Secrets for Happier Life 4-22-2010

 

Secrets For A Happier Life: Ideas, Inspiration & Practices Quick Links   YouTube Visual Musical Secret    Joy Coaching     Boca Smile Center             I would love to hear from you      Share your happiness tips and see them in a future newsletter                                             Email Link                           (561)487-4555      Spread The Word Want to live around happier family and friends?    Smile of the Week        “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory”    Albert Schweitzer Be Happy Now April 22, 2010 Dear Michael,        Welcome to Secrets For A Happier Life.    Like rain dripping into and filling a bucket, your life can become happier one drop at a time. For over 25 years I have gathered thoughts and experimented with practices related to increasing joy.  I am happy to share them with you.    Yogi Berra is reported to have said, “It’s like deja vu, all over again.”  Was he talking about our lives and how we  seem to be on a merry-go-round bumping into the same problems over and over again?  What does it take to step off into a new direction?   If he were asked how many psychologists it takes to change a light bulb Yogi might have answered, “only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change.”  Are you ready?  How is your light? Your happiness?   Right now what can you do to add another drop of happiness to your life?  Remember, happiness is a road you travel along, not a destination.  I invite you to begin with Small Moments of Happiness and Quick Changes below.    Yours truly,     Michael Selzer DDS   Small Moments Of Happiness   Notice that when you laugh you are happy. Notice especially that when you are laughing your whole body is moving. It’s in motion. You have stopped thinking, have let go and relaxed and allowed your body to move and shake. You are happy for at least that moment. And then like the ripples settling down in a pond the waves and motions of laughter settle back to our routine level of being. The trick to being happy is to have more small moments of happiness and then let the natural brain chemistry learn to stimulate this happy response more and more often.   Quick Changes   Right now recall a moment when you were happy. Expand the image of that or the sense of that moment of happiness. Make it big and bigger in your minds eye. Put it on a TV screen, a movie screen, an I-max screen.                                                                        Or, you can also pretend. That’s right, merely make up a good thought. It works just as well. The brain does not differentiate between real and pretend. It just registers a path for each thought. As you have more happy thoughts the path gets deeper and easier to access and reverberate with other thoughts. That’s it. Hold onto the awareness of happiness and let it soak into your body down into your finger tips and toes.    The trick is to continually just let go of unwanted thoughts and replace them with happier ones. Gradually the groove of happy thoughts becomes the routine.   Do this practice 3 to 6 times a day or whenever you realize that you are not as happy as you would chose to be. Allow the groove of happiness in the brain’s chemistry to get deeper and deeper.   Happiness: A Puppy’s Perspective   Or just take a puppy to the beach 1. More drops fill your bucket faster.  Every hour think ten happy thoughts.  They can be real or pretend.  The groove in the brain will get deeper either way.  For those old enough to remember that may be where, “it’s groovy” comes from.   2. When an unhappy thought comes up, immediately think the opposite.  Turn it into an opportunity to experience a happy thought when you most need it.  Again, its okay to pretend.   3. Before you fall asleep at night review happy thoughts.  Form an intention to continue filling your bucket with happy thoughts tomorrow.  As you sleep the brain continues to process the last conscious thoughts you have.   Upcoming topics in future newsletters *More on how to train your brain *How awareness to body sensations deepens happiness *How to enhance the good moments of each day

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Ice Cream and Potato Chips & Happiness 9-1-20

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TUESDAY  September 22  at  7:00 pm   ZOOM WORKSHOP Meditation Contemplation    Juggling Thoughts and Catching Happiness     let go and be happy

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JUGGLING THOUGHTS and CATCHING HAPPINESS   You cannot step in the same river twice. Everything is in continual motion. If everything is changing (impermanent) then it can only be seen that way against a background that  is eternally unchanging. It is the other end of the stick. The other side of the coin.  While riding in a car the person next to you does not appear to be moving.  To a bystander on the side of the road you are whizzing by. Let’s call consciousness or awareness the eternally unchanging background.  It is always there whenever you notice it.  Whatever you become aware of as sounds, sights, thoughts, sensations etc. plays on the screen of your “mind” as your awareness. Then what or who am I? Am I the unchanging or am I a finite mind/body? A hard drive of one “computer” or the entire cloud? Am I the awareness of consciousness that one mind/body can perceive or the entire consciousness as it flows like electricity through one computer? Tiny bursts of electricity forms into images on a screen by being merely a pulsating sequence of switches either being on or off. This is similar to vibration creating the illusion of reality like the circle of light that appears to form when a lit cigarette is twirled around in a dark room. Like the twirling cigarette if I rethink the same thought over and over again does it make that thought more real?     Anyway, ask yourself, “Who is watching that twirling thought?”   Take a moment  Sit quietly Slowly breathe in and hold your breath for a moment Slowly, even more slowly breathe out   Continue and when you feel the vibration of thought settle in your mind and body imagine dropping a small pebble of a thought into the stillness.  The pebble of thought is the question,   “WHO AM I”   (repeat as you continue to watch the flowing breath)       If you like do not try to answer the question but to just allow the vibrating ripples of it flow outward into your awareness.     The answer may be many, many miles away; happiness is the journey to enjoy along the way.

ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS MOMENT …RIGHT NOW?   Are you as happy as you would like to be?   Are you as happy as you can be?    I invite you to join me for a series of  complimentary video conferences on Zoom exploring:   Mindfulness of Mind & Body – A Path to Abundant Happiness   September 22 at 7:00 on ZOOM       ZOOM requires a password 111222 Zoom meeting 994-080-4617

PREVIOUS BLOG RELATED TO MEDITATION WORKSHOP THE SPIDER WEB OF MIND BODY AWARENESS Imagine you are engaged in watching a program on your television or computer screen. After some time you become aware of a thought or feeling that you had planned to finish off the last of the Cherry-Garcia ice cream, fried chicken or baked tofu. Can you tell whether it was a thought about the food or a sensation somewhere within your body that was the first reminder of the stirring within your awareness? What came first, the thought, “ice cream” or the beginning of that slight gnawing hunger for something to eat? Did they both arise at the same time? Are they connected together? Do all thoughts have a connected bodily sensation? And most importantly do all bodily sensations have a concurrent thought? We are living through a trying distracting time period.  Like moths we are pulled toward watching sad news over and over again. However as doors of our routine happier life are closing others doors are opening.  Remember the closest exit from worries and anxiety may be right behind you.  I invite you to turn around and open the door of mindfulness.  Right now let’s begin to explore glimpses of joy along the path of windows, mirrors and tunnels. Mindfulness lets you know what you are doing, feeling and thinking. Then you can decide where you want to put your attention. We will begin with my favorite ice cream. Cherry Garcia mint chip maple walnut or even vanilla chocolate or strawberry.  Recall as a kid an ice cream memory.  Mine was a trip to the bakery in Bellerose Queens in NYC.  I can picture it and taste it right now.  Right now take 5 seconds.  Focus your memory of ice cream in your mind’s eye. That’s the window of windows, mirrors and tunnels. Next imagine looking at the moment of the memory and see yourself in a mirror. I see myself inside the bakery with my hand reaching into the ice cream freezer; clear as day 64 years ago.  That’s the mirror. Next expand the action as though you are watching yourself in the mirror. What happened before and after the image in the mirror. Describe the action of multiple images of memory. I walked down the street and around the corner. Crossed over Union Turnpike past the candy store and the A & P market and went into the Bellerose Bakery. I reached into the freezer and took out a rectangular container of vanilla chocolate and butter pecan ice cream. The container was about the size of a large Philadelphia Cream Cheese and cost 35 cents. At home my dad cut the block of  ice cream into four portions and my best dog in the world Brownie got to lick the container clean. That was the tunnel. With mindfulness you can feel the warmth in your heart inside the tunnel. Can you build this glimpse of joy with mindfulness? Are you ready?  Would you rather hold onto a burning hot coal of worry and anxiety or just drop it? Of course, you would rather be happy or at the very least be less sad. Mindfulness will allow you to place your attention in the direction of your choice.  You will become able to build up and charge your battery of joy and embrace all of life. Join me for a free video conference on mindfulness. Learn to navigate your windows and mirrors as you tunnel  your way into glimpses of greater joy. Open this door now. Email Mike Selzer for available video conference scheduling. For conference scheduling email to:  Mida47@aol.com www.heartandhappiness.com We all respond to body sensations. Touch a stove that is too hot and your hand seems to jerk away as if it had its own brain. We jump away from a sudden loud sound and without thinking look toward a flashing light. Recall a hike along a mountain trail to the top and feel the inspiration when your body takes a deep cleansing breath while looking out from the highest point. Imagine the thrilling sensation of living inland and then seeing the ocean for the first time. When we remember that a coin has two sides we tend to forget that it must also have a middle. We live in the middle of our sensation side and our thought side. And sometimes we are so intently focused on one side we completely forget the other. However threads of connection are always sending messages up and back between these two modes of our being aware. Touch a spider web on one side and the other side moves as well. The entire web like jello jiggles as one. Picture a spider web representing your mind body awareness. Awareness of thoughts is on one side of the web and awareness of body sensation is on the other side. Pluck a thought, “ice cream” and notice a sensation welling up towards the back of your tongue. Or possibly right now think about a lemon and then notice the sudden increase of saliva in your mouth. It goes equally as well in the other direction. Go to the gym for a good workout and as you step out of the door back into the fresh air your mind and thoughts feel fresh and more alive. We easily notice the extremes as we tend to forget the middle. Until some thought or sensation raises up with enough energy to attract our attention it seems to be non-existent. The energy builds up and by the time we notice it our response is to over react. We get so hungry before we get up we end up eating half a bag of chips followed by the ice cream we had been thinking about. Join me for a free video conference on mindfulness. Learn to navigate your windows and mirrors as you tunnel  your way into glimpses of greater joy. Open this door now. I am proposing that there is a connection between thoughts and sensations. And that you can use this to foretell your own future. Email Mike Selzer for available video conference scheduling. Mida47@aol.com www.heartandhappiness.com ***************************************************************************** We are all familiar with earth and space gravity.  Everything pulls and attracts everything else towards it.  The earth is so large in size compared to all of the objects we come in contact with that everything seems to fall toward the earth.  Spiritual gravity is similar in that everything is pulled or attracted to the center of the Heart of the Universe.        SPIRITUAL GRAVITY a blog                 CLICK HERE for  8-9-17  Mountains Lakes and Happiness                  CLICK HERW for 9-6-2017  Lemons Goldilocks and Happiness                 CLICK HERE For 10-4-17 Smile Workout for Happiness                Click Here for  11-2-2017  Turning Inside Out For Happiness                   CLICK HERE FOR 2-18-2018   MEDITATION PENICILLIN   Alladin’s Closet House world 3-28-18    Wanting 6-18-2018   Potato Chips and Ice Cream 6-21-2018   Let Go And Be July 20 2018   Your Breath is more than air 8-30-2018   Flowing Zone 9-26-2018 Finding You 11-2018 Air That I Breath 12-27-2018   Habits Karma Meditation & Mindfulness  1-16-2019   There Is No Traffic Running Through Your Bedroom 2-6-2019   Parachuting Your Higher Self 3-15-2019   Karma Yoga Try It On April 2019   Karma Yoga Try It On May 2019   Open Free Dropping Sticky Mind July 2019   Stop Listen Look 8-16-2019 Active Meditation 9-5-2019 Drop Thoughts Into Well of Happiness 9-20-2019 Mirrors of ME October 20 2019 Happiness In 17 Seconds 12-20-2019   Flying Into The Joy Of Wonder 2-10-2020   Rock On 2-20-2020   Zoom Mindful Happiness Update 4-14-20 Easy As I 2 3 4-21-2020 Rain Splashing Drops Of Joy 6-2-20 An Oasis OF Happiness 7-21-2020 Spontaneous Happiness Aug 25 2020 Click Here for archive of newsletters 2010-2017

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Spontaneous Happiness Secrets For A Happier Life August 25 2020

ZOOM requires a password 838526   Zoom meeting 994-080-4617    August 25 at 7:00 pm   TUESDAY  August 25  at  7:00 pm   ZOOM WORKSHOP Meditation Contemplation    Spontaneous Happiness     let go and be happy   Visit Our Website Every now and then in formal mediation or not a felt sense of interconnected flow passes through my body accompanied by a peaceful still mind state. I realize that even though I had been feeling calm this is a deeper level of being. It feels like I was on a vibrating bed and had become so accustomed to it that I became unaware of the vibration and then it stopped.  The awareness begins with a smooth knowing that I have just become more settled and integrated into this moment of being. My life which had been fine is now more alive and then it passes as I start to ponder the feeling rather than just living within it. I took a deep fulfilling breath, smiled appreciatively and then went back to what I was doing.  *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Free will gives us the ability to focus attention at the still point which lives at the very center of our Universe or anywhere else where the movement of our mind has taken us to.  And to know the difference. Although it is certainly possible to live at the still point in the midst of activity and flowing thoughts it requires practice.  To find the still point it is easier to begin by sitting still and limiting thoughts.  The body, mind soul is like a spider web that when touched vibrates from one end to the other including the spider. Touching the still point always begins in the moment of, right now. Sit still and be still for one breath in and out. As you are watching the breath and feeling the air flowing in and then out think only of the breath. On the next few breaths relax into yourself. As you remain sitting still watching your breath flowing in and out release the sensation of internal muscle tension without moving.  Soften the muscles of your arms, legs and back internally without moving. Think of ice cream softening within itself as it warms up before it starts to melt. Imagine a bowl of meditation to just like one of ice cream.   Enjoy every breath full.                                ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS MOMENT …RIGHT NOW?   Are you as happy as you would like to be?   Are you as happy as you can be?    I invite you to join me for a series of  complimentary video conferences on Zoom exploring:   Mindfulness of Mind & Body – A Path to Abundant Happiness   August 25 at 7:00 on ZOOM       ZOOM requires a password 838526 Zoom meeting 994-080-4617 PREVIOUS BLOG RELATED TO MEDITATION WORKSHOP THE SPIDER WEB OF MIND BODY AWARENESS Imagine you are engaged in watching a program on your television or computer screen. After some time you become aware of a thought or feeling that you had planned to finish off the last of the Cherry-Garcia ice cream, fried chicken or baked tofu. Can you tell whether it was a thought about the food or a sensation somewhere within your body that was the first reminder of the stirring within your awareness? What came first, the thought, “ice cream” or the beginning of that slight gnawing hunger for something to eat? Did they both arise at the same time? Are they connected together? Do all thoughts have a connected bodily sensation? And most importantly do all bodily sensations have a concurrent thought? We are living through a trying distracting time period.  Like moths we are pulled toward watching sad news over and over again. However as doors of our routine happier life are closing others doors are opening.  Remember the closest exit from worries and anxiety may be right behind you.  I invite you to turn around and open the door of mindfulness.  Right now let’s begin to explore glimpses of joy along the path of windows, mirrors and tunnels. Mindfulness lets you know what you are doing, feeling and thinking. Then you can decide where you want to put your attention. We will begin with my favorite ice cream. Cherry Garcia mint chip maple walnut or even vanilla chocolate or strawberry.  Recall as a kid an ice cream memory.  Mine was a trip to the bakery in Bellerose Queens in NYC.  I can picture it and taste it right now.  Right now take 5 seconds.  Focus your memory of ice cream in your mind’s eye. That’s the window of windows, mirrors and tunnels. Next imagine looking at the moment of the memory and see yourself in a mirror. I see myself inside the bakery with my hand reaching into the ice cream freezer; clear as day 64 years ago.  That’s the mirror. Next expand the action as though you are watching yourself in the mirror. What happened before and after the image in the mirror. Describe the action of multiple images of memory. I walked down the street and around the corner. Crossed over Union Turnpike past the candy store and the A & P market and went into the Bellerose Bakery. I reached into the freezer and took out a rectangular container of vanilla chocolate and butter pecan ice cream. The container was about the size of a large Philadelphia Cream Cheese and cost 35 cents. At home my dad cut the block of  ice cream into four portions and my best dog in the world Brownie got to lick the container clean. That was the tunnel. With mindfulness you can feel the warmth in your heart inside the tunnel. Can you build this glimpse of joy with mindfulness? Are you ready?  Would you rather hold onto a burning hot coal of worry and anxiety or just drop it? Of course, you would rather be happy or at the very least be less sad. Mindfulness will allow you to place your attention in the direction of your choice.  You will become able to build up and charge your battery of joy and embrace all of life. Join me for a free video conference on mindfulness. Learn to navigate your windows and mirrors as you tunnel  your way into glimpses of greater joy. Open this door now. Email Mike Selzer for available video conference scheduling. For conference scheduling email to:  Mida47@aol.com www.heartandhappiness.com We all respond to body sensations. Touch a stove that is too hot and your hand seems to jerk away as if it had its own brain. We jump away from a sudden loud sound and without thinking look toward a flashing light. Recall a hike along a mountain trail to the top and feel the inspiration when your body takes a deep cleansing breath while looking out from the highest point. Imagine the thrilling sensation of living inland and then seeing the ocean for the first time. When we remember that a coin has two sides we tend to forget that it must also have a middle. We live in the middle of our sensation side and our thought side. And sometimes we are so intently focused on one side we completely forget the other. However threads of connection are always sending messages up and back between these two modes of our being aware. Touch a spider web on one side and the other side moves as well. The entire web like jello jiggles as one. Picture a spider web representing your mind body awareness. Awareness of thoughts is on one side of the web and awareness of body sensation is on the other side. Pluck a thought, “ice cream” and notice a sensation welling up towards the back of your tongue. Or possibly right now think about a lemon and then notice the sudden increase of saliva in your mouth. It goes equally as well in the other direction. Go to the gym for a good workout and as you step out of the door back into the fresh air your mind and thoughts feel fresh and more alive. We easily notice the extremes as we tend to forget the middle. Until some thought or sensation raises up with enough energy to attract our attention it seems to be non-existent. The energy builds up and by the time we notice it our response is to over react. We get so hungry before we get up we end up eating half a bag of chips followed by the ice cream we had been thinking about. Join me for a free video conference on mindfulness. Learn to navigate your windows and mirrors as you tunnel  your way into glimpses of greater joy. Open this door now. I am proposing that there is a connection between thoughts and sensations. And that you can use this to foretell your own future. Email Mike Selzer for available video conference scheduling. Mida47@aol.com www.heartandhappiness.com ***************************************************************************** We are all familiar with earth and space gravity.  Everything pulls and attracts everything else towards it.  The earth is so large in size compared to all of the objects we come in contact with that everything seems to fall toward the earth.  Spiritual gravity is similar in that everything is pulled or attracted to the center of the Heart of the Universe.        SPIRITUAL GRAVITY a blog                 CLICK HERE for  8-9-17  Mountains Lakes and Happiness                  CLICK HERW for 9-6-2017  Lemons Goldilocks and Happiness                 CLICK HERE For 10-4-17 Smile Workout for Happiness                Click Here for  11-2-2017  Turning Inside Out For Happiness                   CLICK HERE FOR 2-18-2018   MEDITATION PENICILLIN   Alladin’s Closet House world 3-28-18    Wanting 6-18-2018   Potato Chips and Ice Cream 6-21-2018   Let Go And Be July 20 2018   Your Breath is more than air 8-30-2018   Flowing Zone 9-26-2018 Finding You 11-2018 Air That I Breath 12-27-2018   Habits Karma Meditation & Mindfulness  1-16-2019   There Is No Traffic Running Through Your Bedroom 2-6-2019   Parachuting Your Higher Self 3-15-2019   Karma Yoga Try It On April 2019   Karma Yoga Try It On May 2019   Open Free Dropping Sticky Mind July 2019   Stop Listen Look 8-16-2019 Active Meditation 9-5-2019 Drop Thoughts Into Well of Happiness 9-20-2019 Mirrors of ME October 20 2019 Happiness In 17 Seconds 12-20-2019   Flying Into The Joy Of Wonder 2-10-2020   Rock On 2-20-2020   Zoom Mindful Happiness Update 4-14-20 Easy As I 2 3 4-21-2020 Rain Splashing Drops Of Joy 6-2-20 An Oasis OF Happiness 7-21-2020 Click Here for archive of newsletters 2010-2017 Announcing SPIRITUAL GRAVITY a blog Spirituality Happiness Joy Wonder Deconstructed VISIT SPIRITUAL GRAVITY CLICK HERE Place article copy here. Be sure to make the articles short and concise as people tend not to read much more than a couple of paragraphs. Place article copy here.

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