[aageneral] 7 Secrets to Finding Joy

Article Title: 7 Secrets to Finding Joy

Article Author: Keith Varnum

Word Count: 1000

Email Address: keith@thedream.com

Article URL: http://www.thedream.com/ezine_past_issues.htm

Copyright: 2004

Formatted to 60 CPL

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Keywords: happiness, success, money, love, abundance, prosperity,

joy, relationships, health, spirit, higher self

To pursue happiness is an inalienable right. To experience
happiness is not. No one owes you happiness. No one can
ensure your happiness. Happiness is a choice-your choice.

The key to experiencing happiness is to put joy on your life
agenda along with completing tasks and goals. Joy is a
direct result of intention. Your intention determines how
you experience each moment of your day, each aspect of your
world. As you go through your daily activities, ask
yourself, "What's my intention?" A clear, strong intention
for happiness helps you stay focused on fun and joy.

Here are a few actions you can take to make joy part of your
Earth journey:

1. Get outside yourself.

Take the focus off yourself and commit to being a
Contributor rather than a Survivor. This may seem like odd
advice, but consider how attractive "needy" feels. Ask
others how you can support them and they will naturally want
to support you. Life is a cosmic boomerang-you get back what
you send out.

Conduct a regular inner dialogue with your higher self. Say
to your higher self, "I know you are here. I want to get to
know you and pay attention to you. Please speak to me and
guide my life."

Don't worry if this dialogue is entirely one-way at first.
You may have been out of touch for a while. It takes time to
clear the cobwebs. Persist with this inner dialogue as if
you are talking to a friend-chatting, asking questions,
sharing your hopes and dreams. Sweep away mental chatter of
the dead past and the uncertain future. Listen for answers.
They will come.

As you begin to view life as a cosmic drama in which you are
playing a very public starring role, the role of the higher
self will become increasingly evident in your life.

2. Be a beacon of light

Get out of your comfort zone. Become a beacon of
lightheartedness. You'll be closer to your soul's
perspective. Become a bright sparkling source of energy and
let it reflect in all that you do. Let your spirit define
who you are rather than the outside world. Turn up the
volume on what you do best.

Set an upbeat pace at home and at work. Do a little more
than you have to. Give a little more than is expected.
Consider it an experiment and watch how others respond to
you. Then see how you feel at the end of the week. If you
find joy unbearable, you can always go back to being grumpy.

3. Create space for yourself.

Spend some quiet time with yourself every day. It's very
important to have a place or time just for yourself. Give
everything in your environment a personal touch. Create a
room or private corner that fills you with joy and feels
like home.

If noise and activity constantly bombard your life, you are
drowning out your inner guidance. Just sit quietly with no
expectations. Do nothing. This may feel very uncomfortable
and strange in the beginning. Persist. Give time and space
for the inner voice to make itself heard. It will do so
either during that quiet time, or through signs and messages
during the events of your life. A synchronistic happening
will occur. Someone will tell you exactly what you need to
hear. You will get a sudden flash of insight.

Meditate. Breathe. Become a quiet, clear, pure vessel for
the higher self to fill. Listen to yourself and trust what
you hear. Let go of other people's voices in your head.

4. Learn from your lows.

Discover lessons to make your life better. Find value in
trauma. Develop your resilience-your ability to bounce back
from mishaps. Taking a closer, more intuitive look at your
tumbles can help you find a gift even in a hardship.
Contented people transform problems into opportunities and
trauma into something meaningful and constructive.

Ask, "What good might result from this? How did I contribute
to creating this? Is it making me stronger, wiser, more
compassionate? What can I learn from this so that I can do
better next time?"

Understand that failure is often a precursor to
success-often in ways we can't predict. Let your life
adventures teach you. Many people get caught in what-or
who-is right or wrong instead of looking at the deeper
understanding that can be gleaned from the incident. Use
life's roller coaster to change and thrive.

5. Celebrate the success of others.

Celebrating the success of others takes you one step closer
to being able to appreciate your own successes- rather than
hiding from achievement or fearing failure. Invest attention
and energy in the people you love and care about. Meaningful
relationships are developed and sustained by positive
attitude and action.

Make people a priority. Prioritizing relationships is a more
certain path to bliss than chasing after wealth,
status or power-even if you've got a good chance of
acquiring them.

6. Cultivate beauty.

Find a place where you can experience all of the sacred Four
Elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire (sun). Reset your
energetic rhythms by tuning into Nature. Allow all Four
Elements to create a symphony of sensation around you,
replenish your vitality, and help you return to the flow.
Visit the ocean, a forest stream, or a park with a lake or a
manmade fountain.

Take in some art. Art has an energy all its own. And don't
just observe the beauty, but rather immerse yourself in a
work of art. The colors and shapes will awaken your senses
and inner spirit.

7. Take your dream up a notch every day.

Widen your worldview. Stretch your horizons. We're brought
up with a largely materialistic worldview that neglects the
role of Spirit in our lives. To establish close contact with
spiritual realms, we need to have our entire being-conscious
and unconscious-congruent with our soul blueprint. Seek out
writings and teachers that expand your understanding of the
universe as being fundamentally the playground of
consciousness and Spirit.

Drawing from the wisdom of native and ancient spiritual
traditions, Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical
success as an author, personal coach, acupuncturist,
filmmaker, radio host, restaurateur, vision quest guide and
international seminar leader with "The Dream Workshops".
Keith helps people get the love, money, and health they want
with his F-r-e-e Prosperity Ezine, F-r-e-e Abundance Tape
and F-r-e-e Coaching at www.TheDream.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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