How to Live in the World and Still Be Happy

We have no chance of being happy when we are angry.

A thousand times a day our love of happiness is cut short by our even greater fear of it. Even a little cheerfulness is checked if it goes on too long. If we find ourselves laughing with complete freedom, singing in the shower, or maybe just whistling loud enough to be overheard, the old anxiety begins seeping in. Our “frivolous” mood is being called into question. For some nagging reason we must resume a “serious” state of mind, although just why this is helpful or proper we are not quite sure.

Without ever meeting you, I can tell you one hard fact about your lifestyle. You are doing too much.

Our loved ones may be in

the room when our life ends, but they can't die for us

The rule is, Don't allow the criticism to leave your mind. Remove its source and repair the damage to your mind quickly.

Most of us decide in conflict, act in conflict, and think this is the way life must be. Mixed feelings arise from a sense of having more than one self. On the surface this appears to be the inevitable outcome of our personal history. Since we have had many opposing experiences, it seems natural that we are divided about almost everything

No matter what our age, nothing we see in the world is wholly reliable. Even the preschool playground is a place where someone is your best friend today but tomorrow wants only to play with some other child. There is no place where we cannot wear out our welcome.

Because a decision was not made, life just happened.

we look at alcoholism as another example, we see the same process. Just as the prejudiced supervisor first has to see and accept that he or she is prejudiced, alcoholics must first see that they are alcoholics. Acknowledging and “owning” that fact, they now come face to face with the devastation they have caused. Thus they begin to distrust their ego urge to drink. They begin to doubt their belief in the benefits of getting drunk, and sooner or later nothing is tempting about alcohol. Yet they remain “recovering” alcoholics because they understand that the basic belief in alcohol is still a part of their ego.