What Could You Do Right Now To Become Happier?

Art Kunkin, Mr. Life Extension

By Art Kunkin, Mr. Life Extension

This week I read a book titled “Be Happy” and learned about an eight week Course in Happiness that has been featured on Oprah’s television show as well as two major television documentaries. Here are some valuable summarizing sentences about the Happiness Course from this book that were written by Dr. Robert Holden, director of the sponsoring Happiness Project.

“In one social study, it was found that participants who could list five or more close friends were significantly happier than those who could not. (Therefore) in the Happiness Course I invite you to make a list of the first five people who come to mind. I then encourage you to reflect on the quality of your connection with them. Which of these people would you like to connect more with? Whom could you be listening more to? Whom could you acknowledge more? Reaching out beyond your busyness, your independence and your defenses will make you happier. Happiness is in the connections we make.”

“The ‘Me Generation’ is giving way to a new ‘We Generation’ in which more of us are making more time for connection and friendship. New online social utilities like Facebook, Friends Reunited and Flickr help us to keep up with family and friends and share in each other’s lives. Through global technology we can think together, offer each other support and connect across vast distances that once appeared to separate us.”

“In a recent survey, more than 60 percent of adults claimed that their relationships were more important to them than career or money. And yet our most important relationships usually have to compete with our permanent busyness and the busyness often wins. As a result, we are less happy. This is particularly true for men.”

“Question: How could you, starting today, make all of your relationships sweeter and more loving? Identify one, two or three practical ways you could enjoy greater relationship happiness and success.

“Think about how you are being. Remember your intentions. Think about what you really want and then be what you want. In other words, if you want more love in your relationships, be more loving. If you want richer, deeper communication, be more open and more honest. Do you want to be happy or in control? Do you want to be happy or safe? Do you want to be happy or defended? Do you want to be happy or do you want to hold on to your favorite complaint about relationships? To be happy, you have to be the goal that you most want to experience.

“Think about what you are giving. The joy of commitment is that the more you give of yourself in a relationship, the better the relationship becomes. True giving is not sacrificing. On the contrary, when you decide to give of yourself in a relationship, you discover more about what you really have to offer. Through giving you become more fully engaged. Through giving yu find yourself. Through giving you grow and evolve. When you commit to giving a relationship more of your best attention and energy, it instantly feels more attractive and rewarding.

“Think about what you are receiving. Sometimes the reason a relationship wobbles is because you do not give it every opportunity to thrive and prosper. Perhaps you are too busy, too tired, too scared, too independent or too cynical for your own good. Relationships become more attractive and more wonderful when you let people in, when you open up and when you let yourself receive. So do you want to be happy or independent? Do you want to be happy or superior? Do you want to be happy or proud? The more you let yourself receive, the more gifts you will find in all your relationships.”

“The central principle of my work with The Happiness Project is called the Self Principle. This principle states that the quality of your relationship with yourself determines the quality of your relationship with everyone and everything. Who you think you are and what you think you deserve is what creates the happy or unhappy dynamics you experience in your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, God, the taxman and everyone else in the world. Your relationship to yourself is the key to how you connect with others – or not.”

We will learn more about this Course in Happiness and how it can contribute to living longer at this Thursday’s class at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. At this class I will also speak about accomplishing goals as well as review and practice the Tibetan Fountain of Youth Rituals.

This class takes place every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, 59700 29 Palms Highway, Joshua Tree, California. There will be a sign on the bulletin board giving directions to the Meditation Building where this class is held. A donation of $5 is requested but this is not required.

Art Kunkin is the 84-year young journalist who founded the alternative weekly newspaper, the Los Angeles Free Press in 1964 and later became president of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles after the passing of PRS founder Manly Palmer Hall. A free download of a magazine cover story interview with Art about his research into stopping aging is now available at www.alchemyrevealed.com. Art’s eBook, “Life Extension Alchemy: The Secret of Immortality Finally Revealed,” is also available at a reduced sale price of $9 at that website. Art is planning a Free Press Reunion in January 2013 and would like former Free press readers, staff and all others interested in the American counter-culture and life extension to contact him by email at artkunkin@gmail.com. Copyright 2012 by Art Kunkin, all rights reserved.

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