Why this blog?

Because HAPPINESS is misused. My theory is that Happiness is NOT the POINT of Life; rather, it is a POINTER IN LIFE. Making life happier is what I specialise in. Find me at abetterlife-uk.com and http://hertscollegeofhypnosisandnlp.co.uk

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

New Happiness Post

The Physics of Happiness

In this email:

  • A basic truth for happiness & success
  • News bites
  • Training & events
  • Free Stuff

Hi! We'll soon be in Spring!
Time for new growth - and many of us in business would like some of that!

The common wisdom is that the best you can hope for is to balance work and life. I think it's all wrong. Passion + your strengths = success and happiness. Do less of what you don't like and more of what you do.

A rediscovered old truth
 
The basic requirements for success and happiness

Anyone who has sustained amazing business success will tell you that two ingredients are necessary: (i) self-belief and (ii) doing something you enjoy. The trouble is, most of us don’t fully get what the second requirement is all about. Creating and keeping something significant takes a lot of work. This applies whether you want happy relationships, a great career or business, or a lovely family. How are you going to sustain the effort if you are not fully focussed on why you enjoy it? You will get moments of weakness that will let you down.
You have to always ask WHY you want what you want. Even more importantly, what will your achievement enable you to continuously do, or be, or have? What will be happening? Go out to that future, now, and check – does it make you really excited, ongoing? It has to have real passion and meaning to you. Try it this way – imagine all your bills, your mortgage, your concerns were all met; what would you be doing in life then? The answer gives you clues about what you need to be doing. When it comes to business, make sure you pick out things that you are naturally excellent at.

Inspiration only comes when you put yourself on the edge; when you burn your boats; when you take a risk and invest in yourself. At that very point, your mind gets creative; you tune into new ideas and get creative. If you don’t, you stay just ‘off-station’ and no new information will come to you. It’s rather like the difference between tuning into a live broadcast compared to listening into a replay of yesterday’s news. This is ancient wisdom, consistent with Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish traditions, which hold to a sacred truth: ‘live in the present moment’. Many people think that this is only a modern idea. It has been held true for thousands of years.
So, the ancient wisdom, just as the modern business gurus, say get rid of all self-doubt or bad feelings that get in the way, and make sure you are being authentic to yourself. Invest in being yourself – all other posts are taken! Listen to no reasons or excuses – they become self-fulfilling alibis. Get whatever help you can to speed this up. In this current financial environment, where the tide has gone out, so-to-speak, it’s time now to have a good look at what it reveals on the exposed beach. It’s an opportunity you may not get twice.

 
Newsbites
 

In the flow


Ever had that wonderful, timeless feeling that arises when you're absorbed in a challenging task, one that stretches your abilities but doesn't exceed them? Pioneering psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called this state 'flow'. Countless studies have shown that flow is highly rewarding and usually provokes feelings of joy afterwards. Little researched until now, however, is the idea of 'social flow', which can arise when a group of people are absorbed together in a challenging task. In a new study, Charles Walker finds that social flow is associated with more joy than solitary flow - 'that doing it together is better than doing it alone'. He concluded by leaving open the question of why more social tasks lead to a form of flow that provokes more joy. Source BPS Blog where you can read the full article.


 
Spin really works

A take-away restaurant near your house might offer free home delivery or a ten per cent discount if you collect. It sounds much better than saying you get no discount for picking up and suffer a ten per cent fee for delivery – this is the power of spin or ‘framing’ (which we teach in NLP). Now David Hardisty and colleagues have dug a little deeper into framing, to show first, that these kinds of effects can interact with people's political persuasion, and second, that they can act by altering the order of people's thoughts. Source BPS Blog where you can read the full article.



Olympic athletes reveal their mental strategies

Here's one for the boys at Top Gear to think about - apparently having an obsessive passion for driving can predispose people towards aggression behind the wheel. The idea is that for these people, driving has become an overpowering compulsion, such that an obstacle - for example, a slow driver in front - provokes great frustration, which leads to anger, which explains why they sometimes drive right up your bumper and flash their headlights.

'When obsessively passionate, the person wants to pursue activity engagement because of an internal compulsion that comes to control him or her,' the researchers explained. 'Within such a state, being prevented from engaging in the activity by an external agent is conducive to anger toward this agent.' Source BPS Blog where you can read the full article.

Training & Events

Would you like to Learn to Hypnotise Anyone in One Day?
 
Now, you may or may not have experienced hypnosis; most probably you have seen demonstrations on T.V. or somewhere.  How does it really work? How can you use it to help people, or for your own benefit? Well I'm going to tell you how on 20 March (only £30 if you book by Wed 10th - tomorrow). Find out more <here> (there's also a free hypnosis audio download).

Learn NLP  - extra dates 
 
Now scheduling an extra 8 day NLP practitioner training, this summer. First come first served in confirming the precise dates. Certified by the ABNLP. £1399 includes a pre-study training pack of audio and video recording (pre-saved on a free personal MP3 player), two course books and comprehensive manual. Live training will also include the amazing time line therapy techniques.  We will be a small and friendly group, where personal attention is assured. Contact Richard now. Download Brochure and booking details.  

Free stuff
 
The Business Manifesto
I spoke about passion and vision above. Rich Schefren is a highly respected business advisor on creating success using the web. One of his early ventures was to create a chain of hypnosis centres with some savvy marketing methods, with a $7 million turnover in four years. He is now regarded as the guru's guru. Tap into his knowledge by downloading hi 'Business Manifesto' at his blog. Follow the trail to download both 'The Missing Chapter' and the 'The Final Chapter', all free. I heartily recommend following his blog from the beginning too.