Real Happiness: What is the Real More you Want?

Anna Pasternak (pictured left), author and journalist, attended the recent Real More workshop held over two days in central London. She has written a personal account of her experience that was published in the Daily Mail on August 24th. Her article is entitled “More Please: More money, more security, more certainty... would it really make us any happier?” Anna’s trademark style is hugely personal, insightful, and witty. Whatever she writes about she always gets to the heart of the matter. Her article is a great read.

Have you heard of the term “static happiness?” Ever since happiness researchers have measured happiness and well-being levels they have noticed an interesting phenomenon that is, in spite of the fact that we have more of everything we say we want we are not any happier. For example, in the US, when people were asked in 1940 to score their happiness, the average answer was 7.5 out of 10. Most recently, the average answer is 7.2 out of 10. There are similar scores for the UK, Japan, Australia and other countries.

Try this exercise: take a moment to score how happy you were, on average, from 0 to 10, when you were 7 years old. For example, 7.5 out of 10. Next, score how happy you were when you were 16 years old, 21 years old, 5 years ago, last year, and today. What do your scores tell you about your relationship to happiness? Are you happier today than before? Are you suffering from “static happiness?” And what about the future? How happy do you think you will be in one year’s time? And in five year’s time?

What is the real more that would help you to be happier - starting from now? Think not just about “getting” and “having” and “attracting” and “receiving”; but also about “being” and “giving” and “noticing” and “appreciating.” Give this important question some of your best attention. You have the answer within you right now. As Anna Pasternak highlights in her article: the key to happiness isn’t more stuff; it’s more clarity.

The Real More workshop received rave reviews, and we will definitely be running it again next year. Dates will be announced soon.

The Real More: "The Start of Something Wonderful"

This morning I begin a two-day workshop in London called The Real More. This workshop is billed as “A Series of Meditations on More.” It is an invitation to reflect on what is the real more that we most want in our lives. More specifically, what is the real more we want to be, to know, to experience, to give, and to receive. The first principle we will explore is, when you know what you really want, you stop wanting more of everything else.

I am joined on The Real More workshop by my friends Avril Carson, Ian Lynch, Lizzie Prior, Bron Wilton, Candy Constable, Charlie Shand, and Robert Norton - each of who will help to create an event that is rich in poetry, meditations, music, inquiry, conversations, and exercises. I have a strong sense that this weekend will be the start of something wonderful - opening us all up to new levels of prosperity and joy. The Real More will begin with the following poem, which I wrote especially for this event, entitled “The Start of Something Wonderful.”

It's time to do
nothing.

Start doing
nothing immediately.

Make doing
nothing your work
today.

Do nothing,
and do not even make
it a technique.

This doing nothing is
a divine opportunity.

It interrupts the past.
It changes the future.
And your soul is ready
to act now.

Doing nothing,
in its purest form,
is receptivity.

Your non-action draws to
you extra
possibility.

Doing nothing is the start
of something
wonderful.

It is what an orchestra does
to sound the first note
of a symphony.

It is what each of us must do
if we are let the divine
act through us.

Doing nothing
is holy work.

Out of the nothingness,
a new adventure
begins.

Starting
from
now.

Poem: "Prizes of NOW"

Hello Monday morning!
It's the start of the week. Just another week, or, maybe a brand new week. Our choice, I imagine. Monday mornings are the perfect time to think again about what is success and what is happiness. Ten minutes is enough to clear the mind, to listen to your heart, and to align yourself with what is truly important. But I urge you to do it before the busyness kicks in and before the daily rush takes you away from yourself. Do it now. To support you in your meditation here is a poem I wrote called "Prizes of NOW."


This constant busyness is not really
my life.

The urge to keep moving forward
is not it either.

The daily schedule is mostly a
distraction, truth be told.

If I was to stop, I mean really stop,
I fear I might lose my way. But I
am already lost.

If I was to stop, I mean totally stop,
I fear I might fall apart. But my
life is already in pieces.

If I was stop, stop, stop,
I fear I might die.
And yet, because I will not stop,
I fear I am not really alive.

It’s in the spaces that exist in the
chains of busyness, that
I find myself again.

It’s when I stand still, even for just
a moment, that I win the
prizes of now.

It’s when I am willing not to be too
busy that I really start
to live.

Hay House Radio broadcasts my talk at the Toussaint Academy in San Diego

I am delighted to say that Hay House Radio are broadcasting the talk I gave recently in San Diego to the young people at the Toussaint Academy. This talk was part of the "Authors in Action" initiative started by Melanie Lococo, the Director of Giving, at Hay House.

It was such a highlight and an honour for me to give this talk at the Toussaint Academy.

Click here to listen to the broadcast, and find out how to get the show "On Demand" after it's original air time. There is also a link on this page to the transcript of an interview I gave during my time in San Diego for the I Can Do It! conference.

P.S. Imagine this: one day every organization in the world will have a Director of Giving!

Celebrate Your LIfe: I Choose Love

Today I am giving the closing keynote at the Celebrate Your Life conference in Chicago. My keynote will feature a guest appearance by the outstanding musician and songwriter, Shawn Gallaway.

I first came across Shawn’s music about 8 week ago. I was sent a copy of his video for his song “I Choose Love.” I liked it so much I immediately bought his album on ITunes. The song “I Choose Love” is so beautiful, I found myself playing it over and over. In fact, one day I put it on my Ipod, hit “Repeat,” and went running to the song for about an hour around Central Park, New York. I also started listening to the song as part of my preparation for delivering my keynote talks and workshops.

Two weeks after first hearing “I Choose Love,” I travelled to San Diego to participate in the I CAN DO IT Conference. Who should I meet there? Shawn Gallaway! There he was, just sitting in the crowd. I recognized him immediately. We have been in conversation ever since. AND, today, Shawn Gallaway will be singing “I Choose Love” as part of my keynote for “Celebrate Your Life.” Do you believe in synchronicity, or is it all random for you?!

Do check out Shawn Gallaway’s website. His mission is empowering people to create a reality based on love not fear.He is a multi-talented artist, a genuinely good fellow, and his star is rising. Please watch his fantastic video to “I Choose Love.” It is a blessing.

Ending the Search for Happiness

Today I am doing a 1-day workshop on Be Happy at the NY Open Center down at Spring Street. It is an honour to be teaching at a place that has offered such consistent, visionary service to so many people over the years.

One of the goals of my work with The Happiness Project is to help people end the search for happiness and be happy now. The whole point of focusing on “happiness now” is to be able to stop searching and to start seeing. I believe that the purpose of our life is not to search for happiness; it is to follow our joy. Today, we will be exploring this idea in depth. In light of this, I offer you a poem entitled “In Search of happiness.”

In search of happiness,
I abandon myself.
The searching is a blindness.
I cannot see.

But I do not realize that
I cannot see.
And I cannot see, just yet,
what I am doing to
myself.

In search of happiness,
I lose myself.
I cannot find what I am
looking for because I
do not know what I am
looking for.

There is no search and find.
It is only search and
search and
search.


In search of happiness,
I call out to myself.
I want help. I want help.
Help is what I want.

I am tired. I am tired.
I am too tired to be happy.
I am too tired to be helped.
At first.

In search of happiness,
I find myself.
I am what I have been
looking for.

I come home again to a
place in me where All
is well.

I come home again to
a part of me that is All
of me.

I am no longer searching,
and I can see.
I can see.

Good Morning America! - 5 Ways to Be Happy NOW

I have just got back from my interview on Good Morning America with THE Diane Sawyer.  The Interview was a JOY to do, and they have already posted the clip online: BE HAPPY - RELEASE THE POWER OF HAPPINESS IN YOU.

The lovely thing was - my wife, Hollie and my daughter, Bo got to be in the studio while we did the live recording! And so too was Ian Lynch, the Happiness Project Office Manager, whose birthday it is today.  Happy Birthday Ian!