Visualizing Happiness

Hola mi gente,
If you can pleas contribute to my fundraising campaign. I want to create an independent initiative that will make it possible to amplify the voices that are often missing from the process of creating social policy. My goal is to get a significant portion of the funding from people rather than corporations or the government they own. Even 100 people contributing $25 will bring me that much closer to my goal.

I’m thinking small right now, but to paraphrase, never underestimate the power of a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to change the world. You can find out more and donate here.

Sometimes I write stuff I think might inspire others. Today I am posting this in order to remind myself as well… Maybe I need to visualize the gig that heart’s passion desires. LOL

The Happiness Cross-Training Machine

Genuine happiness is a possibility for everyone. But before I could realize that possibility I had to drop the misconception that I was that unique. Once I did that, I found out that I could be happy too! Now, ain't that some shit?!

Furthermore, I discovered that genuine happiness was not as hard as I thought it was. In fact, all it takes is 10-20 minutes a day of some simple exercises and poof! All that misery is out. This is true, for less than the time it takes you to watch some bullshit reality show, you can be happy. It is that simple. Oh yeah, I also discovered that there was a hidden part of me that would have rather died than be happy because what the fuck would I do if I were truly happy, right?! I mean, I had invested a lot of time and energy into being a miserable motherfucker, that shit ain’t easy to do, you know.

Of course, I’m exaggerating (somewhat), but believe me, there's a way, it's not hard, and it's possible. We can create (actually, we already do) the world you want. It's just a matter of understanding how the mind works and changing the current software (mind) you are using and your fears turn into self-confidence, self-loathing becomes self-appreciation, and so on.

People do this all the time, what makes you think we’re that different? Actually, those of us stuck in the shit want desperately to cling to this notion of what I have heard called “terminal uniqueness.” It's terminal because it kills. It kills as surely cancer kills. I'm serious as a heart attack (LOL! See what I did there?).

There is another world right before our eyes many of us are not even aware of and all we have to do is wake up to that possibility. I'll leave you with the following story… 

I took a yoga class once as part of an elective in my undergraduate work. The instructor was this zany New Age, energy freak type -- at least that was my impression of her. Anyway, we connected somehow and one day while looking directly at me (or at least I thought), she offered to do a mental exercise with the class. She started with stating the fact that she owned a beautiful home on the beach. She added that before she bought the home she envisioned the home in every detail.

She told us that we too can have what we want if we can envision it and proceeded to take us on a guided image meditation. First she asked us to imagine something that we wanted and to visualize in exacting detail. If it was a moment in time in the future, what kind of day is it? Is it sunny, rainy? If it's something material like a home, what color is it, where is it? What does it look like inside, the furniture, the paint on the walls? etc.

She went on like this for about 15 minutes. Most of the students were giggling, thinking the exercise stupid. Truth be told, I also thought it was dumb, but I followed her instructions to the letter. The really important part, according to the teacher, was that at the end of the visualization you had to imagine a “big, cosmic mailbox” and you were to place the vision you created during the exercise in a “big cosmic envelope” and clearly see yourself putting this envelope in that big cosmic mailbox. By now, people were laughing openly. I thought this part was really stupid, but I did it anyway.

She told us that we had to do this daily in order for it to work and she assured us that this was how she got her beautiful seaside home. She also stated that she used the gift of her home to promote the gifts that she herself received as a yoga teacher/ practitioner. After class, she stopped me and asked me if I really did the exercise and I nodded in the affirmative. She told me, “Good, do it every day because I see an energy surrounding you... ” I was taken back a little, but I felt her warmth and I nodded my head and just smiled at her.

I followed her instructions to a tee and did this visualization for some time and I 'm here to tell you that my vision came true. My vision, you ask? My vision was what my life as like 5 years later: the work that I do, my personal life -- everything. My vision, even how I dressed and smiled, and the sun shining through the window in my office, how I feel -- all of it came true.

Those that know me, know that I think that book/ video The Secret is a bunch of bullshit. It is! It's what some call a form of spiritualmaterialism. I don't really think envisioning material wealth is a very spiritual thing. After all, what happens when the beautiful home burns down? But I won't get into that today. What I want to make clear here is that I'm not saying that visualization itself is enough to create a world. Still, it's a beginning. You can achieve what you cannot envision.

For me, genuine happiness comes from not attaching it to any person, place, or thing. That was what I wanted most -- to be relieved of having my happiness depend on you. Well, not the you you, I’m using the word figuratively. I’ll use an example from my own life. Yesterday, I was turned down for two jobs. Right now I don’t have my own place to stay, I owe a ton of money, and I am under a lot of stress to get it together. All this could easily drive me to depression, or at least a major depressive episode. I am aware that all this matters -- I mean -- I can’t even pay the rent. But because my happiness is not centered on all that, I have some strength to draw from. I mean, at the very least, I’m probably the best-dressed technically homeless man in NYC (Hey! is there a contest for that?!). 

Today, I understand a little better how this works and it's all about reprogramming the mental software folks. And I’m here to remind myself and to tell you that we can create the world and life we desire. Part of my motivation is that I would like to create at least part of that world with you. We can have human justice. We can have a voice. We just have to entertain that possibility. And for less than the time it takes you to watch a reality show, you can create a whole universe. 

Now, let me go envision what I want my campaign to look like… LOL

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…