The Dalai Lama, in his book The Art of Happiness, says that the very purpose of life is happiness, and I am sure you agree with that. And what is happiness?

Happiness is about freedom and it begins in the mind...

In order to be happy you need to be yourself, live by your values, be true to yourself and choose how you want to live; you need to know what you want, what makes you happy, so that you can create the life you want; you need to feel good about yourself and about in general.

In order to be yourself, feel good, and live the life you want, you need to be free from the prison of the past and its old beliefs, from the prison of pressure from other people and their beliefs, and from the prison of your own mind.

The past: maybe you have experienced a difficult past, and perhaps there are beliefs linked to that past, things people said that prevented you from feeling good and feeling free to live the life you want; but you need to arrive at a point where you can say, ‘I have experienced..., so what?' Are you going to free yourself from the past when you are maybe 80 years old? Wouldn't it be nicer to actually live happily NOW? And how about choosing your beliefs?

Other people: over the years I have worked with various clients who had lost themselves along the way and felt a terrible hole inside; they had become a clone of someone else, in order to be ‘cool' and fit in, but they had lost the most precious thing that any of us has: themselves and their soul.

So, be yourself, be authentic, and choose who you are, your values, your own rules and terms, your beliefs; find out what you like, what you want, the people you want in your life, what you like doing, how you want your life to be, and go for it; free yourself from the fear of being alone. Is it more important to be accepted by people who maybe have nothing in common with you and betray yourself, or be true to your soul?

And just know:

• It is very much OK to be who you are, and you are a wonder.
• Do not sell your soul; it is the most important asset you have got.
• Live a life you are proud of, and be a person you are proud of.

And how other people are, the way they behave and think, is simply what they choose. Always look at things with a critical eye and think with your own head; it is magnificent!

The prison of your own mind: by believing things told to you over the years, by having the same thoughts over and over, you can build a prison for yourself: a prison of fears, doubts, depression, anxiety, stress, frustration, anger, guilt, blame, shame, hatred... But you can change it with a simple shift in your awareness.

Your thoughts create your emotions, so in order to change the way you feel you need to change your neurology and have flexibility of thought.

If you try to ‘solve' a problem in one way and it does not work, try another way. If you do the same, the results will be the same.

And if you do something that makes you feel bad, stop doing it; do something else.

Always look for new ways to look at things and problems, new ways of thinking; be a critic of everything; choose your thoughts, your beliefs, carefully. Do not tolerate any more negative feelings; choose to feel good; choose your freedom.

And use the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, your mighty mind; use what works and let go of what does not; look at things with humour, laugh a lot and relax.

This is a wonderful world, you are an extraordinary person and your life can be truly phenomenal.

It is pure magic. Live it!

© Copyright Piercarla Garusi 2006- All rights reserved.