in this book I suggest that you read the words (so that you know what’s in the meditation) and then play the tape. As an alternative, make your own tape using your own voice, reading the words slowly over the top of relaxation music (around 40 to 60 beats per minute) and then play that tape. Another thought is that a friend could read it for you. Whichever way you choose, it is important to do the meditations. The wording in the tapes referred to can be found on the following pages:
Tape: Page Number
PP1 – Instrumental(No wording)
PP2 –Guided Imagery 28
PP5 –Meditation 95
PP6 –Forgiveness138
PP7 –Tapping Your Creativity 38
PP9 –Letting Go Anger 51
PP10 – Self Worth & Confidence 209
PP13 – Inner Peace and Harmony257
PP14 – Improving Relationships248
PP15 – Overcoming Fear117
The tapes are available for purchase as a Special CHI pack which consists of the Peaceful Place (PP) Collection with the two tapes Accelerated Learning Music Tape 1 and PP3 Releasing Hurt being replaced with PP1 – Instrumental and PP2 – Guided Imagery (Refer Page 293)
Chapter 1
How We Crave Happiness
Every so often we all experience rare moments of exquisite happiness – pure and boundless joy. What is it about these moments that makes them so good? And why can’t life be like that all the time?
Are we forever at the mercy of Lady Luck? Is this what decides how much happiness we will have in our lives – and when? Or is there something we can do to switch on to the possibility of creating happiness by design, creating happiness intentionally?
As we look back on our lives we can see the happy moments standing out above all other moments like clear landmarks in an otherwise bare landscape. In every life there will be happiness as well as pain, suffering and sadness. But as we look back over all the events of our life, I believe the happy moments always have the power to eclipse the sad.
One fascinating thing about some of the happy times is that they often seem incidental, not earth shattering at all, as if they almost came by accident.
For me, one such moment of happiness came when I was very young, so young it must be one of my first memories. I recall it was on a broad, well-kept lawn in India. Surrounding the patch of lawn was a neat grove of trees and our house, a comfortable bungalow, was nearby, partially shaded by the trees. The whole of nature around me seemed lush and kind. My father was there giving me encouragement and other members of my family were looking on as well. I was riding my two-wheeler bicycle in wide circles around this lawn much to the approval of my father and much to my own excitement. The memory is so intense. It is one of those moments of pure happiness that, if I revisit it in my mind, always moves me to tears of joy.
We have all had such moments and, if you pause for reflection, you will easily see similar times in your life.
But what are the ingredients of these moments? For me in India, was it the fact I was riding a bicycle? Probably not. I’m sure if I went back to India, found the same lawn and rode the same bicycle, I could not re-create the moment. Was it the fact that my parents were there? In itself, probably not. My parents were always there in my childhood, so why would this moment be any different from any other when they were with me?
Maybe there were other factors about riding the bicycle that made me happy. I’ll return to what these were later in the book, but for the moment I’ll leave the bike riding incident as an example of how happiness can often come in the simplest things. Often it is momentary and unexpected.
What purpose do these moments serve?
Another feature of these moments is that they often come at low points in a person’s life. It seems logically strange, but sometimes there is a thin dividing line between sadness, suffering, and happiness. Think back. Has this happened to you? Think back to the low points in your life, when things were going against you, when everything you touched went wrong. Invariably, many, many people report that right at the lowest ebb of their misery they have experienced a sudden and unexpected moment of deep and satisfying happiness. It is as if a little trap door had opened for just a moment in the roof of their dungeon showing them a glimpse of heaven. And in that moment the first speck of light suddenly grew to a strong beam, flooding the dark space.
Here is an extract from a letter I received recently. It is from a businessman who was doing it so tough, he often had to sleep in his car at a roadside stop just to save the few dollars it would have cost him to drive back home and drive out again next morning to the starting point for his day’s work. It reads:
One morning, after sleeping the night in my car, I awoke in a curiously happy mood. This was unexpected and inexplicable. The outward circumstances of my life and my business were appallingly bad. I had gone from success to failure. I had spent months worrying about things and by all logical measures I had no reason for feeling happy.
And yet, on this morning when I awoke, I didn’t just wake up in a happy mood, I felt totally serene – a deep joyfulness about being alive. My logical mind tried to interpose, ‘Stop feeling so happy, you’ve got nothing to be so happy about.’ But some inner light within my spirit was telling me to be elevated in this moment of pure and boundless joy.
In the mild light before the dawn I lay in the back seat of my car in a relaxed mood and savoured the moment. I watched the low bands of grey clouds above the eastern horizon through the back window and became aware that my senses were alert to every detail in the countryside around me. Far away on the horizon I watched the subtle interplay of colours in the clouds as the sun began to rise. Close to the car I looked at the little grasses and leaves with an intense appreciation I had never experienced before. All the time I was struck by the awe of this intense feeling of well-being.
I have experienced happiness on many occasions since then, but I have never again experienced a moment of such ecstatic and pure bliss. I will always remember that morning. I will also always remember the strange feeling of knowing there was no apparent reason for my happiness.
How do we explain those moments and what purpose do they serve? Can we re-use them now in some way? Are these spontaneous moments like the flashes of light in a diamond field telling us that there is more to be found?
Let’s move away from the spontaneous for a moment. By reviewing our lives we can also see there are other moments of happiness, deep and abiding, that seem to come from a process, a conscious process. They often seem to come at the end of a period of hard work or striving and are often associated with the metaphor of being on a journey. On these occasions happiness has come from the whole sequence of events of a journey: planning and choosing a destination, setting out on the journey, committing to an end goal, tackling obstacles and challenges along the way and, finally, arriving at the destination itself.
The journey and destination vary from individual to individual, but typically, happiness is derived from the realisation of the long held goal. The goal
