I can see the good.

William Michael Forbes




Choice is a muscle of the mind that gets stronger only when properly exercised. wmf

A Well Known Fact:
The health of an individual increases when they focus on the positive, even when to others an event may appear negative.

Okay...that son-of-a-gun cut me off!...but maybe they saved me from an accident or from getting a ticket. I didn’t get the job...it must be that there is an even better opportunity for me. Oh no...I’m, going to be late! An as yet unseen opportunity may be coming.

These are some of the way I view situations that I use to get really worked into a frenzy about...I’d cuss and swear...criticize and find fault with anything, everyone and everything that didn’t fit the way I thought is should be. It took me a number of years to develop automatic habit patterns that now counter negative impulses, which are usually rooted in our instinctual, fight or flight biological mechanisms. The negative behaviours will never change themselves...and they cannot be changed so long as we try to make those changes through our identification with the body. Changes in emotional patterns that are based in our instinctual nature can only be effected through a proper use of out mental, conceptual faculty and only when the mental faculty is directed by the Soul, YOU...THE AWARENESS.

Learning to direct the actions of our body through the correct use of the mind means we must also learn to dis-identify ourselves from the content of our minds and this brings us into a position to begin learning to use FREE WILL in the true sense of the word. Free Will is a natural ability that enables us to think and reason outside of the content of the preconceived notions we’ve be given by our upbringing and it also allows us to make decisions independent of the inclinations that are hard-wired into the body, which brings us to today’s lesson on How to be Happy in fifteen minutes or less.

Today’s lesson will only take up to two minutes per hour as you will be looking for those moments and events that you find yourself reacting negatively towards. When you encounter an event that triggers upset or discomfort in you follow these few simple steps and notice how much quicker you recover from those events.

1. Take a deep breath until your lungs feel tense and a little tight...then exhale and notice the physical tension leaving your body. Take one more breath like that and notice what has happened in your mind as you exhale the second time. This releases instinctual/physical response tension from your field of perception and leaves you free to clear your mind.

2. Ask yourself the following questions about the event or circumstance.

• In what way can this be good for me?

• How could this be also good for others?

• What result would I like to get from this?

Handling some situations in this manner does two things...first it released tension from your body and reduces the likely hood of your reacting physically to the events and two, it moves you into the position of awareness by the very fact that you are asking yourself (in this case your mind) questions that will elicit supporting answers from your mind. It took me a couple of years to learn to apply this tool fairly consistently and although I still have moments when I slip a little...ninety percent of the time I enjoy whatever I’m experiencing as I am no longer subjective to automatic behaviours and reactions that I was taught growing up. I hope you find today’s activity exciting and...

Have a great day!

William

Copyright © 2010 by William Michael Forbes. All rights reserved.