DailyHappyLiving.com

gopimenon July 20th, 2010

Last week my grandson celebrated his First Birthday.   My son and daughter-in-law had planned everything very well and so the party went without a hitch!  The decorations were fine, so was the food, and so too were the guests and all of us enjoyed ourselves tremendously!

However the incident that made me think of God in a new light, came after all the guests had left, leaving just the immediate family! The doting parents were viewing the video that had been shot of their son blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.   The child was so happy that he was clapping his hands in glee when the guests finished singing the birthday song.  After blowing out the candle, when everyone clapped, the birthday boy too smiled widely and clapped.

The parents were so thrilled and happy at the sight of their child being happy that they kept rewinding the video to see it again and again! Why were they so happy?  Because they saw their child being happy!

Then it occurred to me:  If we as parents can be so happy to see our children happy,  would not God the omnipotent Parent also feel happy when we are happy? The answer is “Of course God would!”   Nothing could make God happier than have his creation (humans) enjoying themselves and being truly happy in this world of God’s creation, just as any doting parent would!   So it stands to reason that God would be happy if we were happy and not if we were miserable!

Unfortunately for us and the world, all of us are brainwashed from birth with teachings that make God out to be a vengeful, vindictive, autocratic dictator instead of a loving, caring Parent!

We are told to Fear God, to Obey God, to Pray everyday so as to Pacify the vengeful God!  We are told to feel guilt because “We are Sinners”;  “We are born on Earth to work out our Bad Karma”; that this wonderful world is like a Penal Colony to which we were banished from paradise because our first parents disobeyed God!

How vindictive must God be to punish all the following generations of children for a ‘sin’ committed once by a parent? How wicked must God be to create a horror called Hell to place his children in ‘forever’ just because they disobeyed Him?  How we do malign God to think of God’s compassion and love in such horrible terms!   But that is what we have been doing for ages and still continue to do so!  Our every belief about God is an insult to everything good in the Creator!

No wonder we find it difficult to be happy!  We turn everything good God has created and say that ‘this world is evil’, ‘people are sinners’, ‘life is an illusion’, and so on!  We are told we cannot be and should not be happy in this life but must suffer now so that we can reap the rewards in our afterlife! What crap?  But that is what is being preached even now!  Worst of all even educated people who should use their God-given power of reasoning, fall for such blatant untruths and continue to teach the same negative ideas to their children.   Then they complain God is not fair, the world is full of evil etc.

According to the Law of the Mind which we use in Affirmations, whatever we repeat to ourselves and continue to focus on we will attract!  So if you keep repeating that “I am a sinner” everyday, can you expect to become a saint? Of course not!  You will continue to remain a sinner and become a worse sinner if you believe such thoughts!

It is time to look at God in a new light – as a loving, compassionate, caring parent who has set up everything we need in this world to experience, enjoy, grow, be fulfilled and be happy in this life NOW and not only in the hereafter!

How much happier would we be if we believed in such a loving, caring God?   And that is the truth – God is loving, God is caring, God has your best interests at heart!  How can it be otherwise when even his creations (humans) can show so much love and caring to their own children? God has got to be the most wonderful Parent we could ever dream of having!   So let us Love God (not Fear God) and be grateful and happy and live a wonderful life here and now!

By looking at all the wonders of creation in this world, we can be confident that when our time is up on this plane of existence, God would have created an even better world for us to inhabit.   So have no fear for the present or the future!  Don’t listen to the false teachings of fear-mongers who only hope to control you by fear!

As always let me say again:

If you will reason things out for yourself using your God-given mind and discernment, and not just follow blindly what some so-called masters or gurus are saying, then you can make Happy Living a habit and a reality!

Will be back soon with more Tips on Happy Living.

• fear , gratitude , happy living , law of mind
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gopimenon November 1st, 2009

Hi There,

Last week I wrote the first part of ‘How To Forgive Someone’.   Today I intended to write Part 2 of that post ‘How to Forgive Family & Close Friends’  but I have to postpone this to the next week because of a problem a reader brought up to my attention.

The Problem: “Your blog tells us that in order to be Happy, we should control our Mind!  But exactly how do I do that?  I find it so difficult to let go of my anger and vengeful feelings as well as fear feelings!  I would be grateful if you could tell me whether you use any special tools to help control your mind.”

My Answer:

Thank you dear reader for your question!

I get the same question from my wife!  “How exactly can I change the thoughts that I allow to dwell in my mind?  I can’t help but react to people who annoy me, or upset me or hurt me with negative emotions of anger, hurt and revenge!  So how can I forgive?”

The only way we can change our normal thought patterns is by being aware and by repetition!  Repetition is how we became the way we are.  As children when we react in one way that has helped us to solve a problem once, we tend to repeat the same action!

For example if we found as a child that throwing tantrums or shouting or crying helped us get what we wanted, and we keep repeating it – the subconscious mind accepts it as a successful reaction and makes it a habit!  So that  even though we are adults now, we still tend to get angry, raise our voices, frown, cry or whatever else worked for us once and has become ingrained in our mind as a HABIT!  I’m sure we can see examples of this everyday, whether at home or in the workplace!

Just like learning to drive a car has become a habit, our reactions to certain stimuli have also become habitual.   Of course it is difficult to change an ingrained habit!   It is not that our Intention is weak, but the Habit is too strong!  By repetition over years of reacting in a certain way, we have created ‘highways in our mind’ along which our thoughts keep traveling when we come across a certain stimulus!   Thus we need help when we want to create new better pathways in our mind.

This is where Technology can help!  You see that the problem with trying to change habitual thinking is that we are going about it the hard way – via the Conscious Mind (when our thoughts are in the Beta wave range).  We can find some small success with the Conscious Mind, by using constant repetition over a long period of time – perhaps months or even years! Continue Reading »

• anger , fear , happiness , happy living
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gopimenon October 11th, 2009

Today I would like to discuss another major cause of our general unhappiness – false sayings masquerading under the guise of ‘wisdom’ which cause us to feel guilty about acquiring material things!

There are many of these ‘wise sayings’ which began a long time ago and still continue to be repeated without any attempt at reasoning or logically examining them.   So for today I would like to expose just a couple of these so-called wise sayings for what they really are – pure drivel!

‘Wise’ Saying #1:  “You Can’t Take It With You!”

Who has not heard this admonition?  People regularly tell us this when we attempt to acquire material riches for the enhancement of our family’s lifestyle.   Others, who are too lazy or fearful of making an attempt to raise the standard of living for themselves and their family  also regularly use this as an excuse for not doing anything!

My answer if people tell me “You can’t take it with you” is this.  “Of course not!  Why would I want to?”  If people really believed in this adage, then there would be no travel industry!

When I travel to Venice and ride the gondola, can I take back the gondola?  When I stay at a 5 star hotel can I take back the hotel?  Of course some of us may try to sneak out the cutlery or monogrammed towels  – but generally we don’t expect to take back the superior bed or luxury bathtub!

When we study at a certain University campus, can we take back our room at the campus or the  friends we make or the swimming pool we swim in, etc.?  Of course not!  And we don’t want to. But does that mean that we should avoid the experience altogether,  just because we can’t take it with us? How ridiculous to even think that!

All we want to do and can do is take back the experience, the feelings, the joy, the excitement that we experienced when we were there! Similarly for the material things in this wonderful God-created world!   All these things are here for us to enjoy, to use, to experience, to help in our growth while we are here – that is all! To refuse to acquire and use whatever we can to enhance our happiness, just because ‘we cannot take it with us’ has got to be the ultimate in illogical thinking!

‘Wise’ Saying #2:  “This is all temporary, not permanent!”

So what?  Who wants this to be permanent?  We can enjoy life in all its fullness only when it is transitory!  God so designed this world that it is the transitory pleasures that make life worth living!  Nobody can enjoy anything continuously.  Take going to a play or the theater or to a great restaurant, or playing tennis for example.   Would you like to spend your whole life in the theater or at the restaurant or playing tennis?  Of course not!  Each of those things you enjoy when it is time-limited and not if you had to spend hours doing only that.

They tell me that this life is transitory and impermanent! How wonderful?  I don’t want to be an immortal on this earth. When I finish my experiences here on earth, I am happy to go to newer experiences in other dimensions, just as the Creator has planned.

They tell me that only my soul is permanent and immortal! How fabulous?  All the more reason to live a full, enriched, happy life here on earth before my soul takes flight! So now I can confidently look forward to life after death because I trust in the wisdom of God,  and I know that everything is going to be for the best.

How can I have this confidence?  How can I know that I will not go to Hell or some other vile place?  It is simply because I think of the Creator as a loving parent, a God of Love and not a God of Vengeance! 

When I read about the fires of hell and the horror images (see medieval illustration of hell below) created by some people to put the majority of humans in fear, I don’t know whether to laugh at their silliness or to cry at the injury they are causing to humans by making them believe in a dictator-like God.  

In fact personally I think it is an insult to God to imagine Him having created a horrendous place of torture & pain called Hell!

Let me ask you this:  “If you are a loving parent, would you take the trouble to create a place of lifelong punishment & torture for your children, just because they disobeyed you?”   If you are a normal, loving parent I know that you would only look for ways to forgive your kids and help them along – not punish them forever & ever!

Now let me ask you another: “If you, with your limited love and power can still show compassion to your children, how much more compassion and love will God show us, His children?”

Therefore to say that God has created a Hell (or Heaven) as eternal punishment or eternal reward for what we do in this short lifetime, seems to me to be nothing short of ludicrous!

In conclusion, let me just remind you the reader once again that one of the main keys to Happy Living is to use your powers of reason and logic to be discriminating before you accept whatever people say, no matter who the person is.   I will end with my favorite quotation:

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it (even if I have said it) unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense” – The Buddha

As I have said repeatedly, the above will be your passport to happy living on a daily basis.  See you soon with another expose’ of yet another ‘wise saying’!

• fear , happiness , happy living
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gopimenon October 3rd, 2009

Today, let us consider the effect of fear on happy living.   A little fear is generally good because it is nature’s way of protecting us from harm whether physical or mental or emotional.   But too much fear paralyzes us and stops us from taking the actions we need to take to create the life we desire for ourselves!

It is a known fact that the biggest factor holding people back from the success they desire is fear!  Recently I came across a wonderful ebook about overcoming fears and phobias which explains all about fears and phobias and especially about how to overcome them.  Best of all this ebook is FREE when you subscribe to their newsletter.

So for today I would like to do a short review of this ebook.  First of all here is an excerpt from this ebook.

Fear is literally public enemy number one – Physically, mentally and spiritually…

When fear begins infiltrating your body, you notice unmistakable signs.  These include tightening of your muscles, especially in the neck, shoulder and back area; you may also feel a tightening or queasiness in your abdomen; tightness or pressure in the chest, shortness of breath, pounding heart, restlessness, and muscle weakness or shakiness in the arms and legs.

Not only that…

Research shows that fear can actually lower our immune system response. With the threat of a ‘global pandemic’ and accompanying ‘vaccines’, fear may be our worst enemy…

Beyond the physical sensations you may also notice negative emotions like defensiveness, irritability, frustration, anger, aggression, sadness, and helplessness. Continuously being faced with fearful situations can also lead to more serious physical and emotional problems such as insomnia, depression, lack of motivation, weight loss or weight gain, and paranoia.

For example if we have a little fear of walking alone in dark places, it is a positive thing because that can protect us from being attacked.   So we choose to go with friends instead of alone.  However if we have inordinate fear of the dark that prevents us from going out even in the company of friends, then it becomes a phobia.   A phobia tends to paralyze us and we cannot act at all!

Similarly a little fear of heights is a good thing, since we know that falling off can be physically dangerous and lead to serious injuries or even death.   Thus we will take extra precautions when we are in situations which call for us to work at great heights.  If we had no fear at all of heights, then we would tend to be careless which can lead to a fatal accident!

The point about fear (or any other emotion) is that we must not have it in excess.   Most normal fears can be overcome by using common sense precautions.   Thus normal fears are a part of happy living too.

However irrational fears or phobias (such as fear of cockroaches, butterflies, closed spaces, open spaces etc.) can be very traumatic.  This 59 page ebook contains 22 specific ways we can overcome our fears and even our phobias!   Some of the tools include EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques),  Affirmations, Sound Therapy, Sedona Method and so on.

I find it incredible that they are giving away the complete ebook, rather than a couple of chapters, for Free!  It is well worth checking out and downloading.  Use this link or click on the Be Free from Fear graphic on the sidebar to download the ebook at no cost!

As always Expect Happiness!

• fear , happy living
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