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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Secrets For A Happier Life May 8 2107

Secrets For A Happier Life: Ideas, Inspiration & Practices     Buzz Thought Build your well of happiness   Find me on         for daily “Thoughtscape” photo contemplation  Michael D Selzer DDS   I would love to hear from you.   561 487-4555   Share your happiness tips and see them in a future newsletter.   Email Link Quick Links BeJoyNow.com Boca Smile Center Happiness on YouTube Spread The Word Want to live around happier family and friends?    A book I have enjoyed Acts of Kindness   McCarty and  Mc Carty   Patient of the  month   Robert “A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. by William Arthur Ward“  Archive  4-22-2010 Happiness comes in drops 5-13-2010 Thought matches body sensations 6-3-2010 Trigger zone for happiness 6-24-2010 You can have happiness now 7-15-2010 Happiness & Sunshine 24×7 8-05-2010 Start where you are 8-26-2010 Generosity builds happiness 9-16-2010 Happiness a balance of opposites 10-07-2010 Happiness a wave of energy   10-28-2010 Happiness a wave of energy 11-18-2010 Happiness step by step 12-06-2010 Wide eyes for happiness   1-6-2011 Smiling eyes for happiness 1-27-2011 Happiness inside out 2-17-2011 Edges of happiness   3-10-2011 Polishing for happiness    3-31-2011 Gaps of happiness   4-28-2011 Decisions for happiness   5-26-2011 Pivoting for happiness   6-16-2011  Stretch for happiness   7-7-2011 Breathing for happiness   8-4-2011 Pausing for happiness    8-25-2011 Oasis for happiness   9/22/2011 Happiness says me   10-20-2-2011s Silent Smiles   11-17-2011 A story for happiness   12/15/2011 Adventure for happiness   1/12/2012 Fun for happiness   2/21/2012 Sounds for happiness   3/1/ 2012 Salad bar for happiness   4/05/2012 Stretching for happiness   5-03-2012 Starting over for happiness   5-31-2012 Ice water and steam for happiness  7-5-12 Circle back for happiness   8-2-2012 Experience vs interpretation for happiness   10-2-2012 3 seconds of balance for happiness 12-18-2012 Choice for happiness   1-24-2013 Disolving habits for happiness   4-5-2013 Vibration for happiness  4- 10-2013 Letting go for happiness   8-23-2013  Taming your habits for happiness   1-13-14  Grandmothers for happiness   2-11-14  Ice skating for happiness   2-12-2014  From nothing to happiness   3- 12-2014  Walking in the rain for happiness    5-6-2014  Stringing moments for happiness   6-12-2014  Isn’t that interesting for happiness   7-09-2014  Adventure for happiness   8-20-2014  Getting squeezed for happiness   1-20-2015 Dissecting for happiness   4-8-15  Growing happiness   6-26-2015 Creating for happiness   August 18 2016 NOW for Happiness    Cross over to sunny side May 8, 2017  Dear Michael,      “Grab your coat and grab your hat,  leave your worries on the door step Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street   I used to walk in the shade with the blues on parade No longer afraid, the rover crossed over”   “On the Sunny Side of the Street” is a 1930 song, with credited music composed by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.   Having become a jazz standard, it was played by such greats as Louis Armstrong, Ted Lewis, Dave Brubeck, Earl Hines, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, James Booker, Count Basie and Lester Young.   On the sunny side of the street goes back many years and its classic message is still popular today.  What is the sunny side of the street and how do we get there?     I invite you to keep reading below: Michael Selzer DDS Free Gift        Happiness Deja Vu Happiness Deja Vu is a web app page (no download). Enjoy many happy moments captured in original photos each intertwined with a contemplation on happiness. Impossible to view and not become happier.   Includes 12 exercises for happiness   Happiness DejaVu                   enjoy    Small Moments Of Happiness My journey and exploration into happiness started over 25 years ago.  I grew up in New York City along with my two main heroes Superman and images of riding on a flying carpet. After multiple years of school  I started a family and moved to sunny Florida.  Family and work grew and I was living the dream with a loving wife, two phenomenal kids and building a thriving dental practice.  I was running from home to the office and from stress to stress, trying to enjoy the cracks of happiness when they arrived. My plan was to obtain as much enjoyment form those activities that seemed to bring happiness along with them.  But I knew somewhere deep down there was a better way.  The images of superman and the flying carpet still floated in my head. So back to the song.  A street has two sides a glass of water a top and bottom.  We all know about the glass with water half way and whether it’s half filled or half empty.  Therefore the same fact can be seen in completely opposite viewpoints.  Is the same thing true with the sunny side of the street; is it open solely to interpretation or to your mood in the moment? And if you are on the dark side of the street, the unhappy side, the question becomes what needs to be done to cross over to the sunny side?  A puppy’s perspective                                  The answer to a few questions will start you on your happiness journey. 1: would you like to cross over to the sunny side? 2: are you willing to let go of whatever is keeping you prisoner on the darker side? 3: are you willing to practice being happy? If so then continue and read on. First imagine a walk to the middle of the street so that you can see both sides.  Give yourself the opportunity to contemplate that you could cross over but you may have some very good reasons and feel full justified in being unhappy and therefore stuck on the unhappy side. You believe that the circumstances of the moment have dropped you there. The five major categories that can keep you prisoner are 1. wanting more of something that you do not have or wanting less of what you do have; 2. being angry about something and feeling justified about it; 3. feeling restless and antsy; 4. feeling bored; and 5. doubting that you can change your view. Once you have moved to the middle of the street and have identified which category is holding you prisoner just relax and take a breath or two.  Explore your body and relax some more.  For a moment let whatever you feel to be there without trying to change anything. Next, recall the practice of building your “happiness well” (described below). Hold the thought and feelings of your happiness well in mind along with the thoughts and feelings of being in prison.  Try to equally balance the intensity of both sides; the happiness well and the prisoner.  Hold both in mind at the same time. You can practice balancing two thoughts for this with a simple exercise.  Close your eyes and touch your right thumb and index finger together. Get a sense of what that feels like. Now release those fingers and touch your left thumb and index finger together.  Get a sense of how that feels.  Now feel both sides touching at the same time.  It may feel a bit like balancing when riding a bicycle. It is interesting that you may find with this exercise that the circumstances do not change but your interpretation or need to hold on to the unhappiness dissolves away seemingly all by itself. Actions                                                                   The happiness well is something you make yourself at home.  Take you favorite cup and place it in a safe place where you can see it and leave undisturbed for a week.  Take a piece of paper and a pen.  Cut strips of paper about one half inch wide and leave the paper and the pen next to the cup.  Each day for a week write down one of the happy moments of the day and place that paper into the cup. At the end of the week you have a cup filled with happiness.  Most of the memories will have faded but you can read through them and let the happiness soak back in. As you happiness well gets deeper and happier it will be easy to recall and balance against the unhappy side.  Feel free to add more happiness to you well. This may be the answer to the ageold question of, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”  Now you know it was to get to the sunny side of the street.  So cross over don’t be chicken.  And remember when you eat breakfast the happiest eggs you can eat are sunny side up.

Secrets For A Happier Life August 18 2016

Secrets For A Happier Life: Ideas, Inspiration & Practices

Buzz Thought Relax Breathe Clear   Find me on         for daily “Thoughtscape” photo contemplation  Michael D Selzer DDS   I would love to hear from you.   561 487-4555   Share your happiness tips and see them in a future newsletter.   Email Link IJKL High Holiday Experience! Rabbi Akiva Mann Continued below Quick Links BeJoyNow.com Boca Smile Center Happiness on YouTube Spread The Word Want to live around happier family and friends?    A book I have enjoyed Gonzo  Judaism   by    Niles  Goldstein    Smile of the  week Uncle Harold “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” Mary Oliver  Archive  4-22-2010 Happiness comes in drops 5-13-2010 Thought matches body sensations 6-3-2010 Trigger zone for happiness 6-24-2010 You can have happiness now 7-15-2010 Happiness & Sunshine 24×7 8-05-2010 Start where you are 8-26-2010 Generosity builds happiness 9-16-2010 Happiness a balance of opposites 10-07-2010 Happiness a wave of energy   10-28-2010 Happiness a wave of energy 11-18-2010 Happiness step by step 12-06-2010 Wide eyes for happiness   1-6-2011 Smiling eyes for happiness 1-27-2011 Happiness inside out 2-17-2011 Edges of happiness   3-10-2011 Polishing for happiness    3-31-2011 Gaps of happiness   4-28-2011 Decisions for happiness   5-26-2011 Pivoting for happiness   6-16-2011  Stretch for happiness   7-7-2011 Breathing for happiness   8-4-2011 Pausing for happiness    8-25-2011 Oasis for happiness   9/22/2011 Happiness says me   10-20-2-2011s Silent Smiles   11-17-2011 A story for happiness   12/15/2011 Adventure for happiness   1/12/2012 Fun for happiness   2/21/2012 Sounds for happiness   3/1/ 2012 Salad bar for happiness   4/05/2012 Stretching for happiness   5-03-2012 Starting over for happiness   5-31-2012 Ice water and steam for happiness  7-5-12 Circle back for happiness   8-2-2012 Experience vs interpretation for happiness   10-2-2012 3 seconds of balance for happiness 12-18-2012 Choice for happiness   1-24-2013 Disolving habits for happiness   4-5-2013 Vibration for happiness  4- 10-2013 Letting go for happiness   8-23-2013  Taming your habits for happiness   1-13-14  Grandmothers for happiness   2-11-14  Ice skating for happiness   2-12-2014  From nothing to happiness   3- 12-2014  Walking in the rain for happiness    5-6-2014  Stringing moments for happiness   6-12-2014  Isn’t that interesting for happiness   7-09-2014  Adventure for happiness   8-20-2014  Getting squeezed for happiness   1-20-2015 Dissecting for happiness   4-8-15  Growing happiness   6-26-2015 Creating for happiness Watch what you do  August 18, 2016  Dear Michael,    Standing with skis on at the top of a multi diamond run. Walking out of the tunnel into a stadium in the middle of a game. Looking out from the top of a mountain after a long climb.   Moments that take your breath away and invite you to breathe in both a deep breath of fresh air along with a full inspiration of the beauty all around you.     Last months newsletter One Minute For Happiness* reviewed relaxing into five one minute moments to allow accumulated stress to drop away. This newsletter refines, deepens and expands these moments into a stress free flowing day.    I invite you to continue reading below Michael Selzer DDS Small Moments Of Happiness How to do this: The technique has three steps which are done for each of the same five repetitive activities of your daily schedule. Such as brushing your teeth, preparing a cup of coffee, tea or juice, washing your dishes, starting your car, answering the telephone, opening a door, etc. Select any five repetitive activities you do each day. For the first 15 to 60 seconds of each one each day do the three steps outlined below. 1. Relax 2. Breathe 3. Clear Relax — right at the start of the activity or as soon as you remember, just relax. Soften your stance , slow down and settle for an instant into the moment. You might look up and notice and acknowledge where you are. Breathe — draw in a slow deep breath holding your breath in for an instant and breathe out slowly. Clear — your mind of any thoughts other than the details of the activity that you are doing. Focus all of your attention on the physical movements you are making and the physical sensations you are feeling.  A puppy’s perspective                                  For example if the the activity is opening a door as you reach for the door knob or as you touch the door knob relax slightly. Relax just enough to become aware of a change or shift in your body’s  sense of muscle tone. Next place attention on a slow deep breath in and out along with the bodily sensation of breathing.     And third clear your mind of any thoughts other that what it feels like to be opening the door. Reaching, touching the knob, turning your hand, pushing the door, lifting your foot, moving forward as the door opens, etc. For a few seconds allow all thoughts of past and future, gains and loses, right and wrong, memories and plans etc to drop away. Just the effort of concentration on the details of what you are doing will allow you to drop the stickiness you have to dropping those other lingering thoughts. You will most likely notice, for a moment, that you have a choice to either relax as you continue with whatever the activity is that you are doing or to push ahead just as you were before the beginning of this exercise. However, the longer you hold onto the relaxation and continue with the activity the more the softening into the moment resonates.  As the echo of this resonant ease reverberates and grows you will find more and more activities become easier to accomplish.  Your daily stress level will drop and you will start to have more stress free flowing moments to enjoy. *The previous newsletter reviewed a random noticing of five moments scattered during the day. When the same five activities are used each day the practice and its benefits deepens. Feel free to add additional random moments as they arise. Actions                                                                   The five 1 minute happiness breaks can be expanded with proportionate benefits up to and including a once a year celebration of happiness.   In the Jewish Tradition, as I interpret it, this is the High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  This is a time of extended focus of introspection and connection to our deepest self and extending further through others, community and into the mysterious beyond. About  10 years ago I was fortunate to be invited to join a group of students studying with Rabbi Akiva Mann.  A quick summary of this teaching, for me, has led me to be able to appreciate the seamless connection between the moment within the hour, the wave within the ocean and the spirit within everything.  That is to relax and soften into contact with more and more happy minutes.  And also to appreciate more of the diversity that surrounds us and to interconnect with it. This year Rabbi Akiva will be leading High Holiday Services in Boca Raton.  He has assembled many decades of understanding that has melded into an ability to share his insights and teachings as a multidimensional experience of warmth and happiness, insight and understanding. Rabbi Akiva and our community at IJKL invite you to join us for High Holiday Services.  If you have attended High Holiday Services before and wished you could have become more connected, more engaged and with more enjoyment this is the place to be for this years Service. Start by selecting one minute for happiness five times a day and prepare for a High Holiday Service to open the Gate beyond Gates.  For additional information visit the IJKL website                         Link to IJKL web site                   IJKL High Holiday Experience!   Rabbi Akiva is IJKL’s founder and director.  He is an inspired leader and spiritual innovator. He is recognized as a stimulating educator, lecturer and Judaic scholar.  Rabbi Akiva is well known for his ability to distill the vastness of Jewish wisdom – both mystical and traditional, into comprehensible and penetrating concepts. His teachings are appreciated for their intellectual, spiritual and emotional power.                      Link to IJKL web site               IJKL High Holiday Experience! ———————————————————— ———————————————————— PS I would like to send you a happiness gift from http://www.Blurb.com. It is a complementary copy of my new ebook                                  Happiness Deja Vu Link It is fun, creates happiness and is challenging. I hope you enjoy it and know you will be successful. Please contact me if you have any questions, comments or difficulty opening the ebook. Happiness Deja Vu 14 Day Happiness Challenge illustrates 14 daily experiential inspirational picture sparks allowing a return to happiness and joy again and again. With Happiness Deja Vu the duration of each experiential mindful moment of joy increases as the time between them decreases. With practice this refreshing hum of happiness becomes palpable. Also, includes a Happiness Challenge. All photos and inspirational sayings are original. The link below should go directly to the webpage for a complementary preview of the ebook. If you would like me to send you a complementary copy of Happiness Deja Vu  14 Day Challenge to download simply reply to this email and I will send it.                        Happiness Deja Vu Link