GLADDEN YOURSELF

CAN YOU GLADDEN YOURSELF? – HUGHES IT OR LOSE IT?

Gladden Yourself Have you really considered how many opportunities you
have had to gladden yourself, and how many of them
you have refused? —

I met a man who has found a way to be happy. Dr. Christian Almyrac, also known as “Dr. Happiness, ” uses a simple technique to reframe situations that seem negative. “Ask yourself, ‘What is the happiest thought I can think about this sit–uation?’ ” suggests Dr. Almyrac, “and then assume and act as if that is the truth about it. ” I have been practicing the method, and it works. If, for example, you are faced with the end of a relationship, and you have a whole range of thoughts about it, including, “Everything I do ends in failure, ” and “This just proves that men are turkeys, ” and “Here is my opportunity to learn to love myself without needing a man, ” imagine that the last thought? the most empowering?is the truth. You will succeed because the truth is al–ways the thought that brings us the most life. Conversely, if something brings you down to think it, it cannot be the final truth.

A friend was agonizing over which of two job offers she would accept. Although both jobs were attractive to her, choosing either one would give her certain benefits she would miss if she chose the other. “I feel like I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, ” Sharon recounted. I was surprised to hear that, since both jobs sounded like good ones. “It seems to me that you actually have a pleasant dilemma here, ” I told her. “You’re choosing between two good things. I would say that you’re blessed if you do and blessed if you don’t. ”

There are two ways that we can gladden ourselves: first, by asking for what we want and being willing to receive it when it is offered; and sec–ond, by shifting our attitude about what we have, so that we see the gift rather than the problem. The truth brings happiness.
I will see the good things in my life. Help me see my life through the eyes of love
rather than fear. My birthright is joy. I choose it now.

Cohen, Alan. A Deep Breath of Life  – Hay House. Kindle Edition.