Everybody wants to find more fulfillment and happiness in life.  As we move forward in this New Year I’d like to share with you 100 lessons that I have learned in my life (and continue to learn) in hopes they will help you find increased happiness and peace in 2011.

This post is part of the Life Lessons Series featured on blogger Abubakar Jamil’s Self Improvement Blog.

 1.  Pick up a stone and admire it for a few moments.

 2.  After you put the stone down look at your hand and admire that.  Have you ever seen a more beautiful creation?

 3.  Put a hand on your belly and breathe with only your belly moving.

 4.  My dad, who was in great shape until he died at 95, used to make a point of thinking of something pleasant before he went to sleep. Try it, see if it works for you.

 5.  Read the 23rd Psalm.

 6.  Read a verse or two from Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore.

 7.  Does life seem transitory to you sometimes?  Consider the possibility that at the core of your being you are immortal and unchanging.

 8.  Look at a photo of your Mom and honor her.

 9.  Don’t look to the world for a sense of importance — look within, to your own being.

 10.  Look up at the sky.

 11.  Consider the timeless words: “My yoke is easy, my burden is light.”

 12.  Be still.

 13.  Be still some more.

 14.  Listen to your own inner voice and trust it.

 15.  Say “thank you” and really mean it.

 16.  Consider the possibility that you don’t have to look for happiness because who you truly are is already happy.

 17.  Do the thing your mind says it doesn’t want to do.

 18.  Trust life.

 19.  Don’t let thoughts dictate your life.

 20.  You don’t have to see thoughts as an enemy — just realize that while thoughts come and go, who you truly are at the core of your being does not come and go.

 21.  Listen to the sweet sound of running water.

 22. Be of equal grace to all you meet.

23.  Thank your spouse or friend for the many gifts they bring to your life.

24.  Know in your heart that life is good and if you play your part and trust life and trust yourself life will unfold as it should.

 25.  Find some ducks somewhere and take a few minutes to admire them.

 26.  It’s never too late to change your mind.

 27. It’s never too late to make an extraordinary discovery — at the core of your being you are already happy.

 28.  Don’t keep your happiness to yourself.  Spread it around.

 29.  Don’t know what to do?  Be still, and listen.  There’s always the right thing to do in any situation.

 30.  Don’t close up when strong feelings come.  I tried it for a long long time, and it doesn’t work.  Let yourself feel whatever it is you are feeling, no matter how painful it may be.  You will make an amazing discovery.  What seemed like sadness, or grief, or fear will change into something altogether different.

 31.  Discover life’s paradox.  Be open to change, soft and yielding as water, but remember you are also strong and nothing worthwhile happens without persistence.

 32.  2011 is a perfect year to get in shape.  Consider going to a gym, if you’ve never been to one before.  You may find it’s a lifesaver.  It’s helped me in many ways.

 33.  Spend more time with Nature.

 34.  Admire the spaciousness of the sky and remind yourself that the spaciousness you see has its origin in you.

 35.  The sky is simply reflects back to you an aspect of your own being, just as a mountain, or a flower, or another person reflect back to you the oneness of all creation.

 36.  Never pass up an opportunity to pat another person’s dog — or of course, your own dog.

37.  If someone has helped you, or done their best to help you, make sure they know how much you appreciate the helpful person that they are.

 38.  If despair is upon you, there is something you should know.  I’ve experienced a lot of tribulation — some of it conscious, some of it unconscious – and I’ve learned that on the other side of despair is joy.

 39.  It’s the joy of our own being, untouched and unchanged by any of the adversities of our life.

40.  We come into this world with a unique gift to give.  We can think of this in external terms, and that’s very appropriate.  But the greatest gift you have to give in 2011 is yourself, your own genuine, timeless presence.

41.  Be thankful for the gift of hearing.  Just listening to some passing geese, or the laughter of a child is more than enough happiness for one day.

42.  Don’t only listen to external sounds.  Listen also to the wisdom of your own spirit speaking to you in the quietness of your heart.

43.  Take courage.  Let 2011 be a year in which a precious goal or dream of yours comes true.

44.  Take patience.  Patience is one of the greatest gifts of the universe.  As long as you are doing the right thing in this moment, offering the very best you can into this moment, why be too concerned about the future?  It will take care of itself, as all the prophets have said.

45.  Take pleasure in little things.

46.  Take pleasure in the chickadee, for instance, and her unique cry as she goes about her business.

47.  Take pleasure in the sight of an old man enjoying his grandchildren.

48.  Take pleasure in thinking about the gift that your own physical body has been to you in your life.

49.  Even if your body is having troubles at the moment, acknowledge, and be thankful for the extraordinary faithfulness it has shown to you all these years.

50.  Don’t be afraid if you lose something precious. There is one thing you can never lose — your own timeless, boundless being.

51.  Sing a new song next time you see your wife, or husband, or friend.  I’m not suggesting that you necessarily sing in a physical sense.  But don’t be afraid to let a part of yourself come out to play that may never have come out to play in your life before.

52.  Sing a new song next time you vacuum the house.

53.  Sing a new song next time you go to the coffee shop, or to the supermarket, or to a football game.  Just because we have done something before doesn’t mean we have to experience it in exactly the same way the next time, does it?

54.  Life is a victorious experience when we live it properly.  I truly believe this.

55.  There are riches and wonders waiting to be revealed in your life that I bet you have never even dreamed of yet.

56.  Persistence is an aspect of our own divine nature. There is always more persistence available to you in life.

57.  Mind you, it’s worth remembering that life has a magical, spontaneous quality to it, so that we don’t get so hung up on finishing something that we lose any pleasure or enjoyment in what we’re doing.

58. As Khalil Gibran aptly said, Who bakes without love bakes a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.

59.  When in doubt, smile.

60.  I find doing a little abdominal breathing is a wonderful way to reduce stress and get more grounded.

61.  It’s good to be whole. But let us not forget that wholeness already exists.  All we really have to do is let the wholeness of our own being express more fully through us — in 2011 or any other year.

62.  You may already do some Chi Gung, but if not, look into it.  It’s a great way to keep in shape at every level, especially as we age.

63.  A wonderful resource on Chi Gung is a book called, “The Way of Energy,” by Master Lam Kam Chuen.

64.  Be kind to yourself.

65.  Some words I like to say to myself once in a while: “Everything is going to be all right.”

66.  Reminds me of some words from an old Caribbean song: “Every little thing’s going to be all right.”

67.  Don’t forget the sea, and the wonderful healing energy of the sea.  My wife JoAnn and I live in Denver.  I know I need to see the sea again.  It’s a big priority for me in 2011.

68.  Just listening to the roar of the sea, the steady background noise that it makes, is uplifting for anybody.

69.  The roar of the sea is primeval, like the roar of a lion.  May we never lose either one.

70.  Stop and listen to the sound that the universe makes in your ear.

71.  Stop and note the magnificence of the universe as it displays itself in a fine painting, or in a mountain, or in a brightly colored butterfly.

72.  Be true to yourself.  Honor yourself.  Above all, listen to the voice of your own being in the quietness of your heart.

73.  Feel the skin of your own hand.  Isn’t it a miracle?

74.  Pick a blade of grass this summer and stick it between your teeth like you did when you were young.

75.  My favorite picture hangs above my computer.  It shows a young fox at rest on a mound of earth with a piece of grass in his teeth, eyes shut and face aglow with bliss.

76.  Bliss is our true nature. Don’t let go of your bliss, follow it wherever it takes you.

77.  Don’t be too quick to form an opinion of someone – it takes time to really get to know another person.

78.  I don’t know if this post will work or not.  It’s a bit experimental.  If it does work, or even if it doesn’t, would you write and let me know?

79.  Who are you, really?  Suppose you are an aspect of Eternal Love finding expression through human form?  Our forms come and go — but the love that you truly are has neither beginning nor end.

80. “Love never fails.”  Were more beautiful words ever written?

81.  Where are the limits of love?  Does love have any limits?

82.  Love is not bound by time.  I just thought of my mother, long gone, and felt a closeness with her that is as strong now as it ever was.

83.  If love transcends time, perhaps it also transcends space? 

84. If the truth of your being is love, and you get on a plane and go somewhere, do you really go somewhere?

85.  Perhaps, when we think we travel, or moving from one town to another, we jump to a conclusion.

86.  Perhaps the truth of who you are has not moved at all?

87.  Perhaps here is a secret of true peace in life.

88.  Got to say a word in support of ravens.  I love ravens, love hearing them call.  I’m so glad that this townhome complex where we live has a resident flock of ravens I can listen to and watch and love.

89.  Don’t only look for joy in big things like a relationship, or a trip to Hawaii, or Bali.  Look for joy in little things like going for a walk, drinking a cup of tea, or chatting with a friend.

90.  Joy is a gift from the universe.  It’s part of our divine nature.

91.  Let the joy that is already inside you be given expression freely through you in these coming months, to bless your own life and the lives of others.

92.  Joy is our true name.  It was our name before we came into this world, and it will still be our name when we say goodbye to our earthly body that has been our home and friend in this life.

93. It’s never too late to open your heart to joy. It’s simple mathematics.  The more joy and love you express, the more joy and love you know.

94. Same thing with freedom.  The more we open our mind and our heart to the true freedom that already exists within our own being regardless of circumstance the more we experience the truth of freedom in our lives.

95.  Joy and freedom.  Freedom and joy.  Such beautiful words, aren’t they?

96. I’m writing this post in a little study in a sweet little townhome complex in Denver, Colorado.  Wherever you are, and wherever you live, I want to say “hi,” and reach out a hand of friendship and blessing to you.  I wish you a truly happy, fulfilling and creative new year.

97. We are not as separate from one another as we may have thought. 

98.  You are part of a beautiful, harmonious whole.

99.  You are loved by this Whole.

100.  May you be strengthened and sustained by love as you move into whatever 2011 holds in store for you.

Pic credit 1:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/251777915_4c6d45476b.jpg

Pic 2:http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4717834913_446d105a12_m.jpg

100 steps to grace for 2011 is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

One of the joys of blogging for me is meeting people in faraway places — or nearby places — who share a similar passion and love for what is true and beautiful in the human spirit. Every time I meet a kindred spirit in this way my heart wants to do a little dance.

I thought it might be of interest, perhaps once a month, to write a post about some of the remarkable bloggers I meet in my blogging journey.

So without further ado — here are 5 “blogs with heart” for November. Of course, these are all in the personal growth niche.

 1. Less Ordinary Living  (Phil Bolton)

“A guide to taking control of your career, growing your startup business or creating a balanced lifestyle.”

Phil Bolton is a professional coach with four years experience helping clients take control of their career and bring their business ideas to life.

After graduating from Cambridge University in England, Phil qualified as an accountant and spent the first 10 years of his career in client service with Deloitte in London and San Francisco. He then took a leap of faith and changed his career, qualifying in 2007 as a coach with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.

He started his practice, Less Ordinary Living, in 2008. Says Phil, “I haven’t looked back since — I love every minute.”

2. Graceful balance (Emma)

“Living a balanced life filled with joy and harmony.”

Here’s what Emma has to say about herself and her blog:

“I am Clearly Composed (aka Emma) a freelance writer, daydreaming, domestic goddess, budding athlete and eternal soul dedicated to sharing the development of a healthy and balanced life filled with wellness, personal fulfillment, beauty and joy. Welcome to my corner of the Internet. Won’t you come in?”

Emma is a remarkable young woman who has certainly touched me and inspired me with her beautiful spirit.

 3. Illuminated mind (Jonathan Mead)

“Don’t read this website if you want ordinary. Only if you want to live on your own terms.”

Jonathan Mead is a young man with a big heart who helped me immeasurably when I was looking for some encouragement and direction re my first e-book. Here are quotes from his site at random:

“Since a young age, I’ve had a hard time doing things that I don’t want to do. I started this blog to help others on that path, because I realized what we often view as “collective wisdom” is merely a big, collective assumption.

“I also found out that a lot of ideas I thought were crazy and counter intuitive actually produced the best results. It’s these non-standard strategies that I’m most interested in. The edges of life tend to fascinate me the most.”

4. Happiness and wisdom (Heather and Michael)

“It’s all about happiness!”

I’ve only just got acquainted with Heather and Michael, authors of this blog, but look forward to developing a greater connection with them.

Here is a quote from their welcome message: “We welcome you to our site and hope that you’ll check back often as we write about happiness, review products and offer you tools you can use to quickly develop happiness and wisdom necessary to create your happy life.”

5. The Second Half of My Life (Marion Anderson)

“Success tactics for the game of life”

Marion lives in a small Scottish town called Peebles. By chance a neighbor lent me some copies of a fancy Brit magazine called ‘Realm’ that had a picture of Peebles. It looked so charming.

Marion is a sweet, generous-hearted woman with a wonderful spirit. An ICF accredited life and business coach, she describes herself as an “entrepreneur, coach and lover of life who is passionate about personal development and about living the best life that you can.”

The most beautiful things must be felt with the heart

So there we are. I do hope you enjoyed this little exploration into the remarkable world of personal growth blogs. For my part, some words of the great spiritual pioneer Helen Keller come to mind:

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”

I would never downplay the importance and essential contribution of our mind. But surely it is through our heart that we can really know another person — just as it is also through our heart that we can come to know the truth of ourselves.

We live in troubled times, but magical times. Blessings to all. I’m still working on starting a Happy Seeker newsletter, please stay tuned!

The Happy Seeker’s 5 “blogs with heart” for November is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

Do you believe in omens? I do, up to a point anyway.

I had just finished breakfast and decided it was time to go to work in my little office. As I got up from my chair I looked out the window and saw a beautiful little bunny sitting in front of the blue spruce tree outside our front door.

He (she?) looked so calm and contented. Of course, there was a ton of nice green grass around. No doubt another reason was that he felt safe — any sign of threat and he would be back under the blue spruce tree faster than a speeding meteor.

I thought to myself, “It’s going to be a lovely day and my post will go easily.”

Of course it’s not my intent here this morning to write about a bunny. I want to write about the seven gifts this loving universe gives to all of us when we come bawling and helpless into this world.

Perhaps we were not quite as weak and vulnerable as it may have seemed?

1. The gift of patience.

Patience not only makes it possible for us to bear the anguish and trauma of life. Patience also gives us the opportunity, if we will, to persevere — to follow our dream and discover who we truly are.

2. The gift of humility.

Where would we be without humility? Humility opens the door to wisdom and intuition. It makes it possible for us to change, and to grow. If we realize we have believed a lie, for example, or our attitude to someone was wrong — we can change. Humility makes it possible to find meaning and wholeness.

3. The gift of courage.

Courage is the vital creative power that makes it possible for us not only to meet the challenges of our lives but to follow our dream and embrace the unique gift we came into the world to give.

4. The gift of compassion.

Compassion is one of the most precious gifts this universe has to give. Compassion not only sees the pain of the world, but paradoxically sees the incredible beauty and oneness back of creation.

5. The gift of happiness.

The world has done a good job of convincing us that happiness is outside us and requires struggle and searching to be known.

But happiness was given us at birth. All we have to do is be still and remember our true inheritance – the authentic happiness that already exists at the core of our being.

6. The gift of freedom.

Nothing needs to change in your life or mine for us to be free. You can be free right now regardless of your circumstances and the truth is you are free right now as you surrender to the timeless presence of your own eternal Self.

7. The gift of love.

You are loved. The universe sees you, and admires you, and loves you, because you are part of Itself. 

The universe would not exist if you did not exist. Again, there has been a lot of brainwashing done over the centuries to convince us we are miserable sinners, alone and rejected in a barren, hostile world.  But don’t you believe it. 

The universe is kinder, wiser, and infinitely more loving than our mind could possibly begin to imagine.

The trouble is what our mind doesn’t understand it tends to see as alien and separate from itself.

We will never understand the universe, of course. But we can love it and respect it and be thankful for it. And in some moment when we are still — when our heart is open — we can feel its deep, unshakable love for us.

A special thanks 

I want to give a special thanks to my friend Larry Deane, owner of Empty Cabin Media, who designed the new look for my blog. I’m so happy with what he has done. Larry is one of the most friendly, helpful, knowledgeable people you could hope to meet in the vast ocean we call the internet.

That’s it folks. Gotta look outside my window and see if bunny is still there.

I send you love and greetings from this little corner of Colorado, and I hope you have a very good day — or a very good night, as the case may be.

PS. Please note my free e-book, The Wisdom of Serenity, is now available for download on this site. I sure hope you’ll take a look at it.

Let me know, won’t you, if you have any thoughts about the book, or about this post?

What do you think about the notion of a loving universe? What gifts has it given you?

Picture credit:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3201242485_1963620a5e.jpg

The 7 gifts of a loving universe is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

Are you looking for happiness? A lot of people are. But did you ever stop to think that happiness is looking for you and has been looking for you with utmost love and determination since the moment you were born?

I’m not talking about surface happiness here, mind you, the pleasure that we might derive from going to a movie or spending time with friends.

Lasting happiness

I’m talking about lasting happiness — the deep, irrevocable happiness of our own being — happiness so deep that it fills every fiber of our body and mind and soul with bliss and never goes away.

The cosmos must have a good laugh (or cry) about all this once in awhile, because that which would make us truly happy and whole and at peace is never going to stop looking for us. Yet as long as we keep ignoring it or trying to hide from it, looking for happiness on our own terms — we actually make ourselves very unhappy and troubled.

Where true happiness and peace reside

Here are four ways you can resolve this situation and come out from the shadows, so to speak, so that you reconnect with the truth of your own being where all true happiness and peace reside.

1. (This is an important one). Be kind to yourself.

Be kind to yourself. Love yourself. And most importantly, forgive yourself. It is amazing how much you’ve handled in your life, and how far you’ve come.

2. Think about something beautiful.

Stop thinking about all the troubles in your life or in the world and think about something beautiful. My dad, who lived until he was 95, and liked to say he could put his medical history on the back of a postage stamp, told me once that he made a point of thinking about something beautiful, a happy memory, every night before he went to sleep.

3. Stop being so busy

Stop being so busy for a moment and simply surrender to the stillness that is calling to you in every moment.

4. Give thanks for the stillness

Give thanks for the stillness even if it makes you uncomfortable — which of course it will, because this is what stillness does. Consider the possibility that this apparent emptiness is the very face of the happiness you have been looking for so long.

Do you have any thoughts on this line of thinking? I’d love to hear from you. It may seem as if we’re strangers — ships passing pass in the night — but I don’t believe it for a moment.

Picture credit:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/3762343282_e49fc340a2_m.jpg

Is happiness looking for you? is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

I was sitting in the coffee shop yesterday afternoon, reading a good book. I have a pair of bifocals for reading and computer work, so of course I had my glasses on while I was reading.

I have a little pouch in my shirt pocket where I keep my glasses when I’m not using them, so when it was time to head for home I put my glasses back in their pouch. An hour or two later, I went to my computer to check my e-mails, and naturally put my glasses on. Shock and dismay. One of the lenses was missing. My spectacles were broken and I hadn’t even realized it.

JoAnn, always a good ally when something untoward happens, confirmed my thought that a screw had come loose in the glasses. But the big question was — where on earth was the lens?

I called the coffee shop, and asked them if they could look for it. JoAnn and I looked everywhere. No sign of a missing lens.

Finally, after the assistant at the coffee shop reported she hadn’t been able to find anything, I gave up my search, and resigned myself to the fact I’d have to buy a new lens. Around eight o’clock in the evening, I sat down in my chair in the living room to relax and watch a little TV.

I took off my shoes to relax my feet, and put my orthotics into my house shoes. I picked up one of the house shoes, and started to put it on, but something wasn’t right.

I looked down. What did I see?

My missing lens was sitting, or I suppose I should say lying on the orthotic in the back of the house shoe. How did it get there? I have absolutely no idea. I cannot begin to conceive how it got there. But that is where it was.

“Seek, and ye shall find,” the Bible tells us, and it is perfectly true. They are beautiful words. If we do not seek, we will not find. But there’s a catch in the ancient Scripture, I have found. A paradox, if you will.

When I stopped seeking my missing lens — I found it.

When JoAnn stopped searching for a good relationships some years back — there I was! (Oh dear, how self-righteous and self-important can you get?)

When I stopped searching for truth and happiness — it appeared.

It’s as if at a certain point we have to relax our grip, our intensity, our yearning — our wanting — and simply surrender.   When we are still, it opens a door to magic. The creative process which wants to bring to us what is right for us is free to do so.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” someone said. I’d say life works in mysterious ways too.

Changing gears here, before I go, I’d like to express deep thanks to some fellow bloggers who have been kind enough to include posts of mine in their blog carnivals. A blog carnival, by the way, according to Wikipedia, “is a type of blog event. It is similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly.”

Lila Jirel has included my post, “A path of true joy and strength beckons you,” in her Carnival of Inspiration and Motivation, at www.cultivatepositivity.com.

James Wortz has included “A prayer of gratitude for my body” in his Living an Intuited Life Carnival at www.intuitedlife.com.

And Christina has included “Old husband finally learns new trick,” at her Everything Worth Reading Carnival at www.Everythingworthreading.blogspot.com.

These are great websites. Hop on over. I know you’ll enjoy visiting them and perusing the many excellent posts they have to offer.

When I gave up the search — it appeared is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age