This Is The Happiness Secret

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Monady June 9 2008

Welcome to another brand spanking new week that we get to play with.

I’m just amazed as we start this new week. Friday’s video offering by the incredible Napoleon Hill has topped every video we have ever sent. More people viewed the video between Friday morning and Sunday night than any “reader” we have offered.

It has proven to me once again that the “truth” of personal responsibility will always prevail. Napoleon Hill would be proud of each and every one of you all as you embrace his message, and spread the word with your decisions and actions. High five all.

To get this week off on a note that compliments the past two weeks, and especially the comments on Friday by Napoleon Hill.

This Is The Happiness Secret

by David Leonhardt

Is there a secret to happiness? You probably are expecting me to say "NO, there is no secret." While it is true that there are many factors that affect our happiness, I believe there is one secret that determines whether those factors will work for you, and that is the secret to happiness.

But first, a few words of background. In 2001, I published the first edition of "Climb Your Stairway to Heaven: The 9 Habits of Maximum Happiness." I did all the things authors do, right up to getting myself some media interviews. Being an old hand at media relations (actually, Canada's second-most-quoted consumer advocate at the time), you would think I would have been superbly prepared for the question that almost every journalist would ask me: "So, which of the 9 habits is most important?"

What?! Which one is most important? Why, they are all important, of course. That's why I wrote about them all. I was obviously too close to the forest to see the trees. Or, in this case, the tree.

After being asked this question a few times, I was forced to think, and think hard. And out of nowhere, I had an "Aha!" moment that stands the test of time five years later. One of the 9 habits I wrote about is more important than the others. One of my 9 habits activates all the others. One of my habits is the secret to happiness. It starts on page 83 of the second edition.

"Count Your Blessings"

It sounds so simple, and so, well, almost corny. But let me give you a concrete example of how this works. Have you ever bought a new car? Remember the pride you felt and the excitement when you made the choice? When you signed the papers? When you drove it off the lot? Do you remember that "new car smell"?

Then something happened. Where is that pride today? Where is that excitement now? What happened to that "new car smell"?

Simple. You stopped counting your blessings. When you bought the car, it was a step up. Perhaps it was a better car. Or a bigger car. Or simply a car that would spend less days on the hoist. You were grateful. You were appreciative. You were counting this blessing.

It does not take long for a new blessing to be taken for granted. And the new car becomes just another thing in your life that you take for granted. Consider this incredible set of statistics:

99% of people in the developed world take shelter for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take breakfast for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take lunch for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take dinner for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take clothing for granted.

At the risk of sounding trite or glib, most people in the developed world take cars, televisions, computers, vacations, toasters, freedom of speech, paper clips and thousands of other conveniences for granted. In fact, a TV remote control that requires a battery change or a web page that takes more than five seconds to load are considered serious irritations.

Who is happier, the person grateful to be able to change those batteries and wait for that web page? Or the person grumbling about the time it takes and the inconvenience and the bother and why can't things work better? (Why don't they make things like they used to? Why does the lineup have to be so long? Why is it so cold outside? Why do I have to go to work today?)

Of course you have every right to complain any time you choose. Nobody wants to take away your right to be unhappy. But I would love to take away your unhappiness, if you are willing to take action.

This is where "counting your blessings," simple and even corny, is not as easy as it sounds. Our knee-jerk reaction is to complain, to grumble, to be frustrated, to feel almost offended when things don't work out "perfectly", just the way we want them to. Imagine poor God, sifting through the millions of prayers he receives daily. Despite the cornucopia of blessings we receive, I am willing to bet that he receives ten times more "Gimmee" prayers than "Thank you" prayers.

Counting our blessings in this day and age of entitlement is not as simple as it sounds, and it sure is not easy to do. In fact, billions of dollars of advertising conspire to reinforce the belief that whatever we have is not good enough and that we deserve better. Who is there to tell us we have enough? Who can help us feel happy with what we have?

You. Only you. Are you ready to give up your own natural knee-jerk reaction and choose to be happy?

You can have all the confidence in the world, but if you do not actively feel grateful for the fruits of your confidence, it will not bring you happiness. You can have immaculate health, but if you do not think about how wonderful that is, it will not bring you happiness. You can smile, build friendships, achieve success, win the lottery, or do whatever you desire, but if you are not saying every day, "Wow! This is wonderful. This is grand. I am the luckiest man (or woman) alive because of this," don't expect it to bring you happiness.

Yes, there is a secret to happiness. The secret is gratitude. The secret is appreciation. The secret is to count your blessings.

The Universe Loves Speed

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Thursday June 5 2008

Welcome to the Thursday point of the week.

As we aim to wrap up this theme that we’ve been presenting for the past two weeks, I have to say that although we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the topic, great things have been happening. Many of our subscribers have set new intentions for their future as a consequence of fully engaging this amazing subject of “personal responsibility”.

Tomorrow we wind up the topic with an outstanding video offering that neatly puts a bow on the whole initiative here at The Wealthy Attitude. It features someone whom you will clearly recognize, you know of their work, and you probably have a copy of their very famous book.

Anyway, enough teasing (for now). We call on our friend Thea Westra from Australia to give us an offering today. Thea clearly recognizes that level of how we “vibrate” is our responsibility.

The Universe Loves Speed

By Thea Westra

I've often heard it said that, "The Universe loves speed" and this of course includes, the speed of your own personal vibration.


How the world responds to you and therefore the results that you produce, are reliant on the vibrational energy that you put out. You have likely observed it yourself, many times. One person can walk into a room full of people and everyone's head turns and notices. Another person can attend a public event yet when a friend asks where they've been their reply is, "I've been right here!"

The energy that we emit either makes us super attractive and highly visible or else, obscure to those around us. There are people who we want to be near all the time and there are those we tend to avoid, and we can't always quite put our finger on why. It is all related to vibrational energy.

How does that connect to your personal success and happiness? That of course depends on what you define as success and on what you say makes you feel happy. Once these are determined, you then must generate the kind of energy that would move you toward producing that result.
You will know that you are experiencing success and happiness by the emotions you feel. Emotions are your measures. Yet, they are also your access. Some put the cart before the horse e.g. when I have … then I'll feel happy, or then I'll be successful.

When you get into action on projects that would bring you closer to your definition of success, some activities with which you engage will intrinsically provide you high energy and excitement, you've already associated them with fun and the things that you love to do.

Then there are the other activities, they may be things you cannot avoid in bringing your plans to fruition, yet you're not excited by those activities and your vibrational energy drops just thinking about doing them. You say you want the result, yet you cannot seem to drive up the level of personal energy required to engage fully with that particular activity and so you never get started, or you take action with one foot on the brakes.

Essentially, three types of energy exist - universal, personal and physical. Energy is not good or bad - it is simply just that, energy. We and all other matter, is made up of little atoms and it's the nucleus of these atoms that generate energy, creating electromagnetic fields. Thought controls their movement and the fields surrounding one of these, impacts each of the ones alongside.

To feel the emotions of happiness or the feelings that we associate with success, we want to go to work on finding ways of creating those types of energy vibrations. It is our thoughts that we want to be focused on, and directly connected to those thoughts are the words we use when we speak and in turn, the associations that we have connected to those words.

One person can say the word "mother" and feel completely at ease, yet another person speaks or thinks that word and will feel an emotion with a highly negative charge. We would then either want to replace that word with another that holds a positive charge and is therefore more personally empowering, or shift the associations we have with this word to bring us closer to a desired energy state.

For example, imagine you are in a business of your own and things are not faring well. What are all the thoughts you have when you say the word 'business'. As Dr Phil would say, "How's that working for you?" If you are not producing your desired results, could you attach some new thoughts to the word 'business' or give it another label that empowers you? This will help raise your personal, vibrational energy so that your personal actions and results will begin to reflect those newly created electromagnetic fields and attract the kinds of things you'd like.

Continue to work on your personal experience and understanding of what James Allen meant when he said, "All that we achieve and all that we fail to achieve is the direct result of our own thoughts."

Thea Westra is the senior thought leader, at her Forward Steps site. She resides in Perth, Australia with her ultra-supportive partner Greg. Thea publishes a monthly ezine (among many other publications and products) at http://www.forwardsteps.com.au Enjoy her life success blogs at http://www.timeformylife.com/blogs.htm and get personally connected here, http://www.ask-thea-about.com

This is the Happiness Secret

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Wednesday April 23 2008

Welcome to the midweek point.

Yesterday’s Earth Day message certainly struck home with some folks, and to all who reflected your thoughts back to me, I thank you.

One of the underlying themes though, is, there is still a huge amount of unhappiness around out there. Now, we have covered this subject many times here at the “reader”, and I think it’s a grand time to address it again.

Sit back, get some tea, and enjoy today’s offering.

This is the Happiness Secret

By David Leonhardt

Is there a secret to happiness? You probably are expecting me to say "NO, there is no secret." While it is true that there are many factors that affect our happiness, I believe there is one secret that determines whether those factors will work for you, and that is the secret to happiness.

But first, a few words of background. In 2001, I published the first edition of "Climb Your Stairway to Heaven: The 9 Habits of Maximum Happiness." I did all the things authors do, right up to getting myself some media interviews. Being an old hand at media relations (actually, Canada's second-most-quoted consumer advocate at the time), you would think I would have been superbly prepared for the question that almost every journalist would ask me: "So, which of the 9 habits is most important?"

What?! Which one is most important? Why, they are all important, of course. That's why I wrote about them all. I was obviously too close to the forest to see the trees. Or, in this case, the tree.

After being asked this question a few times, I was forced to think, and think hard. And out of nowhere, I had an "Aha!" moment that stands the test of time five years later. One of the 9 habits I wrote about is more important than the others. One of my 9 habits activates all the others. One of my habits is the secret to happiness.

"Count Your Blessings"

It sounds so simple, and so, well, almost corny. But let me give you a concrete example of how this works. Have you ever bought a new car? Remember the pride you felt and the excitement when you made the choice? When you signed the papers? When you drove it off the lot? Do you remember that "new car smell"?

Then something happened. Where is that pride today? Where is that excitement now? What happened to that "new car smell"?

Simple. You stopped counting your blessings. When you bought the car, it was a step up. Perhaps it was a better car. Or a bigger car. Or simply a car that would spend less days on the hoist. You were grateful. You were appreciative. You were counting this blessing.

It does not take long for a new blessing to be taken for granted. And the new car becomes just another thing in your life that you take for granted. Consider this incredible set of statistics:

99% of people in the developed world take shelter for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take breakfast for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take lunch for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take dinner for granted.
99% of people in the developed world take clothing for granted.

At the risk of sounding trite or glib, most people in the developed world take cars, televisions, computers, vacations, toasters, freedom of speech, paper clips and thousands of other conveniences for granted. In fact, a TV remote control that requires a battery change or a web page that takes more than five seconds to load are considered serious irritations.

Who is happier, the person grateful to be able to change those batteries and wait for that web page? Or the person grumbling about the time it takes and the inconvenience and the bother and why can't things work better? (Why don't they make things like they used to? Why does the lineup have to be so long? Why is it so cold outside? Why do I have to go to work today?)

Of course you have every right to complain any time you choose. Nobody wants to take away your right to be unhappy. But I would love to take away your unhappiness, if you are willing to take action.

This is where "counting your blessings," simple and even corny, is not as easy as it sounds. Our knee-jerk reaction is to complain, to grumble, to be frustrated, to feel almost offended when things don't work out "perfectly", just the way we want them to. Imagine poor God, sifting through the millions of prayers he receives daily. Despite the cornucopia of blessings we receive, I am willing to bet that he receives ten times more "Gimmee" prayers than "Thank you" prayers.

Counting our blessings in this day and age of entitlement is not as simple as it sounds, and it sure is not easy to do. In fact, billions of dollars of advertising conspire to reinforce the belief that whatever we have is not good enough and that we deserve better. Who is there to tell us we have enough? Who can help us feel happy with what we have?

You. Only you. Are you ready to give up your own natural knee-jerk reaction and choose to be happy?

You can have all the confidence in the world, but if you do not actively feel grateful for the fruits of your confidence, it will not bring you happiness. You can have immaculate health, but if you do not think about how wonderful that is, it will not bring you happiness. You can smile, build friendships, achieve success, win the lottery, or do whatever you desire, but if you are not saying every day, "Wow! This is wonderful. This is grand. I am the luckiest man (or woman) alive because of this," don't expect it to bring you happiness.

Yes, there is a secret to happiness.

The secret is gratitude.

The secret is appreciation.

The secret is to count your blessings.

What Is Abundance?

Amanda G. Goldston

Abundance is having more than enough of everything you want in life, as well as the time and excellent health to enjoy it.

Abundance comes from that wonderful feeling of leaping out of bed with a smile on your face, knowing that you:-
? are doing the work you choose and love,
? have money in the bank,
? are in a wonderful, passionate loving relationship,
? are brimming over with energy and vibrant health
? enjoy your hobbies
? have the time to enjoy it all
? are living the life of your dreams

Our natural states are love, joy, peace, happiness, passion, prosperity, health and fun. We were not meant to be struggling and under stress all our lives. We have been conditioned from very young that life is supposed to be a struggle and we are supposed to learn our lessons by pain and through things being difficult.

How do we create Abundance?

Firstly it is very important to look at our beliefs around Abundance in any area of our lives. For this reader, we will focus on money because that is one of the most negatively charged words in our language today.

Complete the sentences, with the first thoughts that come to mind:-
? Money is…… ?
Rich People are……..
? In order to have money you must…….
? I can’t have money because………….

Think of something you want in your life and ask yourself:

"Why don’t I yet have it?"

The answers to both exercises will bring up your blocks and limiting beliefs. Once you have identified them, you can clear them and choose new beliefs.

Create new statements with " I AM…." (e.g I am a money magnet, money flows to me ). INCANT them out loud with FEELING & EMOTION. Shout them out while you exercise, or in front of the mirror. It is important to use your whole body and get movement, as well as sound and feeling.

These are the truth about you, and you want to get the feeling and emotion into every part of you- mind, body, spirit and into every cell.

Beware of "Reality"

When you start to clear limiting beliefs and replace them with things you choose to believe, you will find that the words "reality" and "realistic" will often crop up. These will come both from your friends and loved ones, and from your own very loud Inner Critic.

It is important to be able to silence this voice. At heart it wants to protect you from harm, from falling flat on your face, from people laughing at you or from you not being loved or being good enough and it has a million and one reasons why you "can’t, shouldn’t, don’t dare, mustn’t etc etc etc"

Some Suggestions

Remember, we live in an Abundant Universe and there really is no limit on who we can be or what we can do or have. The Universe wants us to have all our heart’s desires. The trouble is, we get in our own way and block the flow with feelings of:
? I don’t deserve
? I am not worthy
? I am not lovable
? I am not good enough
? Good things only happen to others
? I am unlucky

We create our reality with our thoughts, and attract what we focus on, so we often end up getting what we DON’T want in our lives.
1. Focus on what you DO want- Write it as I AM, I HAVE, I OWN, I DO, I FEEL…..
2. Put in the details which are vitally important to you, otherwise use the phrase "Please send me this, or something better, for the highest good of all concerned, as soon as possible. Thank You"
3. ASK, EXPECT , TRUST and be GRATEFUL that it is on its way
4. LISTEN for Inner Wisdom promptings for ACTION to take
5. Create a GRATITUDE Diary for all the wonderful things you already have. "Thank you, Universe, for all the blessings I have and all the blessings I am receiving-
6. Create a collage of pictures of things you want, write out your Dream Life, record it on tape and listen to it frequently
7. Create a success journal of things you have done and add to it every day
8. Start your day with "Something really wonderful is going to happen to me today!" and start noticing happy, positive, fantastic moments and record them
9. Know that you DESERVE everything you want, and EXPECT it to come to you
10. SMILE

An Abundant life is made up of Magic Moments. If we allow ourselves to experience Joy, Love, Happiness, Peace and Abundance just for this moment, and then just for the next- as we get to it, then we will create extraordinary lives of Abundance for ourselves

Wishing you love & abundant blessings
Amanda

50 Life Booster Questions

Developed by Thea Westra, Senior Thought Leader
http://www.forwardsteps.com.au

1. What would you love to do or accomplish, before you die?

2. If you were to begin to achieve that/these, what is the first change you would start to make?

3. What would you need to include MORE of in your life?

4. What would you need to have LESS of in your life?

5. Rewrite your goal(s) so it is ‘moving towards’ something, rather than ‘moving away’ from something?

6. What is YOUR personal definition of success?

7. If you had to guess your life purpose, what would it be?

8. What daily habits could you replace with a better daily habit? List these.

9. What would a massive action ‘look like’ for you?

10. What action would you take, if you knew you could not possibly fail?

11. What has worked for you when accomplishing past personal goals?

12. What can you see about any past setbacks, which may actually benefit you?

13. What are you tolerating/putting up with?

14. What will you do, to completely erase petty things that are bothering you?

15. For what will you take 100% responsibility, from now?

16. If you were your own coach, what coaching would you give yourself right now?

17. Who and what are you listening to, most of the time?
How will you change that, if it needs changing?

18. What do you keep saying to yourself that usually thwarts your progress?

19. What could you now keep saying to yourself, to empower you?

20. What could you get done this week that you know needs doing?

21. For that task, what is the first step and the next step?

22. What could you put in your environment to remind you of your promises to yourself?

23. What could you include in each day to create and hold your vision for your future?

24. What have you 100%, decided to achieve?

25. What ways do you benefit by NOT deliberately moving toward what you want?

26. What activities and new habits will you deposit into your future, this month?

27. On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited to you feel about taking these actions?

28. What could increase that score?

29. What are your highest aspirations for this year?

30. What are the greatest lessons you have learned in life?

31. What is life asking you to do differently?

32. What are you now willing to do that you’ve been unwilling to step into?

33. What non-negotiable decision are you willing to make for your life, and stick to?

34. What in your life needs immediate attention?

35. What strategies could you use to better manage your daily priorities?

36. What is perfect about where you are in your life right now?

37. Describe in detail, your feelings once all your goals are achieved?

38. Which books could you read, people could you call and websites could you visit, to support your goals?

39. In what way are you a better person this year than last year?
What will be your answer, next year?

40. Where will you fine-tune your use of time in the next 24-hours?

41. Is there anything you are ignoring, to which you should be paying attention? Be honest!

42. What are you most excited about now? What are you looking forward to?

43. What ways will you will get more energy into your life?

44. What newly created, personal standard(s) will you abide by; hail, rain or shine?

45. What are your greatest strengths and how will you leverage those?

46. What would you most like to be acknowledged for, so far in your life?

47. What do you need to give to yourself so that you can give more to others?

48. What new belief could you take on to speed up your personal decision-making processes?

49. What do you already know for certain? Is that the truth?

50. List all the benefits that you got from completing this exercise, and what are your next Forward Steps?

An Online Version can be found at: http://www.forwardsteps.com.au/50-Power-Questions.htm

The Source of True Happiness

By Gangaji

I have discovered that it is actually impossible to find happiness. As long as you are seeking to find happiness somewhere, you are overlooking where happiness is. Since I have stopped searching for fulfillment in the mind or in external circumstances, my life is now lived on a ground of joy. There are moments of unhappiness, anger, and distress - moods that pass through- yet all is occurring on a ground of joy. No mood needs to be feared, no moment needs to be avoided. Finally, I see that all moods, all states of mind, all feelings, anything that is truly investigated, points back to the same source - that pristine sky of fulfilled consciousness that is the truth of who I am, and the truth of who you are.

As long as you are seeking to find Spirit someplace else, you are overlooking the essential truth of Spirit, which is omnipresence. And, when you seek to find happiness someplace else, you are overlooking your true nature, which is happiness. You are overlooking yourself.

I would like to offer you the invitation and the challenge to stop overlooking yourself, to simply, radically, and absolutely be still-to put aside, at least for a moment, all of your ideas of where Spirit is, or where truth is, or where you are. I am asking you to be still in pure presence. Not to create that, not even to invite it, but simply to recognize what is always here, who you always are, where Spirit always is.

Ignorance is the root of suffering. When I use the word "ignorance," I am speaking about ignoring the truth of who you are in favor of some problem or identification with suffering. Ignoring the limitless truth of yourself, ignoring the eternal presence of divinity, of being-ness itself, is the very source of continued suffering. Continued suffering occurs when your concepts of happiness, truth and freedom are seen as separate from who you already are.

I am not speaking of the compassionate suffering experienced when one witnesses the anguish in the world. In the acknowledgment of that anguish, suffering can be experienced.

This is part of the texture of life, and it is appropriate. By continued suffering, I am referring to what could be called "unnecessary" suffering, when you are wrapped up in replaying your own or the world's dramatic stories over and over in your mind. Unnecessary suffering can be dropped in an instant, yet it is usually perpetuated through cycles of mental and emotional activity as an attempt to escape the direct experience of emotional pain.

To be finished with suffering does not mean to ignore suffering. To be true to the eternal truth of who you are is not to ignore anything. It means recognizing that you have the capacity to realize yourself as not separate from the totality of life. The degree to which you are willing to stop ignoring is the degree to which you are willing to truly know yourself.

Whether you are searching for peace and happiness in a relationship, in a better job, or even in world peace, just for one moment, stop absolutely. There is nothing wrong with these pursuits, but if you are engaging in them to get peace or to get happiness, you are overlooking what is already here. If you will simply be utterly still, even for one instant, you will recognize the inherent spaciousness of your being that is already happy and at peace with itself.

Once you discover this ground of peace, whatever pursuits you then engage in will be informed by your discovery. You will naturally bring what you have discovered to the world, to politics, to all your relationships. Because of our conditioning, we normally dismiss this ground of peace with an immediate, "Yes, but what about my life? I have responsibilities. I need to keep busy.

The absolute doesn't relate to my world, my existence." These conditioned thoughts just reinforce further conditioning. But, if you will take a moment to recognize the peace that is already alive within you, you then actually have the choice to trust it in all your endeavors.

This doesn't mean that your life will be swept clean of conflicts, challenges, or pain. It means that you will have recognized a sanctuary where the truth of yourself is present, where the truth of Spirit is present, regardless of the physical, mental, or emotional circumstances of your life. We cannot possess truth; that would be the mind's idea. But truth can claim its possession, which is us - each soul, each being.

This is an invitation into the core of your being. It is not about religion or lack of religion. It is not even about enlightenment or ignorance. It is about the truth of who you are, which is closer and deeper than anything that can be named or imagined. What we imagine as fulfillment has to do with less pain, less conflict, more pleasure, more peace, more acknowledgment, more love.

But, true fulfillment cannot be imagined; it can only be realized.

Do you want to be right - or be happy?

By Hilda Carroll, Life Coach

Sometimes life really sucks. And other times it's just not too great, or could be better. But that is absolutely no reason to despair. Really! Whether or not you are in a place right now where you can accept this, the truth is that there's always an opportunity in every challenging experience to learn and grow. And it's always in our best interests to actively seek that lesson. What a waste to go through a rough patch and take nothing out of it that will help carry you onwards and upwards in the present and future.

And how do we do seek that lesson? By asking ourselves "what is this here to teach me?" And by asking more than once. Because the more you ask yourself, the deeper your enquiry goes, and the more you learn. The answers may not come to you straight away, in fact they probably won't. And there could be many layers of lessons for you that come through bit by bit. But the more open you are to learning them, the quicker they will come.

Your answers may come to you through something you read, something someone says to you (maybe even a throw away comment), or the lyrics of a song that is divinely played in your earshot. There will be all sorts of magical coincidences and you'll come across stuff that will resonate deeply with you and stop you in your tracks. We call them light-bulb moments, and if we pay attention to them they can radically alter our path in life.

Life keeps throwing us the same lessons, over and over in different guises, until we finally get them. Do you find yourself wondering on a regular basis why you keep finding yourself with a difficult boss, an abusive partner or selfish friends? If there's a pattern of similar circumstances occurring in your life, look for the common denominator. Please don't be offended by this, as I say it non- judgmentally, but it really is likely to be you. If you can accept this, then all you need to do is ask what do you need to learn about yourself - not other people - to put an end to the cycle.

This is not to pick up a stick to beat yourself with. It is just about increasing your self awareness, so that you can approach life differently going forwards. You and I are a work in progress, and it is never done.

All through our lives we are meant to be learning and growing. And we learn the most from our challenging experiences. During those times, be prepared to accept something uncomfortable about yourself, for when you accept it (and forgive yourself) you can easily move past it. But what you resist persists. If you deny something about yourself, self-righteously insisting the problem lies with others, you are not done with it.

If you allow yourself to be really open to what the true reason is for this difficult experience, you will ultimately discover some kind of fear at the root of it. Once you identify your fear, you can start to let go of it. If you aren't aware of it, you'll continue to carry it around subconsciously. That is an energy you are putting out into the Universe and it will attract more experiences into your life that match that energy.

So, when you catch yourself woefully asking why this is happening to you, stop and change that enquiry into a genuinely curious one. And then start to pay attention to what your intuition is trying to tell you. Pay attention to each and every coincidence you notice. This is how you cross the bridge between knowing a thing intellectually and really, truly getting it. And that "penny dropping" experience is the kind of moment that influences an effortless change in your outlook and behavior, and as a consequence your coping mechanism strengthens.

But even better than that, because you've now got the lesson, the Universe no longer needs to send it to you in different disguises. You become free of it. Free to move on and learn and grow and stretch some more.