Blog by Gary van Warmerdam

TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR OWN HAPPINESS
Blog by Gary van Warmerdam
http://tinyurl.com/26k38r

"Here is the critical point to understand when it comes to controlling your
happiness. You can control your happiness to the degree that you can
control your attention in your mind.

"By controlling your attention you are able to determine the perspective
you choose. With choice over your perspective you can decide what
interpretations to make and which one you will believe. Choosing the
interpretation you make will determine your emotional outcome.

"It's popular today for people to try changing their thinking or beliefs in
order to create happiness in their life. However a prerequisite to changing
your thinking is that you first have to get control over your attention. If
you don't do this, your thinking will attempt to control your thinking. This
can become a circular loop in the mind.

"If you gain control over your attention, then happiness is easy. What
people may find challenging is that they were given no training in
controlling their attention or even what it is.

"A second critical element needed to control happiness is that you
expand your awareness. It is not enough to control your attention. You
must also be able to shift your perspective to points of view of
acceptance, love, compassion and respect. If you can control your
attention, but can't extend it into this range of love and laughter your
emotional experience of happiness will be limited. When you have a limited
number of ways of interpreting events your possibility for happiness is
limited as well . . . . "