Happiness
& Prosperity – It’s No Secret
Jim Luciano
Introduction
Happiness and Prosperity go great together. There are
“Happiness and Prosperity” authors selling thousands of books, tapes, cd’s and
dvd’s as well as many speakers who offer expensive seminars. They’re happy and
prosperous! But what about you?
You’re inspired. You read their books, listen to their
tapes, and attend their seminars. You’re filled with hope and can’t wait to be
happy and prosperous. But as time passes the lesson seems to fade, so you try
another book, a new guru, or the latest pop-psychology. The goals are real and
achievable; the universe is truly wondrous and mysterious, so why does
happiness remain elusive? The books and
teachers tell us; follow the steps and you will have it all. However problems can begin when you try to
do what they tell you. They often tell you to do things you don’t know how to
do. Sometimes what they’re saying doesn’t even make sense. Where is the gap?
Are they speaking nonsense? Are you unable to understand? Do other people have
the same problem? Can you find real step-by-step instructions that you can
understand so you can find the inspiration, wonder, happiness and confidence
you were born with?
For the lessons to work you must experience them. A few
people are fortunate to experience the results just by reading about them. This
works best for people who have had similar experiences. For most of us reading
about an experience is not enough. I can talk all day, show you pictures and
movies of my flight on a Hang-glider, running off a mountain top in Rio De
Janeiro, but you will never really understand the experience until you fly off
a mountain. If you are a sky diver, you will connect with my story on a
different level. The true benefits these authors and speakers offer you are
actually beyond the ability of words to describe. This idea of experience is an
area where you will find a difference between this book and others like
"The Secret". If I sat down with you and relived my flight over Rio,
if I became very emotional and described everything in a wonderful glowing
story, you might be inspired, you could become excited and enjoy my telling of
a great experience. But where would that leave you next month when you're at
work, dealing with the problems of the day. Books like "The Secret"
are similar. They tell us real stories, which can build up excitement, but for
most of us the excitement fades. Why? You didn’t get to have the same
experience the storytellers had. There were no instructions that led to having
the experience, they only told you about it.
Even though these authors have familiarity with all the
wonders they offer, they really don’t understand it well enough to tell you how
to have the same experience. For
example, if you’re unhappy, Wayne Dyer’s new book suggests you bring happiness
to all that you do. How the heck do you
do that? This may be easy for him. He has years of research and thinking. He is
the author of numerous best sellers such as “Your Erroneous Zones”, “Pulling
Your Own Strings”, and “Real Magic”. Living in his beach house in Maui he
worked for more than a year walking on the beach and contemplating ideas such
as bringing happiness to all that you do.
It might not be as easy to do in your life. For instance, imagine you’re
on the freeway and the boss is screaming on the other end of your cell phone
“where is my report, you’re late?”. Meanwhile the guy behind you is beeping his
horn and waving his finger in an obscene way; and then the guy in front of you
cuts you off and you miss your exit. Wayne says just “Bring it”. Yeah sure,
bring happiness to that puppy!
Is it
possible you don’t know how to bring happiness to whatever you’re doing,
especially when you’re unhappy? I
respect Dyer, Chopra, and the many contributors to the best selling book, The
Secret, for their passion and efforts to contribute to our lives. Each has
unique ideas of the way to a better life. When you hear them speak or read one
of their books, you’re filled with hope. Yet days or weeks later the lessons
have faded into the background. You work, take care of family, struggle to get
things done and make ends meet. It seems that everything demands your attention
and you struggle just to keep up. Before long, life resumes its tedious pace.
The promise of manifesting a few million dollars, having great relationships,
and happiness is gone. What happened? You might begin to wonder “Did I work at
it long enough?” “Did I try hard
enough?” or “Maybe I need to read it again?” “Is it just me? I hear so many
stories about success with this book” Think about it. How many of the readers
of the 7 million copies of The Secret manifested millions and a happy
life? Where are all these new millionaires? And did they follow the
instructions for happiness?
What is happiness? Perhaps another problem with
“bringing happiness to all that you do” is not recognizing happiness when it’s
right in front of you. For example, my wife was afraid of heights so the
thought of stepping off a treetop and careening down a mountain on a zip line
was not her idea of happy. Now it’s one
of her happiest memories. What if the
geek, scientist, tree hugger, or neighbor you can’t stand has the potential to
be the most important person in your life (no, no, not her/him!) At a dinner
party, I helped congratulate a stranger on her divorce and toasted her vow
never to marry again. Three months later we were engaged and we’ve been living
a life of unbelievable happiness. We each saw the opportunity for happiness and
grabbed onto it. When your next
opportunity for happiness shows up, will YOU recognize it?
Sometimes the solution to a problem is so close it’s
difficult to see. You can work and struggle to accomplish a goal, and fail
because of a simple step overlooked at the beginning. How does some seemingly
obvious step trip you up? How do some people seemingly find opportunities at
every moment they need them? Did you realize you could be blinded by what you
already know? Things you know are skipped when you learn something new. You take some things for granted and never
look back. This is where our search for happiness has failed us. Something that we all learned, keeps us from
seeing the opportunities that are showing up everyday. We miss opportunities
and life seems to pass us by. Don’t let it happen to you! Happiness and
prosperity shouldn’t be a secret. There are real-life practical steps you can
follow to take control of your life and opportunities. I will show you how to get back to the
beginning and see what is missing. I will give you the roadmap to happiness and
prosperity.
