp. Under railroad overpass make a left at light (Post Rd.), 1/2 mile on right at the corner.

I-95 Southbound Exit 22: From New Haven - I-95, Exit 22, North Benson Rd. Left at bottom of ramp. Under railroad overpass make right at light (Post Rd.), 1/2 mile on left at the corner.

Rev. Dr. David Harper will present a talk called: "Finding Happiness!" Dr. Harper will use some contributions of modern cartoonists like Charles Schulz. Ample time for discussions will follow. The meeting will be held Thursday, August 31, 6:30 - 8:30 PM at the Westport Senior Center, 21 Imperial Ave., Westport CT 06880. Admission is free and you can meet some wonderful people using happiness in their lives. Stay happy and healthy - get well connected. Stacy Enyeart is the group facilitator. For further information, www.happinessclub.com or call Lionel Ketchian at 203 258-7777.

Future meetings: Thursday, September 28, Thursday, October 19 2006.

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Reading this newsletter will not just make your life better; it will make the world a better place...because you have decided to be happy!

Happiness is an inner state of well being. A state that enables you to profit from your highest thoughts, intelligence, wisdom, awareness, common sense, emotions, health, and spiritual values.

Don't give away your power by being unhappy! Practice "Premeditated Happiness," because happiness is an issue of power. We give our power to others for many reasons. We mistakenly think that doing this will make us happy. The truth is that we have given others power over ourselves. We can now consciously reclaim our power and experience happiness. Happiness does wonders for your soul. Now is the time to learn to use happiness for dealing with challenges and difficult people so you can empower your life.

If you no longer wish to receive this Happ-E-Newsletter, reply with "Remove" in the subject line.

"Unhappiness is a form of suffering." Eckhart Tolle

If you're not happy by now, it's time to have a talk with yourself. Make the Happiness Decision Now! THAT'S ALL FOLKS...NOW BE HAPPY!

© Copyright 2006, Lionel R. Ketchian, all rights reserved.