DO YOU KNOW THAT LIFE IS GOOD?

We, as human beings, are suffering uselessly. We are walking around protecting, struggling and trying to force life. We are hurt and offended by someone's crooked face. We are wasting so much time and energy worrying about others approval or non-approval, scheming and manipulating and doing everything we can possibly think of to make everything go our way, so we can feel O.K. about ourselves. It is a recipe for failure and unhappiness and unless we learn a new way, we will continue to suffer. Aren't you tired of it? Haven't you suffered enough? Unfortunately, people still live in hell, they live in misery, with problems up one side and down the other and I can hear them say, "Life is good? Are you kidding? Get a grip!"

I want to wrap my arms around them and say, "No, really, there is another way. It will not be easy to remember, but there is something else going on if you can look hard enough, long enough and deeply enough. You, too, will see it, you will feel it and you will know without a shadow of a doubt, that the you, that IS you, is more than anything you could have ever imagined." Our journey is to remember, and, the remembering is good, oh, so good.

This is bigger than being a little positive now and again; this is about living in a completely different paradigm. It is living in the stream of blessing, harmony and flow. Who wouldn't want that? However, most will never do the inner work, most will never take that much responsibility for their life, for they would rather blame someone else and believe only in what they see as truth. We either wake up to the fact that we have something to do with creating our reality or we can continue to live in hell. It is that simple.

Well, that is not for me. Not that I haven't lived in hell and in limbo and everywhere in between. I have done my share of struggling and crying and have spent plenty of time "in the closet". What? You don't know what "in the closet" is? Ask my sisters, or your sisters, or your mother, or your father's mother; they will know. It is when you cannot take another minute of life. The closet is the darkest place in the house, and no one can find you. Yes, I can share my pain with you, but what is more important is how to transform our pain, take the gift, rise above it and begin to live the good life. Life is good when we are seeing it right. Life is good, even if it looks bad. Life is good regardless of what is going on right now. Life is good because you say so. And, if you say so, God simply knows "Yes". Your curriculum is your life. Your participation is not optional. The degree of your suffering is.

HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

Happiness and success are two concepts intertwined with one another. These are two of the most important ingredients that would eventually define a person's life.

If one would think about it, happiness and success are two things that are relative to a person's point of view since these are dependent on one's ideologies. Happiness and success relate to a target or reference point.

A person may say that he is happy because he just finished his studies or he just met a fine woman. A person may say he is successful because he was just promoted to a higher position. When one talks about happiness and success, a certain goal or perhaps an achievement is always the reference point.

A person will constantly ask himself if he is happy or if he can consider himself successful. Many people become depressed because they cannot seem to make sense of all the things that are happening in their lives. The most important thing to remember, when evaluating one's happiness and success, is that people need to limit their assessment using their own personal standards.

Often times, depression comes about because people rely so much on the expectations of others. Have you heard college students who don't do as well as they could because they don't like the course which they are in? They say that they don't really like the course because they were just forced by their parents or they had to take it for some other reason than because they liked it. Professionals also experience this kind of depression. Oftentimes, the workplace becomes a battleground wherein people live their lives according to the expectations of other people.

Again, happiness and success depend on one's own views. Let us look at a musician's point of view regarding happiness and success. A musician would love nothing more than to create music that comes from his soul. Depending on his ideologies regarding music, he can say that he is successful and happy with what he is doing.

A true musician wouldn't care less if his records sold millions or not, as long as his music stays true to its original intentions when the records were made. A musician can also look at happiness and success in terms of the number of people who patronize his music, if he truly believes that music is nothing if no one hears and appreciates it. It really depends on one's ideologies.

The only thing that we can infer from these two concepts is that these are mutually intertwined. One can say that success brings happiness and happiness is an essential ingredient towards success (i.e. Being happy with one's work will bring beautiful fruits of labor).

Happiness and success are two things that all people aspire for in life. There can never be a single definition for both of these concepts. Even dictionaries wouldn't dare give exact definitions for these words.

Perhaps, only the human heart can define these concepts. You will know when you are happy or when you can call yourself successful if your heart says so.

This is why the heart should always be consulted when making important decisions in life. Yes, of course, this is just a metaphor but we all know that the heart speaks reasons that the mind can never comprehend.