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.

The Fickle Science of Network Marketing

peter@thewealthyattitude.com

What a weekend it has been! I decided that, as a home- based business person in the network marketing industry, and it being what appears to be a fairly busy season in our industry, I would spend time returning calls to people who had responded to some online advertisements we are currently running.

Our ads are very clear, we seek to interview people who want to be in a home-based enterprise as a “business”, not a “j.o.b”.

Here was my conundrum: The people I was calling back had responded to ads on the Internet, which means they have access to the technology. They filled in a form that asked for their name, telephone number, e-mail address, and time zone in which they live. When they pressed “submit”, they were given a message that we would be in touch within forty eight hours. All pretty simple so far, yes?

Now something must happen to many people when they complete the process. The cave-dwelling Neanderthal must arise within them. The one that is rude, ignorant, and frankly, stupid.

I’ll not bore you with the gory details of some of these calls, other than to express the following to those folks out there currently pushing buttons on keyboards without a clue about what they are doing.

A. The networking marketing industry is a viable multi-BILLION dollar industry that is almost sixty years old.

B. The network marketing industry is singularly responsible for developing an entire generation of new millionaires.

C. Network marketing opportunities are not pyramid schemes.

D. Pyramid schemes are illegal in any country with paved roads and glass for windows.

E. Network marketing professionals are not “cult” members. In fact, when I think of a huge group of people who get up when it is dark, get into a single file formation to go to the work zone, shop, desk etc. Then after putting out 8 – 10 hours of their labor helping create someone else’s dream, go out in the dark again, get back into single file formation to go back to their home. After eating, they settle into the recliner and watch a whole category of mind numbing programs called “reality television” that are entirely based on “rejection”. Then they go to bed dreaming of winning the lottery, only to awaken the next day to do the exact same thing all over again. I say “that’s a cult”.

F. Home-based entrepreneurs are not folks who can’t get a “real” J.O.B (just over broke).

G. There is not a huge great big bucket of money out there just waiting to pour all over you just because you decide to play on the computer and fill in forms.

H. True network marketing professionals are interviewing you to determine if they want to work with you. They are not out there to save your butt.

I. No, I mean none, nada, zilch, zero, businesses can be started and built without some investment of money, time, energy, and attitude. Anything that can be created without these things is called a “JOB”.

J. True network marketing professionals would much rather you stay off of the Internet and leave it to people who have clearly made a decision to better their lives. Those people who emerged from the cave a long time ago and learned how to learn and study. Study how to plan a life, do the research, investigate the real opportunities, and conduct themselves with dignity.

K. The Network Marketing industry is built and maintained by people with pride and dignity, who serve their networks with care and integrity. And because of the impact they have in the market and economy, deserve to be treated with respect.

Now I have that off of my chest, you probably have an idea of what my day was like. I was inspired to dig back into my files and resurrect an article “Shame On You” that I wrote some time ago.

Women and Wealth - Sex and Money

From The Economist print edition

Heads up ladies:

By 2020 over half of Britain's wealthy millionaire's may be women. Why?

IN APRIL of 2007, 92 females graced the Sunday Times Rich List, an annual round-up of Britain's 1,000 wealthiest people. Ten years ago there were 64. And rich women are getting richer, too: over the decade the average worth of female millionaires has grown by more than half. Today Britain's wealthiest woman has £4.9 billion ($9.6 billion) to her name, compared with the paltry £1.5 billion her counterpart had in 1997. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) reckons female millionaires will outnumber male ones by 2020, and by 2025 women will control 60% of the nation's private wealth. They do better at school and in higher education, and they live longer. Girl power, it seems, never had it so good.

Is this wave of affluence a chimera or does it have solid underpinnings? A report this week by the Economist Intelligence Unit, our sister company, for Barclays Wealth, a financial-management firm, claims that the historical sources of women's wealth—marriage, inheritance and divorce—have been replaced by independent income, business ownership and investments. More than 80% of women now derive their riches from personal earnings, it says, particularly from their own businesses. Divorce, long the engine that propelled women into prosperity, is cited by only 2.9% of those questioned as the main source of their wealth.

But Philip Beresford, who compiles the Rich List, dismisses the idea that women are breaking into its ranks independently of men. “There is no evidence, yet, of seriously rich female entrepreneurs coming in huge numbers,” he says. The woman who tops the list is in fact Lady Green, whose husband made them both a fortune in retailing. If the CEBR is correct, Mr Beresford thinks most British millionairesses will still be wives, daughters and divorcees.

A glance at the number of women in the top ranks of business suggests he is right. Women make up only a tenth of the directors of FTSE-100 firms. They are also under-represented in the upper echelons of management. In a report in March, PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accountancy firm, said that the number of female senior managers in FTSE-350 firms had fallen by 40% since 2002. This may be due to a prevailing macho culture at the top; or it may reflect the costs of child care, which have risen by 27% in the same period.

If things look sticky at the top, women at the bottom find the relative going far tougher. Although the gap between men's and women's earnings has shrunk for those at all income levels, it remains far bigger among the poorest tenth than in any other group. The latest annual report from the Equal Opportunities Commission shows why: men still dominate highly paid work, and the proportion of female graduates in low-level jobs has rocketed in the past decade, along with the number of people going to university.

It will take another 60 years before there is equality between the sexes in British business (and 200 to achieve the same in Parliament), the commission calculates. Progress, it moans, is “painfully slow and at risk of going into reverse”. It's still hard to be a woman.

From The Wealthy Attitude: Ladies, we thought this article important enough to share with you as the situation is exactly the same in North America --Women's wealth will driven by their own personal earnings. From this desk we see it all as a level playing field. Go make a fortune, then change the rules.

How To Know If This Is The Year To Start Your Home Based Business

By Des Walsh of http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/

Someone told me they read somewhere that at this time of the year a lot of people do searches on the web to help them study options for establishing themselves in a home based business.

As a long-established - as in 20 years - home based professional, part of me says that’s a really smart move. There is also part of me that says I hope they know what they are doing.

Moving from a regular job, with bosses, bureaucracy, regulations, and all the challenges of working in organizations, can be very liberating. By the same token, giving up regular paychecks, office support and the pleasure of working with other people you like and respect can mean that establishing your home based business is not a totally positive experience.

In fact, it can be rather scary.

What if it doesn’t work? What if your new business doesn’t take off?

Negative thinking? Or just being practical?

In making the move I probably followed my heart more than my head. I believe that was right for me. Doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for everyone.

In fact, the “hesitation” questions are quite practical. The concerns are reasonable. In business, dealing with such questions is called doing due diligence.

And you can do due diligence without giving up your day job. Take a gradual approach: explore the possibilities without burning your bridges.

In other words, don’t walk into the office next week and announce your resignation as a prelude to your new, free, glorious career as a self-employed, home based business owner.

Of course, you can if you wish. My suggestion, especially if you have family responsibilities and are not a totally independent, free agent, is to take the gradual approach.

That way, you can maintain the security of your current job while building your home based business to a point where it makes good economic sense, good business sense, to fire your boss and become fully independent.

And even though I followed my heart and did not do real due diligence in the sense I understand that process today, I did not make the move overnight. Physically I was still working for other people and going to the office, but I had made the move from being an employee to being a consultant, had negotiated a five day a week, long term consultancy, had set up my home office as a place for serious work and negotiated a couple of smaller contracts I could do “after hours”. I’d spent a lot more money than I would have to these days on a computer, printer and fax machine (fax machine, what’s that? :)).

After all this time I have to admit that sometimes, when the cashflow isn’t what I want it to be, or I’m having a challenge drumming up business, there is a moment when a little voice says “you had a good job, a nice office, four weeks annual paid leave, why did you give it up?”. Well, partly because the job I had was not what I wanted to keep doing and anyway it was not forever: I’d given that up when I left the public service several years earlier.

And the negative thoughts don’t last long.

I have no desire to ever go back to being an employee. And I love the daily challenge of making my own way, creating my own future.

For anyone thinking about these issues for their own situation right now, Wendy Piersall provides a great checklist with her 10 Signs that You Should Quit Your Job to Work at Home.

Whatever you decide, be fair to your family and true to yourself. Which of those comes first? I don’t know for anyone else, but I suggest that while you have to balance both, you won’t be much use to anyone in the long term, including your family, if you are not, sooner or later, true to yourself and committed to realizing your dreams.

The Concept of Personal Development

by Darren Roberts, Contributing Author

Personal Development is understanding where you are, knowing where you would like to be and the action of bridging this gap. Before you embark upon something new you really need a successful attitude to make the most of everything in your business and personal lives.

When you first think of the two words pinned together "Personal Development" what are your thoughts?

Do you picture a child making mistakes being corrected from his parents? Do you visualize it as climbing the corporate ladder at your place of work? Do you see it as something which is silly as you're happy with your life situation? Or do you see it as an avenue to pursue and achieve those things most dear to you?

It could be any of the above. Personal development is so misunderstood these days. Unfortunately many people see it as a silly concept that isn't for them. Others go overboard and drown themselves in info until they don't know what to believe anymore. It's probably healthy to be somewhere in between - perhaps leaning a little more to the latter but not too extreme. One thing is for sure - the concept cannot be forced upon you. If someone tells you that you need to develop yourself in this regard then you'd probably jump on your high horse and tell them where to go in no uncertain terms.

Understanding where you are, knowing where you would like to be and the action of bridging this gap is what I would call "Personal Development". Let's walk through the following example.

Currently:
House With Mortgage
JOB (Just Over Broke)
Small 3 Cylinder Car

Would Like To Be:
Mortgage Free
Self-Employed Owner
Of A Nice Mercedes

The above may not be your ideal situation but for arguments sake today let's say it is. As you can see there is quite a gap between today's situation and the one we would prefer. To actually get yourself into the preferred position of standing you need to develop your abilities accordingly.

Developing ones abilities involves tons of things. If you're a tennis player of fairly good ability but your goal is to repeat André Agassi's performance at Roland Garros in 12 months time. i.e. win the French Open then to bridge this gap you're going to need training, coaching, practice, error correction, dedication, persistence, diligence, staying power, strength, to maximize your fitness, to minimize your alcohol consumption etc. Basically you would be looking to increase your abilities in all aspects to give yourself a shot at the top.

Going back to our example. You want to pay your mortgage, leave the 9 to 5 grind and update to a suave Mercedes. A high goal? Maybe - but very achievable. In a nutshell all you have to do is become more valuable, develop your own product line and undertake total responsibility for your actions. What I've noticed since the inception of my ezine some 33 editions ago is that many people get caught up in the marketing of their product (or the marketing of products belonging to others through affiliate programs) without an overall plan.

Don't get me wrong I know and understand the value of marketing all too well and I am sure you do too but marketing is simply just a part of personal development. In our above tennis example marketing could be equated to training and coaching but there are still many components left to attaining our target that need to be taken into consideration.

Reducing the mortgage to nil and buying a nice Mercedes Benz are really just by-products of the second aspect; leaving one's job for self-employment and succeeding at the transition can eventually lead to the other two targets being accomplished.

This is a major transition. To leave ones job and the associated security is not a decision that can be taken lightly this is why personal development is all encompassing. Are you prepared for the transition? Are your targets real or just puffs of smoke? Will you stick it out??? Tons of questions with really only one answer. Personal Development is all about becoming better at what you want to do. If you don't want to do it then that's not development, that's pain.
This topic is so broad and my favorite as it involves a lot of self-understanding, patience and desire. As you begin to notice that you are bridging this gap you will gain a momentum that can only get stronger; thus your target in effect becomes easier to reach...

Before you embark upon something new you really need a successful attitude to make the most of everything in your business and personal lives.

It's really pretty simple: If You Want To Earn More - You Have To Learn More!

About the Contributor: Darren Roberts is the Publisher of "AAvenues 2 Your Success." He is a marketing consultant at the helm of Topliving Consultancy. Subscribe to Darren's popular "Success and Self-Motivation" Weekly publication, "AAvenues 2 Your Success". It's packed with this sort of material each week.

The Secret of Your Success in 2008 . . .

by Donald J. Trump

To make 2008 your most successful year ever . . . Think big!

When you were a child, would you have liked to keep crawling, when everyone else was walking? I don’t think so.

We all have to start with small steps, but the point is:

Get to the biggest steps you’re capable of taking.

Thinking small will limit your potential. Thinking big will take you places. Thinking big can get you to the top, and I can tell you, it’s not lonely up here.

Successful people like challenges. It’s our nature. Keep in sync with this basic premise, and you’ll begin moving forward with the momentum necessary for great achievement.

Striving from an early age is one secret to success. I learned to work hard from an early age, trying to catch up with my father who was a very successful developer. But you can keep striving no matter what your age or accomplishments.

These three concepts will guide you:

Ask yourself why your plans are so small. Then begin to expand your horizons.

Concentrate on managing your future, not your past. Learn from the past, but don’t stay there.

Look at the solution. Don’t focus on the problem.

The faculty and staff of Trump University join Donald J. Trump in wishing you the most successful year ever.

Donald J. Trump is Chairman of Trump University.