Happ-E-Newsletter for August 15, 2007
Welcome My Dear Friend!
I read a great new book by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin that has just been published called: Conversations With Yourself, A practical guide to greater happiness, self- development, and self-empowerment. In this incredible book Rabbi Pliskin elaborates on the vital importance of your self-talk to create the quality of your life. Rabbi Zelig Pliskin is the author of 22 books with his specialty in mastering happiness and other positive inner resources. His last 14 books include: "Happiness", "Kindness", "Courage", "Serenity", "Building Your Self-image" and "Marriage."
Rabbi Zelig Pliskin said to me: "May you have tremendously wonderful self talks with yourself." Rabbi Pliskin said this to me because he knows that what we tell ourselves is extremely important. That is why he has just published his new book for all of us. This is an exceptionally well done book and I highly recommend that you read it and start putting it to work in your life now. These books are available at:
www.Artscroll.com. Read an except from Conversations With Yourself in this newsletter.As you may know Dr. Wayne Dyer has a new book called: Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. He spoke about the thoughts from his book recently on a 3 hour PBS special. The book quotes many thoughts from the Tao Te Ching Written by Lao-tzu. Here is one of the quotes from a translation by S. Mitchell.
#44
Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success of failure: which is more destructive?
If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.
Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
These words were written almost 2,500 years ago. Many people are trying to understand them and make them part of our lives.
Your Power Source!
Happiness is your power source! The way to empower yourself is to decide to be happy no matter what. Choose happiness over everything else. Choose happiness gives you the power to deal with life and yourself in the best possible way. Happiness is a powerful strategy for those who practice it. When you're happy it gives you the awareness to realize the choices you have and select the option that is right for you. What is the real power that you have in doing this? You have power over yourself, and this is very important my friend, because being happy is authentic power.
We know that money can't buy happiness, because happiness is a decision. Happiness is a decision only you can make for yourself. The happiness decision is just a one step method, not three steps, or twelve steps. Who can remember so many? But everybody can remember just one step. All you have to do is remember to choose happiness in every moment in your life. Choosing happiness over anything that could take it away from you! Once you have made the happiness decision, you realize that happiness is where you're headed. Choose happiness instead of allowing anything to upset you. Having made the happiness decision, it becomes easier and easier to be happy from one moment to the next.
Have you noticed how hard it is for you to control anyone or anything? Well, you can control yourself by lightening up, relaxing, and laughing about things. Have fun and enjoy life. Being happy allows you to learn that you can control yourself, and not let anyone or anything else control you. Learn to let go of the things you can't change, this way you do not let them change you. Live with happiness and allow the experience of being happy to work for you.
When you think something makes you unhappy, you feel like a victim. You think someone or something has taken your happiness away from you. You have let yourself become a victim. Feeling and thinking like a victim does not work. When you are unhappy, you become a victim because you are thinking about your problems and not about your choices.
When you focus only on your problem. You cut yourself off from the choices you have available to solve your problem. The problem becomes bigger than life, it consumes and overwhelms you. You feel there is nothing you can do about it, because your state of unhappiness directs you to see life in only that one negative way. Once you think unhappily, in terms of only the problem, not the solution, you disempower yourself from dealing with the problem effectively.
Why choose happiness? Because that's what you really want! In a happy state you can deal with any problem, because you can see with clarity what choices you have. This clarity enables you to deal with your problem. First, you need to know what your choices are to make the best choices available to you. Happiness allows you to see your choices very clearly. Unhappiness does not allow you to see your choices at all. Unhappiness hides your choices from you, so you are cut off from your power and unaware of your strength.
Do you know the reason why people do not live with happiness? Many people are not even aware that happiness is a choice they can make. Once you learn that being happy is a choice, you may think that you don't deserve it. Some people do not love themselves enough to treat themselves with happiness. BE HAPPY, take my word for it, YOU'RE WORTH IT!
Why be happy? Because, it's the best way to live, and it's the best way to give. Happiness is a power source. You can't give away what you don't have. When you're happy, you start to use that power source. Then you'll find you can share your happiness with others. Show them your happiness and let them model this behavior from you. People will become aware of happiness through you. Others will see the wisdom of choosing to be happy for themselves. It is all about controlling yourself, not others. People won't be able to contaminate you with their unhappiness, to the contrary, you will infect them with your happiness.
Learn to change what you can, and accept what you cannot. Being Happy allows you to tap into your own wisdom and common sense. Choosing happiness will make a big difference in your life … and you will be making a positive difference in the world. Empower yourself with happiness now and keep choosing it over everything else.
BE HAPPY ZONE
by Lionel Ketchian. Published in the Fairfield Citizen-News on August 8, 2007Life is complicated, happiness is simple!
LIVE RICHLY...PRACTICE HAPPINESS!Happ-E-Quote :)
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes." - Charles SwindollHapp-E-Mail :)
I have left a new comment on your post "HARVARD HAPPINESS! ": I recently came across an article by Robert Emmons titled "Pay It Forward", featured in the Summer issue of Greater Good magazine. Emmons explains that typical Americans underestimate gratitude, and discusses how gratitude can make us happier people. Link to the article: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue/emmons.htmlHapp-E-Quote :)
"Talk happiness; talk faith; talk health. Say you are well, and all is well with you, and God shall hear your words and make them true." - Ella Wheeler-WilcoxHappy-Book :)
Conversations With Yourself, by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin. Available at: Available at www.Artscroll.com Rabbi Pliskin is The Self-image Builder and Happiness Teacher.You live in the world of your thoughts.
A large portion of that world involves the conversations that you are engaged in with yourself. Throughout the day you engage in self-talk. You comment to yourself about what you are experiencing now, what you've experienced in the past, and what you might experience in the future. There are patterns of self-talk that can create needless and excessive distress, anxiety, anger, fear, and worry. By recognizing the patterns of thoughts that make you feel bad and limit you, you become aware of the negative patterns that you need to reduce.Happ-E-Quote :)
"The roses bloom so beautifully because they are not trying to become lotuses. And the lotuses bloom so beautifully because they have not heard the legends about other flowers. Everything in nature goes so beautifully in accord, because nobody is trying to compete with anybody, nobody is trying to become anybody else. Everything is the way it is. Just see the point! Just be yourself and remember you cannot be anything else, whatsoever you do. All effort is futile. You have to be just yourself." OshoHapp-E-Mail :)
Lionel Ketchian will be making an audio appearance on Barry Shainbaum's radio show on Sunday August 26, from 12:00 noon to 12:45 PM. The Happiness Club Canadian ambassador, Jane Bradley will also be on the radio show.
The Radio Show Program is called: Perspectives with Barry Shainbaum. You can hear it on the radio: Faith FM, in Kitchener, Ont. 94.3 on the FM dial, at 12:00 noon. The program is repeated on Sunday Sept. 2, on Hope FM, in Woodstock, Ont. 94.3 on the FM dial, at 11:00 am. You can listen to it anything on
Streamed Online:
Happ-E-News :) Recent happiness articles and items of interest!
Are you happy? Canada.com - Hamilton,Ontario,Canada Studies have found financial status has little to do with happiness, but access to education does appear to have an effect. These girls smile for the camera ... Grateful spirit is path to happiness DetNews.com - Detroit,MI,USA ... Robert A. Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis, has been studying the role that gratitude plays in happiness. ... Get Older, Get Happier -- It Happens Wall Street Journal - USA Of course, individuals' happiness varies. Studies of twins indicate your genes likely make you more or less optimistic, and the happiness of your parents ... CODING FOR ETHICS Bangkok Post - Thailand They claim that sufficiency/happiness notions are too fuzzy to be operationalised, too anti-capitalistic to gain traction. After all, Thailand sits in the ...The Happiness Show on TV :)
"The Happiness Show," is on every Monday 9:30 - 10:00 PM. Co-hosts are George Ortega and Lionel Ketchian. Cablevision of Connecticut broadcasts the TV show on channel 77. Airs in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Milford, Orange, Stratford & Woodbridge. View over 130 shows in streaming media and MPEG on your computer anytime at: www.happinessclub.comCLUB HAPPINESS, E-CLUB :)
Everybody should join this club, try it, you'll love it!!!We have created an online e-mail community for you to talk and share happiness with people around the world. To join up, just send an e-mail to:
clubhappiness-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and you will be notified of your membership almost right away. Or join by clicking on this link: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/clubhappiness/ This is an e-club of people interested in everything about happiness. It is for people to enjoy between meetings, or for those that don't have any happiness groups where you live. Club Happiness is run by our good friends David Ambrose who lives in Calgary, Canada and Iolanda who lives in Australia. For more information click on this link: http://happinessclub.blogspot.com/2007/04/club-happiness-e-club.html#links">HappinessVIRTUAL HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Meeting in September to be announced.Join us from your home, on your phone, on the new VIRTUAL HAPPINESS CLUB with Dr. Cynthia Barnett. You can listen and talk with a great happiness teacher on the first Monday of each month. Listen to an MP3 Audio interviews with Dr. Robert & Barbara Muller, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, Professor Christopher Peterson, Ph.D., Professor Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D., that you may have missed online at:
www.happinessclub.comYou can listen to Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. the Professor who teaches a course on Happiness at Harvard University. Dr. Ben-Shahar has just written a great new book called: Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. Tal was our guest on Monday, July 9, 2007. You can listen to the entire one hour interview now:
http://www.HappinessMinute.com/VirtualHappinessClub.htmFAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT HAPPINESS CLUB :)
The Presentation is: Why I Chose Happiness For My Life's Work! by Nicholas Hall, MAPP. Nick has earned his masters degree from the
University of Pennsylvania in Applied Positive Psychology in 2006. This rigorous program taught the theoretical and scientific underpinnings of the psychology and behavior of flourishing, positive emotions, success, and coaching. Nick has received his bachelors degree in philosophy and music from SUNY College at Buffalo in 1996. He has also completed graduate coursework in education and financial planning. Nick's blog: www.thehappinessblog.com/ Nick's main research interests are occupational fit and work-life satisfaction.Date :)
Thursday, August 16, 2007WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT SMILING SINGLE SENIORS HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Date :)
Thursday, August 30, 2007Admission is free and the meetings are for people single and over 50 years old. Meet some wonderful people using happiness in their lives. Stay happy and healthy - get well connected. Stacy Enyeart is the group facilitator. Future meetings to be announced.
NEW!!! GREENWICH CONNECTICUT HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Date :)
September meeting to be announced.MADISON CONNECTICUT HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Our next meeting presentation is: JOYFULNESS AS A WAY OF BEING by Zsuzsa Simandy, LMSW. Zsuzsa is an author, a holistic therapist and a columnist for the Guilford Courier. She will give you an opportunity to tap into your own source and inexhaustible supply of harmony and joy!
Date :)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007STAMFORD CONNECTICUT TEEN HAPPY CLUB :)
Meetings begin again in September!Open to all high school students. Meetings are held twice a month on Saturdays from 11:00 - 12:30 P.M. At the Daniel and Grace Tully & Family Health Center, 32 Strawberry Hill Court, Stamford, Connecticut 06902.
Dr. Cynthia Barnett
is the group facilitator. Her e-mail: DoctorCynthia@aol.com For reservations and information contact: Rosalie at: 203 322-9990JUST STARTED - NEW YORK HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Event Description: Positive Emotions - why use them? how can we most effectively use them?! Also a brief review of Positive Thinking. You're guaranteed to interact with at least five new people each time!" Hosted in association with the Creativity and Personal Mastery program at Columbia Business School, as taught by Professor Rao. No dues, no registration and open to everyone!
Date :)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007Senia Maymin
is the group facilitator. Senia is an Executive Coach and Editor-in-Chief of Positive Psychology News Daily. Ms. Maymin is an Assistant Instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Master program for Applied Positive Psychology. Senia's phone: 212-920-0277, e-mail: senia@senia.com. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month. Sept 12, Oct 10, Nov 14, Dec 12, 2007.For more information www.Senia.com & http://hobby.meetup.com/7/WILMINGTON NORTH CAROLINA HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Date :)
Friday, August 24, 2007Time :)
7:00 - 9:00 P.M.Richard Dean Banton,
LSCW is the group facilitator. Richard's e-mail: rbanton@ec.rr.com phone: 910-264-1188. Get in touch with us through the 'Contact Organizer' feature on the Meetup.com website: Click here: Members - The Wilmington Happiness Club (Wilmington, NC) - Meetup.comMENTORS HAPPINESS CLUB :)
Meeting: Not till September. We will be meeting on our conference phone line that will be open to all Happiness Club facilitators everywhere. More information to come.Fairfield, Connecticut
Happiness ClubMadison, Connecticut
New! Madison CT Happiness ClubWestport, Connecticut
Smiling Single SeniorsBridgeport, Connecticut
Bridge House Happiness ClubGreenwich, Connecticut
For information Senia Maymin e-mail: senia@senia.com.Stamford, Connecticut
TEEN HAPPY CLUB For information contact: Rosalie at: 203 322-9990New York, New York
For information Senia Maymin e-mail: senia@senia.com.San Francisco, California
San Francisco Happiness Club http://happinessclub.com/pages/anchor8Lafayette, California Diablo Valley Happiness ClubWilmington, North Carolina
The Happiness Club of North CarolinaVirtual Happiness Club
- For more information: http://happinessclub.blogspot.com/2007/04/virtual-happiness-club.html#links">HappinessClub Happiness, an E-Club -
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/clubhappiness/New - Happiness Club WWW Chapter -
No meetings till September. For more information: http://happinessclub.blogspot.com/2007/06/happiness-club-www-chapter.html#links">HappinessMentors Happiness Club -
No meetings till September.Happ-E-Quote :)
"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret MeadHappiness 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.FREE Newsletter
Share a smile with friends and family with this motivating FREE Happ-E-Newsletter. Subscribe online at: HappinessClub.com Our mailing list is never sold or given to anyone. To ensure that you receive your newsletter subscription in your inbox, please add printlrk@aol.com into your address book.REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS:
No longer wish to receive the Happ-E-Newsletter, reply with "Remove" in the subject line."May the good lord be with you, Down every road you roam, And may sunshine and happiness, Surround you when you're far from home." - Words from the song Forever Young by Rod Stewart
"Unhappiness is a form of suffering." Eckhart Tolle. "Do or do not. There is no try." Yoda
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 2007, Lionel R. Ketchian, all rights reserved.