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Spreading
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The
Happiness Formula Newsletter August
17th, 2005
“Happiness:
The Highest Gift” CD collection! A
$60 value. (Deadline August 24th, 2005.) I
want to make this newsletter as valuable as I can for you, so I’d like to
know what you think. Tell me what you like, what you don’t like, what you
wish were in them, what you wish weren’t in them. The person submitting the most insightful
response will win a copy of my CD collection. It
doesn’t matter if you offer criticism, praise, or anything in between. I want
to hear from you. Please submit your comments to me (jkalmar@thehappinessformula.com)
by August 24, 2005. The winner will receive their copy around the end of
August. (Decision is final.) As
always, if there is anything I can do to facilitate your journey to
happiness, please write. Kindest
wishes, Julian
Kalmar jkalmar@thehappinessformula.com Contents > The Happy Hungarian Watchmaker - Your Future’s In Your Hands by Julian Kalmar > Happiness Through Honorable Actions by Julian Kalmar > Zelig’s Happiness Corner - Gratitude tip #6 by Zelig Pliskin. > As A Man Thinketh – Chapter Five – The Thought Factor In Achievement by James Allen >
Happiness Products New!!! Conversations
with Bernie – DVD – Dr.
Bernie Siegel and Lionel Ketchian.
Aired on PBS in
The Happy Hungarian Watchmaker – Part 6 “Your
Future’s In Your Hands” Copyright 2005 by Julian
Kalmar. All rights reserved. One day I asked
the master why his workshop always felt so peaceful. This is what he taught
me. “Julian, just
like these watches and clocks, with all their gears, jewels, springs and
screws that can’t be seen from the outside, people have hidden mechanisms.” “What kind of
mechanisms,” I questioned eagerly. “There are many.
One of them is responsible for the peace in this workshop. Do you know why
I’ve asked you to be quiet while I work?” “So you can
concentrate,” I said a bit unsure. “Yes, but
there’s much more to it. By focusing your mind and hands on the same task,
peacefulness and joy are naturally produced. I create a tangible sense of
peace and joy in this workshop using this natural hidden mechanism. Everyone
can do this. “Working with
your hands also builds confidence in your personal abilities. You feel
powerful knowing you know how to transform your world. For example, when I’m
faced with a broken watch, I don’t know what I’ll find on the inside. That’s
a lot like life. You’ll face a problem and not know how to fix it at first,
so you’ll feel a bit nervous. Every time you solve a problem you’ll build
confidence. “Eventually you
feel you can solve any problem and create anything you want in your life.
That’s when life becomes easy. You simply decide what you want and focus your
mind and hands to create it. Your future is quite literally in your hands.
Happiness
Through Honorable Actions Copyright 2005 by Julian
Kalmar. All rights reserved. Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self-respect? The collection of happiness actions* broadly categorized as “honor” help you create this life of good feelings. As the American Heritage Dictionary defines it, honor is “Personal integrity maintained without legal or other obligation.” It’s a deep sense of rightness in our choice of actions. However, this sense of rightness does not display itself as ugly self-righteous behavior. It is a quiet personal experience of rightness that leads to a lasting sense of well-being. Here’s an example to show how honorable actions create happiness. Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item. If we don’t say anything, we receive an immediate reward, don’t we? We feel excited by our good fortune, and could leave the store with a sense of glee. We made no mistake and we made no effort to cheat them. So, why not allow the error to benefit us? It seems we would still be able to respect ourselves afterwards. To discover why we should take honorable action, we need only play out each possible future. If we keep silent, and profit from the clerk’s mistake, we would leave the store with adrenaline coursing through our veins; we would get away with something. We would drive home with a sense of sneaky excitement. Later we might tell our spouses or friends about our good fortune. On the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thank us for our honesty. We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul. In the first case, where we don’t tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen. Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief, as evidenced by our sneaky excitement. In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect. We would also demonstrate that we cannot be trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our spouses and friends. We tarnish our own reputations by telling others. In contrast, bringing the error to the clerk’s attention causes different things to happen. Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable. They like us. They remember us thereafter and treat us well. Upon leaving the store, we reflect on our sense of goodness. We feel honorable and our self-respect is boosted. Our kindness to the clerk is reflected back to us immediately and over the long term when they see us again. Whenever we take honorable action we gain the deep internal rewards of self-respect, peace of mind, goodness, and a sense of nobility. All of these greatly contribute to our sense of well-being. Honorable actions create happiness. There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions. Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions. Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence. And it’s easy to again think and act honorably when we’re happy. Unfortunately, there is a negative version of this cycle. Dishonorable thoughts lead to dishonorable actions that lead to pain and unhappiness. Unhappiness leads to more dishonorable thoughts. So, strive for the positive cycle. While it can be difficult to start, once it’s started, it’s easy to continue. The opportunities for expressing honor—and thus for becoming happier—are all around us. In our work-lives we express honor by always doing quality work, never leaving details unattended, working in the company’s best interest, treating customers and employees well, never working in a divisive spirit, and striving to promote harmony. In our larger lives we express honor through honest and ethical actions, being punctual, doing what we promise, holding ourselves accountable for our actions, treating others with respect, and so on. Although the list is endless, the common theme is a sense of quiet rightness. We feel quiet; at peace with our thoughts and actions. Many people look to books of laws, or religious teachings to know what is honorable, but you can almost always tell honorable actions by consulting your inner spirit. Simply ask yourself which course of action creates the least internal and external turmoil in the long run. Predictions of your mental quietude are good guides. Just as we did with the inattentive store clerk example, ask yourself if you would be more or less peaceful; happier or unhappier in the long run; more self-respecting or less; more honorable or not. If you always choose the honorable route, you are never plagued by the fear of "being discovered" and no one can ever threaten to expose your past. That brings the peace of mind essential for genuine happiness. --- * Happiness actions – the physical and mental actions that naturally and automatically create a strong sense of well-being. More
happiness actions—like honor—can be found in the award-winning
Copyright 2005 by Zelig Pliskin. All rights reserved. Reprinted with kind permission. Keep a gratitude journal. Thinking about gratitude
is wonderful. But writing down what you are grateful for in a journal will
have a much stronger effect. Seeing the items adding up on paper, gives you
an ever-increasing realization that you have much for which to be grateful.
Some find it beneficial to make a quota of at least five or ten things a day.
Whenever you want an emotional lift, take out your journal and read it. Rabbi Zelig Pliskin—one of
the foremost experts on happiness—is graciously allowing a reprint of some of
his techniques for improving happiness using gratitude. If his methods appeal
to you, please buy his book, “Thank You!” It is very reasonably priced at
only $9.99, but there’s currently a 10% online discount offer of only $8.99
from ArtScroll. “Thank You!” was ArtScroll’s best-selling
book in May 2005.
As A Man
Thinketh – Chapter Five “The
Thought-Factor in Achievement” by James
Allen All that a man achieves and all
that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a
justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total
destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man's weakness and
strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man's. They are
brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by
himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another
man's. His suffering and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks,
so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains. A strong man cannot help a
weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the
weak man must become strong of himself. He must, by his own efforts, develop
the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his
condition. It has been usual for men to
think and to say, "Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let
us hate the oppressor." Now, however, there is among an increasing few a
tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, "One man is an oppressor
because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves." The truth is that
oppressor and slave are cooperators in ignorance, and, while seeming to
afflict each other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A perfect Knowledge
perceives the action of law in the weakness of the oppressed and the
misapplied power of the oppressor. A perfect Love, seeing the suffering which
both states entail, condemns neither. A perfect Compassion embraces both
oppressor and oppressed. He who has conquered weakness,
and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor
oppressed. He is free. A man can only rise, conquer,
and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject,
and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts. Before a man can achieve
anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish
animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all
animality and selfishness, by any means; but a portion of it must, at least,
be sacrificed. A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither
think clearly nor plan methodically. He could not find and develop his latent
resources, and would fail in any undertaking. Not having commenced manfully
to control his thoughts, he is not in a position to control affairs and to
adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently and stand
alone, but he is limited only by the thoughts which he chooses. There can be no progress, no
achievement without sacrifice. A man's worldly success will be in the measure
that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the
development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self
reliance. And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the more manly, upright, and
righteous he becomes, the greater will be his success, the more blessed and
enduring will be his achievements. The universe does not favor the
greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may
sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the
virtuous. All the great Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying
forms, and to prove and know it a man has but to persist in making himself
more and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts. Intellectual achievements are
the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for the
beautiful and true in life and nature. Such achievements may be sometimes
connected with vanity and ambition but they are not the outcome of those
characteristics. They are the natural outgrowth of long an arduous effort,
and of pure and unselfish thoughts. Spiritual achievements are the
consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the conception
of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish,
will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become
wise and noble in character, and rise into a position of influence and
blessedness. Achievement, of whatever kind,
is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-control,
resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends.
By the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of
thought a man descends. A man may rise to high success
in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again
descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and
corrupt thoughts to take possession of him. Victories attained by right
thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is
assured, and rapidly fall back into failure. All achievements, whether in the
business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely
directed thought, are governed by the same law and are of the same method;
the only difference lies in the object of attainment. He who would accomplish little
must sacrifice little. He who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who
would attain highly must sacrifice greatly. In the next
issue, you’ll find chapter six – “Visions and Ideals”
New!!! Conversations
with Bernie: Health and Happiness (DVD) Noted surgeon, author, and speaker,
Dr. Bernie Siegel presents his considerable experience on happiness from his
years of working with people in difficult circumstances. This quality DVD
contains 2 half-hour happiness presentations that aired on CPTV, the Connecticut PBS station in 2004.
You can watch
a short excerpt and order here. An 11% discount is available as part of Happiness
Kit #4. Happiness:
The Highest Gift - This award-winning
audio book is the classic work on happiness
actions – the physical and mental actions that naturally and
automatically produce feelings of well-being. It is regularly called “profound.”
However, several people have
complained about this CD collection. They tell me there is so much good
information that they just couldn’t take it all in the first time they
listened. Sorry, I did warn you the CD’s were “jam-packed” with happiness
actions. (Expect to listen several times for maximum benefit.) Program
Outline and Introductory Excerpt Order
here Happy 4 Life is an easy to read
and very friendly book on practical happiness methods. Written by Professor
Emeritus Bob Nozik, M.D., it contains numerous practical happiness actions you can use to give yourself a happier
life. Read
excerpts Order here Food for
Thought
by Lionel Ketchian (founder of the Happiness Club) is really two treats in
one. On the outside, it’s literally a can of happiness—the most fun and
unique packages for a book I’ve ever seen. On the inside is a 192 page book
of Lionel’s quotations to make you think.
Read
excerpts Order
here
* Special thanks to Sid Madwed’s
website for ready access to these quotations. To
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received in error, please write to: abuse@thehappinessformula.com Home 8 Newsletters 8 Articles 8 Products 8 How I became a happiness trainer This newsletter contains the opinions of the author and is
not intended as professional advice of any kind. You
may freely distribute this newsletter, but it may not be sold. Copyright 2005 by Julian Kalmar. All rights reserved
worldwide. Live to be happy. |
