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Chapter 7
What
do I have to do to become happy? One of the first things we have to do is learn to accept and understand ourselves.
Yet, one of the things we rarely do is listen to and think about ourselves. We willingly spend hours and hours thinking about and trying to understand other people. What are they like? What did they do? Why did they do it? The result is that we often become
confused and negativity sets in. When I speak, how should I speak? When I listen, What should my thinking be like? How should I do it? In order to achieve and maintain
happiness we need to listen to and focus on ourselves. Start now. In the silence: Focus on yourself. Quietly, ask yourself the questions: Who am I? Where do I fit in to the world? What am I here to achieve? What’s my role? As the major theoretical biophysicist Fritz Albert Popp discovered, there is light in the body and one of the most essential stores of light is DNA. He even found that the more healthy the body the lowest but most coherent intensity of light I would have, the more stressed we become the more the emission of light increases trying to return the body to an equilibrium. So we are healthy when we are in a state of perfect subatomic communication and become ill when the communication breaks down. In other words when the light is not perfect we become ill. To test his theories Popp found a room that was so dark in scientific terms it was pitch black. In this room he decided to measure the light emitted by a human being. He asked one of his researchers to sit in the room every day for nine months during which time he took readings of light emission from her forehead and hands. On analysing the data he found that not only do human beings emit light, the left and right hand emit identical amounts all the time and we emit light in accordance to our biological rhythms. In other words he found that we emit light in accordance to our natural biological rhythms. When he studies sick cancer patients he found that they had lost these natural rhythms, they had lost their connection with the world cycles. Experience yourself to be a this light. A small dot or star shaped light in the middle of the forehead. We call this the Soul. Other writers on spirituality call it consciousness or ‘spirit’. That indestructible, non perishable part of us that survives beyond the perishable destructible body. The driver of the car. The musician who plays the instrument.
The point is ... you do not have a soul, you are a soul.
Let me tell you a story I heard recently. A boy called Simon was born and brought up in the UK, near Oxford. After school he went on to University where he studied engineering and was employed in a prestigious, blue chip company. He was celebrating at a party when tripped over the carpet and fell down the stairs. He became unconscious and was rushed to hospital where he was in a coma for a few weeks. On regaining consciousness it was found that he had lost his memory. As you can imagine he was very distressed and kept repeating to the nursing staff: "where am I?", "what happened to me?" His parents and friends visited every day but Simon was unable to recognise them or recall what had happened to him. His parents and doctors kept telling him stories about himself and repeating his name Simon, over and over again, showing him photographs of his youth with the hope that it would jolt his memory. All without results. As time
progressed, although he could not remember, Simon started to believe what they
were telling him and what the photographic evidence proved. He is Simon.
Although he could not recall his past; he accepted their evidence and slowly
started to rebuild his life. A life without any knowledge of the past. As time
passed he gained in confidence and accepted his fortune, that he is alive
and well. However, he remained terribly disappointed that he was not able to
recall his past. Will he ever remember? When someone asks after him, he
promptly says, " I am Simon", but usually ends up thinking or saying,
"actually I don't remember who I am or what happened in the past." The
frustration and the trauma he experienced during this period was enormous and
can hardly be imagined by those who have not suffered such a trauma. Over a period of time the fog lifted and his memory gradually returned. His parents tested him and he was able to reply: " Yes, yes, I remember clearly" and he gradually became more authoritative, confident and powerful, more in charge of his life. In all this
euphoria it should not be forgotten that his memory returned as a result of
intense effort by Simon, his parents, doctors and friends. They all constantly
reminded him that he was Simon. He acted like Simon, but it was only when his
memory returned that he really was Simon again. His original self.
Understanding that you are a soul is just like this. Thus the process is not a learning process but an unlearning process. We have to unlearn all the methods, systems etc we have placed on ourselves to keep us focussed on the mundane, to keep us focussed on the illusion that happiness is achieved through collecting more and more material things, through pursuing our ‘wants’. Real happiness comes from unlearning the restrictions we have placed upon ourselves and allowing the natural happiness to emerge piece by piece, day by day. Like all things that are worth having it takes time, but that doesn’t mean that there are no benefits along the way. To move
forward quickly; start by looking at what you have put in place to stop
yourself from really enjoying yourself and feeling happy.
What do you do each day that you
would rather not do?
What do you do that is prefaced
by ‘ought’, ‘should’, or ‘must’? Look at the results closely.
Which of these ‘oughts’,
‘shoulds’ or ‘musts’ give you access to enjoyment and happiness?
What would happen if you stopped
these behaviours that are prefaced by 'ought, 'should' or 'must'? Really listen to yourself; notice when you go to do something and the ‘ought’, ‘should’ or ‘must’ enters your intellect. Ask yourself what would happen if I didn’t do that now?
This is one way to start the unlearning process. It feels uncomfortable at first but with practice you will soon get the hang of it. As you practice more and more you will get the realisation of who you really are: A peaceful soul, filled with happiness You must, however, reflect on your progress each day. Every day before you go to bed, look at your progress. Don’t lie in bed saying to yourself, ‘I did that wrong’. ‘I should have done better there’. No. Look at your day and note when you avoided a behaviour that was destined to take away your happiness. This is a success. You are taking control of your life. Remember this is a step by step process. This is not a make-over. You are undertaking real change here. Successful change of behaviour is not about adding a technique or suppressing old behaviours. This is about returning to our natural selves. We all know deep down inside what is needed. We also know the ways and means. We just don’t feel confident to access it. If there is a learning process it is learning to create a silent space where we can sit in silence listen to ourselves and access that which we already have, learning to trust ourselves and gain confidence.
Practice this meditation:
Sit in a comfortable position. Play some soft, soothing music and let the thoughts of the day wander over you. Just sit still and allow yourself to go quieter and quieter gradually feeling a stillness a natural stillness…………. Turn within. Turn your focus to between your eyes. To the tiny star that sits in the middle of your forehead. The light a beam of light shining out. Just think for a moment ; I am a tiny star………..I am a soul………. I am the driver of this car…………. A point of light……….a tiny point of light ………..detached……….separate from this body……………. Experience the quietness it brings to the body………… Repeat to yourself I am a peaceful soul………… pure light……………..Just sit and experience the stillness. The feelings of my natural peace. …………..I am peaceful.
During the meditation you focussed on being a being of light. Did you experience the darkness and negativity disappear? Have you noticed that you cannot have both light and darkness? The minute you turn on a light darkness disappears. It is the same with your thinking the minute you think positively all other negative thoughts vanish. When you switch on the light, in your mind, the darkness vanishes immediately. Therefore, you don’t need to make any effort you just need to change your thought, turn on the light. It is this easy. The only problem is; we make it difficult. Instead of going with the experience and the feelings it gives, we have to analyse. We have to think it through. We look for other sources that can verify what is being said. We can become very intoxicated by listening to motivational speakers. Having listened to them, we come out of the room flying from the chandeliers, but what happens to us? Invariably, after a while, the feeling tapers off. The feeling disappears and we are back to our recidivist ways, no nearer changing ourselves. To listen to a speaker or to read a book and relate the knowledge is easy. However, to imbibe the knowledge, become an embodiment of that knowledge, to put into practice the knowledge is more difficult. There are many people who can talk about self respect or happiness and tell you how to achieve it. But look at them. Are they happy? Do they live happiness and self respect? Here is the rub; We can only change and make a lasting change to our lives by acting on our experiences. Instead of thinking; we need to experience what we are thinking. Experience is the key. The bad news is; whatever we listen to and copy or whatever we think does not stay with us and become part of us. It is always ‘bolted on’. It is rarely imbibed. Once you have experienced something it cannot be taken away from you therefore when the problems in your life arise don’t panic you already have the solutions, don’t destroy your happiness. Learn through meditation to switch on the switch of happiness and self respect at any time...
The key to success is practice.
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