Things that are very simple aren’ t worth much.”
Dr . David R. Hawkins, fr om  Letting Go
The grea t sages ur ge us to question everything. Through quest ioning, we
can discover our limiting beliefs  that are covering up the truth ab out us and
the truth behind the world. “Nothing you believe is true. Knowing this is freedom.”
Byr on Katie
W e have stockpiled beliefs in our subconscious since we were a small child
and were able to  comprehend something of what was being com municated
to us by adults. Beliefs are formed when we accept a particular thought as
true, whether that’ s something w e’ve read or heard on televisio n, or when
we a ccept an id ea that others have told us. One way or another , all of our
beliefs have come from others, whether from parents, family , friends,
teachers, or society . In the moment we believe what someone else tells us,
bingo, in to the subconscious goes the belief, where it will play out in our
life! For example, if a person beli eves, “I have trouble losing w eight and
keeping it of f,” that belief will prevent weight from staying of f no matter
what the person does.Over time, beliefs become more  entrenched in the subconscious as we add
more an d more thoughts to them, like: “It must be my metab olism that
makes it so dif fi cult for me to lose weight.” “I’ve tried heaps of  diets, but I
can’ t see m to keep the weight o f f.” “It takes me ages to lose the weight,
and in no time I put it back on.” “Being overweight runs in my family .”
“The subconscious mind is running us—making us the victims of habit.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
The great news is that because beliefs are simply made up of flimsy
thoughts, they can be eradicate d quite easily once you becom e aware of
them. While beliefs remain sto red in the subconscious mind, they will
automatically c ontinue to play out in your life. But the moment you
become truly aware of one of y our beliefs, the belief is disma ntled. Just
like when all ne gative feelings are released, when all subconscious beliefs
become conscious, the result is t hat you permanently remain as A wareness. Actually , when you eradicate one, you simultaneously eradicate the other . I
take a double-pronged approach, and release both beliefs an d negative
feelings whenever they appear . Exposing your limiting beliefs takes you rapidly to lasting happiness and
complete freedom. In the process, your worldly life dramatically improves
in each and every area, because it’ s no longer limited by beliefs . If there’ s
something you think you can’ t be, do, or have, that’ s a limiting belief. Imagine your life without any limitations! Dissolving Beliefs
Y ou dissolve beliefs with A wareness—by becoming consciously aware of
them. Th e moment you are awar e  a belief  is not true, most of it c ollapses
and dissolves. If you continue to bring the belief up into your thinking
mind, reminding yourself that it’ s just a belief and isn’ t true, under that
scrutiny the rest of the belief will totally dissolve. This is the infinite power
of A wareness. It ca n be a bit tricky to spot your beliefs, for the very reason that you
believe they’re the truth rather than a belief! However , once you become
aware o f a belief the dissolution  begins, and what’ s left of the belief will
collapse through the continued awareness of it. Y ou can  even reach a point where you can’ t remember what you used to
believe, because the belief has truly vanished. Beliefs and memories both
consist o f thoug ht, and they’re stored in our subconscious mi nd, so if a
belief is erased, all the thoughts attached to the belief will also be gone,
including the thoughts making up the memory of it. “Surrender everything you believe. Y ou have to, sooner or later . Y ou
cannot take your belief systems with you when you pass away so why not
surrender them now? Surrende r your beliefs from moment to moment.Discover the joy of living without attachment to any belief system. The
attachment to beliefs such as, ‘H appiness requires ef fort’ or ‘It is necessary
to suf fer in order to be happy’ is very deep.”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
Every belief you become aware  of and consequently dissolve will propel
your life to heights of freedom , abundance, lightness, and joy you never
could have imagined. T ake those beliefs out, one by one, and set yourself
free! A wareness doesn’ t have any beliefs because A wareness knows
everything. “In fact, belief systems are nothing. They are quite easy to let go of. They
are just paper ti gers! It is better  to let them go right now and live happily
forever after .”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
Y ou can give the subconscious mind an instruction to highlight your beliefs
for you, so you can becom e more aware of them. Ins truct your
subconscious wi th words like these: “Show me my beliefs clearly one by
one, so I become aware of each  and every one of them.” Then stay very
aware so you notice them when they appear . Be very aware w hen you hear yourself say , “I believe” or “I don ’ t believe,”
because immediately following those words is a belief. Be v ery aware
when yo u hear yourself say , “I think” or “I don’ t think,” bec ause most
likely what will follow that will also reveal a belief. When you see that a belief is really just a mental story that you’ve bought
into, the  belief not only dissolves but also takes with it the thousands upon
thousands of thoughts attached  to that belief—all of which have been
buried in the su bconscious min d. Beliefs are not only made of thought,
they constantly draw to themselves new thoughts that support the belief,
and they will k eep accumulati ng thoughts for as long as we retain the
belief. A belief  can be held for years, d ecades, or a lifetime, which exp lains why ,
with tho usands of thoughts attached to one belief, so many of us  feel heavy
and burdened. W e don’ t realize that it’ s our beliefs that make our life so
heavy , and make us feel older , and that it’ s our beliefs that hold us back
from having the life we deserv e. Just imagine, for example, how many
thoughts you would have attach ed to the belief that you are ju st a person
separate from everyone else. N ow imagine the enormous sense of relief,
lightness, and spaciousness y ou would feel when a belief  that size
dissolves. Y ou will know the feeling for yourself when you experience it! “Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”
Rumi
Reactions: Beliefs in Disguise“Reactions are unconscious beliefs.”
Peter Dziuban, fr om  Simply Notice audiobook
Another way to expose beliefs is through becoming aware of your
reactions. When we react to something, it’ s because we hav e a belief
buried w ithin us  that caused the  reaction. Reactions are actually beliefs in
disguise. For example: W e recei ve our electricity bill, which is much lar ger
than we expected. W e react neg atively . The belief that caused the reaction
is a beli ef in a l ack of money , b ut like all beliefs, it’ s only true in our life
because  we believe it. All y ou have to do when you notice yourself reacting is becom e aware of
the r eaction. When you’re aware  of the reaction, you take the power out of
it becau se your A wareness is the power that dissolves ev ery bit of
negativity and disharmony . “When you react you’re identifying; when you react you’re making
something personal. Instead, just notice the reaction.”
My teacher
Remember that it’ s the mind that reacts to things, not you. It’ s the mind
that identifies with things and makes things personal, because it’ s coming
from the perspective of a person. When you become aware of your
reactions—by just noticing them  in the moment—you not only take the
power out of your mind to react, you also expose the belief tha t is hiding
underneath the reaction, and once exposed it will dissolve. “If there ’ s a behavior , tendency or habit you wish to be free of, notice there
is al ready a natural awareness of it. If you really see this, if you  observe it
with detachmen t, you will ins tantly feel out of its grip and free from
further identifying with it. This is very significant.”
Mooji
A wareness disso lves everything that is not true. As each belief  dissolves,
one by one, you  will feel the dif ference in your body; you will feel lighter . Y ou wil l feel the dif ference in your mental health; you will fe el happier . Y ou will see th e dif ference in your life; your life will bec ome truly
ef fortless and miraculous. Whatever you need, whatever you want, will
seem to just fall into your hands. I wo uld like to share another part of the amazing Lester Leven son’ s story . If yo u re call, Le ster became enlightened in three months and at the same
time cured his b ody of multiple diseases. Before this, Lester had  developed
severe heart problems at just forty years old, and was given a death
sentence by his doctor . The doctor said that Lester could die an y day , and
there wa s nothing they could do . Lester went home, and for the first few
days wa s terrifie d of dying. The n he decided that if he was goin g to die, he
would at least re flect back on hi s life and work out why he had rarely been
happy . This began the process whereby Lester removed every  belief and
suppressed negative emotion in his body in just three months. W ith all thenegativity gone from his body , the heart conditi on spontaneously resolved
itself, and Lester lived for an other forty years in perfect health and
continuous joy . More importantly , with the removal of all of his beliefs and
suppressed emotions, Lester discovered who he really was. And now you know how he did it.C H A P T E R  9  S u m m a r y
A belief is just a thought that we think over and over again
—until w e believe it. All beliefs ar e limited because they
come fr om the mind. A belief  is stor ed in our subconscious mind wher e it
operates as an automatic pr ogram. Beliefs will continually pr oject themselves into your life and
make themselves true. Whatever cir cum stances ar e appearing in your life curr ently
ar e being generated by your belief system. Be very awar e w hen you hear yourself say , “I believe” or “I
don’ t be lieve,” b ecause immedi ately following those wor ds
is a belief. Be very awar e when you hear y ourself say , “I think” or “I
don’ t think,” because most likely what will follow that will
also r eveal a belief. Question everyth ing. Thr ough questioning, we can discover
limiting beliefs we’r e holding on to that ar e obscuring the
truth. While beliefs r emain stor ed in the subconscious mind, they
will automatically continue to play out in your life. But the
moment you become truly awar e of a belief you hold, the
belief is dismantled. Every belief you become awar e of and consequently dissolve
will pr opel your life to heights of fr eedom, abundance,
lightness, and joy . Y ou can give the subconscious mind an instruction to
highlight your beliefs for you, so you can become mor e
awar e of them: “Show me my beliefs clearly one by one, so
I become awar e of each and every one of them.”When a belief d issolves, it also takes with it the thousands
upon thousands of thoughts attached to that belief, which
have also been buried in the subconscious mind. W e don’ t r ealize that it’ s our beliefs that make our life so
heavy , and make us feel older , a nd that it’ s our beliefs that
hold us back fr om having the life we deserve. T o expose your beliefs, be awar e of your r eactions. Reactions ar e actually beliefs in disguise. All you have to do when you notice yourself r eacting is
become awar e of the r eaction. When you’r e awar e of the
r eaction, you take the power out of it.C h a p t e r  1 0
Everlasting Happiness
“I am  living in the eternally happy present. It is not a mundan e happiness, which
becomes boring  after a while so that you welcome a little dif ficulty just for a
change. The joy that has com e upon me is a thousand million times more
intoxicating—ever -changing, ever -new . In that consciousness you feel all the
happiness in the world passing through you.”
Paramahansa Y ogananda
Y ou ar e  happiness. It is your true nature! Happiness is not something that will
happen once you’ve received something you want, when you feel better , get through
something challenging, or reach a particular goal. Happiness—a never -ending
wellspring of happiness—is here right now inside you! “One must realize the Self in order to open the store of unalloyed happiness.”
Ramana Maharshi, fr om  Be as Y ou Are
“Don’ t e xpect to  attain unalloyed peace and happiness from eart hly life. This should
be y our new attitude: no matter what your experiences are , enjoy them in an
objective way , as you would a movie. Y ou have to find true peace and happiness
within yourself.”
Paramahansa Y ogananda, fr om  Man’ s Eternal Quest
“Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to
whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by
society a nd cult ure. T o acquire happiness, you don’ t have to do anything, because
happiness cannot be acquired. Does anybody know why? Because we have it
already . How can you acquire  what you already have? Th en why don’ t you
experience it? Y ou’ve got to dro p illusions. Y ou don’ t have to add anything in order
to be happy; yo u’ve got to drop  something. Life is easy , life is delightful. It’ s only
hard on your illusions.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  A wareness: Conversations with the Masters
I n ow live with an undercurrent of happiness that’ s with me all t he time, which came
from welcoming negative feelings and staying as A wareness. However , there have
been sev eral tim es when I have had a truly blissful happiness s weep over me that’ s
beyond anything  I’ve felt before . It seems to come out of nowh ere. What I mean by
that is there wa sn’ t anything that caused it. When it appears, all negativity totally
disappears. Any  painful memories from my life are gone in that moment, as though
they never really happened. Thi s blissful happiness is instantly recognizable to meas th e happiness of our true nature. It can’ t be compared to the happiness we feel
from ge tting something we want. This is a level of happiness that is above and
beyond anything else I’ve ever felt. I’m hoping, in s haring this with you, that you can open yourself to the possibility of
experiencing it, too. Once you’v e felt your natural state of happiness, from then on
you will only want to live your life in that state. “I fo und a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a s ingle moment. That
joy is in everyone, always.”
Byr on Katie, fr om  A Thousand Names for Joy
This happiness is like the feeling of falling in love, whether it’ s falling in love with a
partner o r a mother falling in lov e with her new baby . Y ou know that blissful feeling
of being  head over heels, totally  and completely in love? Y ou never want the feeling
to end. The reason why we experience such a blissful feeling when we fall in love is
because we lose “ourselves” in  the other person, and when we lose the ego mind,
A wareness is instantly present in the foreground, radiantly joyful, and blissfully
happy . “Everyone is seeking the exact same thing in his every act. The world calls it the
ultimate happine ss. W e call it the ‘I’ that I am. Discover yourself and you discover
the greatest happiness and you get the greatest contentment.”
Lester Levenson
“Quite s imply p ut, happiness is you being your Self. Not the l imited self that you
pretend to be most of the time, but the unlimited Self that you are and have always
been. Th is is the Self that is a lways ef fortlessly present befor e, during, and after
everything else that appears in your experience. Y ou are the radiant yet changeless
background that allows for everything else to exist.”
Hale Dwoskin, fr om  Happiness Is Free
“T o find T ruth or Happiness yo u have to go within—you have  to see the Oneness,
you have to see  the Universe as it really is, as nothing but your consciousness,
which is  nothing but your Self. Now this is dif ficult to describe—it is something that
must be  experie nced. Only when someone experiences it does one know . It cannot
be picked up from listening to  anyone. Books and teachers can only point the
direction. It is u p to us to take it. That’ s one of the nice thi ngs about the path. There’ s nothing to be believed, everything must be exper ienced and proved by e ach
person to his own satisfaction before it’ s accepted.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
A war eness Equals Happiness
Y ou are  not a p erson who is happy—you are happiness itsel f. Y our true nature,
A wareness, is  hap piness. There’ s no other ha ppiness but the happiness of yo ur true
nature. The happiness you have felt at any time in your life is  th e happiness of
A wareness! Dur ing those times when you felt happy , you were getting a tiny
glimpse of the magnificence that you are. “Understand that a moment of happiness comes from grace, and this moment of
happiness is teaching us that happiness is not in an object. W e have to know that we
are t his happiness in the momen t. The object is almost irrelevan t. The object is part
of the dream, but the happiness is real.”Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
And when you are happy , life will go your way . There’ s nothing better for your life
circumstances th an you feeling happy . When you are happy , problems tend to solve
themselves, and  things fall into  place easily , without any ef fo rt from you. When
you’re happy , it’ s as though th e entire Universe is conspiring on your behalf and
presenting whatever you need in the moment you need it. The happier you are, the
more ef fortless is your life. The  more unhappy you are, the more ef fort it will take
for everything you do. “The more ego motivated you a re, the more dif ficult it is to acc omplish something,
the less is the harmony and the greater is the misery .”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Ther e’ s No Happiness in the W orld
“Some of us are seeking Happi ness where it is and as a resul t becoming happier . And others are seeking it blindly in the world where it is not and are becoming more
frustrated.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
When we seek happiness in the world, our happiness is fleet ing. No matter how
many th ings we  acquire, or ho w many experiences we have, the happiness from
material things or experiences is bound to come and go. And then we’re back
seeking happine ss through the next material thing or experience. Lasting happiness,
which we’ve convinced ourselves is in the world, simply isn’ t there. “Y et onl y when we go within, d o we discover that all happines s is there. The only
place where we can feel happiness is right within ourselves. That is exactly where it
is. Every time w e attribute this happiness to something external, to a person or a
thing external, we get more pain with it than we do pleasure.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5“W e don’ t have to wait for the right circumstances to be happy .”
Rupert Spira
Every person who has ever lived or is currently living has been  driven by the same
singular purpose—the desire for  happiness. Everything we do, everything we don’ t
do, everything we strive for , des ign, plot against, live for , wish for , and dream of is
because we think we will be happier from the having of it or not having of it. W anting happine ss is the single motivating factor behind every d ecision each person
makes—and it’ s estimated we make 35,000 decisions a day! Y et all of the plotting,
planning, action s, sweat, tears, and decision-making is not tak ing us any closer to
the happiness we vainly seek i n the world. All along, the happiness we seek has
been right here within us. “And what is the way out? Not looking to the world for happi ness, but looking to
the place where happiness is, right within us, within our own consciousness.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
I’ll Be Happy When . . . When w e believ e happiness comes from outside of us, we can easily fall into a habit
of putting our ha ppiness on hold until conditions are right. Have you ever thought or
said, “I’ll be happy when . . .” and finished the sentence with some event in the
future? “I’ll be happy when exams are over and I graduate,” “I’ll be happy when I
get a new car ,” “I’ll be happy when I find a partner ,” “I’ll be happy when I’m
married,” “I’ll be happy when I have more money ,” “I’ll be happy when I’ve
become successful,” “I’ll be happy when I’m on vacation,” “I’ll be happy when I’ve
lost weig ht,” “I’ll be happy whe n we have a baby ,” “I’ll be happy when my business
is up  and running,” “I’ll be happy when my health is improve d and I feel better ,”
and the list goes on. W e put our happiness on hold when we believe that happiness comes from external
things. W e wait for something or someone to make us happy , but it’ s impossible to
have lasting happiness from external things; it will never happen, no matter how
long we wait. Perhaps if you have lived long enough, been successful enou gh, and had lots of
wonderful life experiences, you have already discovered that happiness can’ t be
found in the world. Y ou especially may have seen the truth of this if a really big
dream h as come  true for you. W e convince ourselves that when our biggest dream
comes true—like achieving great success, acquiring wealth, finding our perfect
partner , or having children—we will finally be truly happy . But whe n a huge dream does come true, while it’ s wonderf ul and exciting, we
discover that the lasting happine ss we thought we would have is almost as fleeting
as it has been with everything else. W e may finally realize through our own bitter
experience that happiness doesn ’ t come from the external world. It can be a pretty
deflating mome nt for some, because often a conclusion is reached that lasting
happiness is a fantasy and will never happen. But lasti ng happiness is not a fantasy . It is the truth of your very  being, and it is your
very nat ure. Aft er all of our needless searching, it’ s a moment ous discovery when
you fina lly see that the happine ss you seek is right now within your very own self! When you can see the truth of it, lasting happiness will be within your grasp,because you’ll never look in vain to other people or the world for your happiness
again. “When you see that, it makes the path very direct. Y ou stop chasing the rainbow , and
you go for the happiness where you know it is—right within you.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Imagine it. Billions of people over many thousands of years have been desperately
searching for happiness every d ay of their lives. Searching for it as if it could be
found in  all kinds of worldly pl aces. And all along there’ s only  one place where it
can be found—in our true nat ure, A wareness. The whole setup is like one big
cosmic joke, which is perhaps why Buddha laughed so hard under the Bodhi tree
when, a fter a sixteen-year worl dly search, he finally discovered that the truth was
within him. If you think about it, history has shown that not many of us ever thought
to look for happiness inside us. Y et we have all been given many signposts in our lives, o ften through bitter
experience, that showed us happiness doesn’ t come from the world. Every time
happiness came and went in your life, it was another signpost directing you to turn
away from the world and look within. Now we can look for happiness where it is, instead of where it isn’ t. Y ou can stop
looking to your partner or children for lasting happiness. Y ou can stop looking to
your job, a new  home, clothes, vacation, or a car for lasting happiness. None of
those things can possibly make you permanently happy because they’re always
changing. Not to mention that your personality is always changing; what you like
today , y ou don’ t like tomorrow . Y our happiness is within the r eal , unchanging you,
A wareness. No one can give it to you. Certainly , we can enjoy all the wonderful things that we want to be, do, or have in
the world, but w e can enjoy thos e things with the full knowledge that the only place
to find real, permanent happiness is within us.“Y ou do  not acquire happiness. Y our very nature is happiness . Bliss is not newly
earned. All that is done is to remove unhappiness.”
Ramana Maharshi
Y our tho ughts d etermine how you’re feeling, so if you’re not  happy , it’ s because
you’re th inking about something  you don’ t want. Y our mind can only function in the
past or the futur e, so either you ’re thinking of something in the past that’ s making
you unhappy or you’re thinking of something in the future that’ s making you
unhappy . “Thoughts smother the capacity to be happy .”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Standing betwe en you and per manent happiness and who you really are is one
thought. Wheth er it’ s a sad thought, a fearful thought, an angry thought, or a
frustrating thoug ht, in the end all of those thoughts are saying the same thing—“I
don’ t w ant this”—in response to something that has happened. And because of
believing that one thought, unhappiness descends upon you like a blanket, and
covers the happiness that you truly are. “Thought comes first, then feeling, then emotion (like tears). It always happens that
way and often p eople first feel t he emotion, and don’ t realize that there was a subtle
thought first that created the feeling and then came the emotion.”
Sailor Bob Adamson
“The only reason you’re experiencing that you’re unhappy is because you’re
identifying with an unhappy thought.”
My teacher
“Life is  simple. Everything happens for  you, not to  you. Everything happens at
exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. Y ou don’ t have to like it . . . it’ s just easier if you do.”
Byr on Katie, fr om  A Thousand Names for Joy
Hopefully you are starting to see the havoc that can be wreake d in your life when
you believe your mind and its negative thoughts. Any time that I have had the
opportunity to help someone w ith a dif ficulty or challenge th ey were facing, the
reason fo r their suf fering has always been because of believing their mind’ s negative
thoughts. Any time that I have experienced any dif ficulty in m y own life has also
been bec ause I believed my mi nd and its negative thoughts. S o, if you can, when
you feel pain or some hurt from a situation, let that hurtful feeling be a wake-up call
telling y ou that right now you are believing negative thoughts th at are not true. Once
you stop believing your mind, you will start to notice that your mind is inclined to
object to most things, masking your innate happiness. “What’ s wrong with right now if you don’ t think about it?”
Sailor Bob Adamson, fr om  A Sprinkling of Jewels
“The peace that you are seeking is already present. That peace is seemingly
obscured because our attention is being diverted into thinking.”
Kalyani Lawry
W ith al l of the mind’ s chatte r , nonstop commentary , contradictory nature, and
beating u p on us, it’ s surprising that so many of us still beli eve our mind as though it
is the  auth ority in the  world. Y ou do n’ t have to stop, still, or quiet y our mind; youjust hav e to stop believing it! When you stop believing it, it will automatically
become quieter , and then happiness will arise in you like a tidal wave of bliss. Resisting Happiness
As incredible as it is to hear , many of us resist being happy . W e don’ t realize we’re
doing it because  our resistance is coming from a suppressed belief. The belief could
have been put there when we were children and we were told to curb our natural,
free-spirited ent husiasm and joy . Did you ever hear things like: “Act your age,”
“Grow u p,” “Stop showing of f,” or “Calm down and be quiet”? If you did, you
might have a belief that to get approval you have to be calm and quiet, because
when you were running around excited and in joy , you got in trouble for being noisy . As a result, slo wly over time we became accustomed to damping down and
restraining our natural joy . But simply by realizing that we’ve been resisting
happiness we break that belief and take most of the power out of it. “W e’re naturally happy so if we’re not experiencing happiness, we’re resisting
happiness.”
My teacher
“If y ou were not actively enga ged in making yourself miserable—you would be
happy .”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  Rediscovering Life
W e don ’ t have to do anything to be happy . Instead, we need  to stop doing what
we’re doing that’ s making us unhappy! “It is not challe nging to be hap py . It is challenging to be unhappy . When you say
that it is challen ging to be happy , it suggests that happiness invo lves ef fort, constant
vigilance, strugg le. If we believ e that happiness requires ef fort and struggle, it only
perpetuates misery .”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
“Can’ t you sense the underlying unlimited happiness of your being?”
My teacher
If our natural state is happiness, then imagine the enormous amount of ener gy it
takes to be unhappy . All over the world, resistance is the one thing that has rob bed the majority of
people’ s happine ss. Rather than allowing things to be as they are, we resist what is
happening or what has happene d with the singular , repetitive thought of, “I don’ t
want . . .” And then fill in the blank with the never -ending list of “don’ t wants.”
“Nothing extern al can disturb us. W e suf fer only when we  want things to be
dif ferent from what they are.”
Byr on Katie, fr om  Loving What Is
“Happiness is simply to allow everything to be exactly as it is from moment to
moment.”
Rupert Spira
If you can stop resisting what is  happening in your life and the world, then blissful
happiness is yours. Enlightenm ent is simply another word fo r blissful happiness. Enlightened is what you are already . Blissful happiness is what you are already .They’re not something that only a select few can experience—they ar e you , and
everyone else! Attachment
“If you look carefully , you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that
causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is attachment.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  The W ay to Love
Attachment com es when we ho ld on to something for fear of losing it because we
believe t hat we can’ t be happy w ithout it. Attachment is often m istaken for love, but
attachment is not love. Love has  no fear in it whatsoever . Love allows everything to
be fr ee, whether those things come or whether they go. Attachment masks itself as
love, but attachment wants to grasp on to something for fear of losing it. “The thing that is blind is not love but attachment. An attach ment is the state of
clinging that comes from the false belief that something or someone is necessary for
your happiness.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  The W ay to Love
Imagine two people who have jobs in the same company . They both say they love
their work and they’re happy going to work every day . Then one day th ey arrive at wor k, and they hear that staf f is bei ng cut that very day . Person A ’ s body immediately fills with fear when he hears the n ews. “What will I do
if I get c ut? What if I can’ t get another job? I won’ t be able to pay my bills or my
mortgage. I’ll lose my home.” All of these thoughts come from attachment to his
job. Y ou can recognize the fear in these thoughts. Meanwhile, person B has a dif ferent perspective. He knows he will be happy no
matter what happens. He kno ws that things in life are always changing, and
everything happens for the best despite how it sometimes app ears at the time. He
knows from his own experience that when something unexpected happens,
something better is coming. If for any reason his job gets cut, he knows he will find
another job, and he knows it will work out to be even better . This is nonattachment. Who do you think is the happier person? Who do you think has a better life? “As a matter of fact, you have no idea of what happiness is u ntil you’ve dropped
attachment.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  Rediscovering Life
“My life is a succession of events, just like yours. Only I am detached and see the
passing show as a passing show , while you stick to things and move along with
them.”
Nisar gadatta Maharaj, fr om  I Am That: T alks with Sri Nisar gadatta Maharaj
In the case of an attachment to a person, the attachment comes from a belief in a
lack of love. Y ou believe that  this one person holds the key to your love and
happiness, and without them your love and happiness will be gone. The belief
justifies the attachment and puts you in extreme jeopardy , because everything is
changing all the time, and no “body” is here forever . “People need each other and think it is love. There’ s no hanging on to, or fencing in,
of the other one when one loves.”
Lester LevensonAttachments run  very deep. O ften our attachments make up the identity of the
person w e think we are, and we feel that if we dropped our attachments, we would
lose our identity . So, we cling to our attachments, when all along they rob us of our
happiness and imprison us in misery . When y ou belie ve there’ s a lim ited amount of something, you become attached to
what you have. W e can have at tachments to our body , mind, the image we have of
ourselves, our partner , childre n, parents, family , friends, pets, career , personal
achievements, fame, skills, hobbies, religion, success, and material objects like our
car o r our house , as well as attachments to our opinions, beliefs, and points of view . Y ou have probably seen people fiercely defending their beliefs in politics, religion,
and a whole host of other su bjects because of their deep attachment to their
opinions. “W e are so married to our thoughts that we never even think of divorcing them. And, until we d o, we will conti nue, blindly attached to physical bodies and, in the
overall, having a miserable life.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Over the years o ur mind can become deeply attached to a myriad of fixed ideas. It’ s
ironic th at these ideas that we cling to actually bind us to being a limited person,
make our life heavy , and stifle our natural happiness. History has shown us that people can be so attached to their beliefs they will die
rather than let go  of them. For some people, their attachments to their beliefs are the
only things that keep them going despite their misery . “People don’ t want to be happy . T o be happy they have to chan ge their beliefs and
ideas and they cling to them. They say , no way . W e refuse to be happy unless our
desires are fulfilled.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J. If you could empty yourself of all of your opinions and fixed ideas one by one, you
would be enlightened, because when you’re free of all judgment, you allow things to
be j ust as they are. And then you would be in awe of the joy  and happiness that
would fl ood through your very being, not to mention how your life would naturally
spiral upward in every area. As I wrote in The Secr et , T enth Anniversary Edition, the fewer opinions you have,
the f ewer conclusions you come  to, the fewer fixed ideas you ho ld to, the more bliss
and joy will be yours. What is actually  attached is not you , b ut your mind! Attachments are a picnic for the
mind be cause at tachments stren gthen the mind and keep us imprisoned in the belief
that we’ re a limited, separate person, instead of the unlimited, blissfully happy
A wareness that we really are. Because attachments come from your mind, you will
feel a palpable fear when something the mind is attached to is threatened. And the  biggest attachment your mind has is its attachment to being an ego and an
individual perso n. Even though the truth—that we are really the one A wareness—is
so wondrous, still our mind clings to the idea of being a separate person. There is  no outcome to a life w ith attachment other than heartbreak and suf fering,
because nothing  in this material  world is lasting or permanent, including our bodies. W ithout you realizing it, your mind has traded your happiness for attachments. Anthony de Mello summed up attachment beautifully in his interpretation of the
Buddha’ s Four Noble T ruths:“The world is full of sorrow . The root of sorrow is attachment desire. The solution to a life without sorrow is the dropping of attachment.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  Rediscovering Life
Y ou can  desire and have whatever you want; the problem only comes when you’re
attached to those things. A war eness V ersus Attachment
Y ou don’ t have to struggle to tr y to eliminate your attachments. Y ou don’ t have to
put a  wh ole lot of ef fort into try ing to change the way you feel. Attachment comes
from identifying  with the mind,  and so to free yourself of attachments all you have
to do is just stay as A wareness more and more, and all of your attachments will drop
one by one! I cannot begin to tell you how incredible life is when you’re not ruled
by attachments. The love that yo u feel for everyone and everyth ing is much deeper ,
and yet at the same time you don’ t feel an unbearable sadness when something ends
or changes. “This is my secret. I don’ t mind what happens.”
J. Krishnamurti, fr om the second public talk, Ojai, 1977
Krishnamurti’ s words show us what it’ s like not to be attached to anything. His
words are true nonattachment. And while I know it’ s possibly hard for you to
believe that you could ever fee l this way , that is only the m ind telling you that. Remember , nonattachment is your true nature; nonattachment is you , A wareness. Many years ago, my family and I had a beautiful house in the Australian
countryside. My  two children lo ved living in the country , and they loved that house. It was a magical  life, but unfortu nately interest rates climbed to over 18 percent, and
despite t aking o n extra work an d longer hours, in the end my h usband and I could
not pay our mo rtgage. W e put ourselves through enormous sa crifice and suf fering
for three  years trying to hold o n to that house, and still we lo st it. On the day we
finally moved out, I thought about the misery we had put ourselves through, and I
decided I would never get attached to another house again. When we suf fer enough,
we will change. Since th en, I have loved every house I’ve lived in—some I’ve loved and enjoyed
more than any others before—but I’ve not been attached to a ny of them. While I
was living in them, I enjoyed and appreciated them fully , with out any fear of not
having them one day . And when it was time to walk away from them, I was able to
do so with only gratitude in my heart, and with no sadness whatsoever . “Happiness occu rs when we’re not attached to any object, including the body , and
material things.”
Francis Lucille
W e’re here in th e material world, and all things material must  come to an end. If
we’re at tached to something, it will guarantee suf fering when it goes. But if you
deeply love what is here now in  your life—if you’re truly grateful for what is here
now , and if you appreciate it fully—you will never feel the same degree of pain
when it goes.I ha d a very close relationship with my mother through my childhood and adult
years. She was more than my mother; I also considered her to be my best friend. I
used to be terrified of her dying because I couldn’ t imagine living without her or
having any kind of worthwhile life if she was no longer in it. After I discovered The
Secret, I  becam e filled with gr atitude and appreciation for everything in my life,
especially for my family and m y mother . I appreciated every moment with her . I
would te ll her constantly about all the little things and big thin gs she had done for
me throughout my life that mea nt so much to me. I would tell  her constantly how
much I loved her . So, when my mother passed, I didn’ t suf fer as I would have earlier
in my life. Instead, I felt my love for my mother expand to be bigger than the
Universe. And to this day , it has never changed. Y ou are love, a nd love is the stark opposite of attachment because love grants
everything its freedom to come or go. Love is accepting and allo wing of everything,
no matter what happens. “Love is what you are already . Love doesn’ t seek anything. It’ s already complete. It
doesn’ t want, doesn’ t need, has no shoulds.”
Byr on Katie, fr om  I Need Y our Love—Is That T rue? I can  pro mise yo u that as your attachments drop, the love you w ill feel is so full and
so big that you will feel as thoug h the Universe can’ t hold it. All the things you were
attached to will be replaced by this love that is omnipotent, omniscient, and
omnipresent. Some call this love “God.”
When people found themselves in the presence of Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, or any
other fu lly enlig htened being, any negativity within them dissolved immediately . That’ s how powerful pure, unconditional love is. It will dissolve all discord and
negativity immediately . It will dissolve anything and everythi ng that is not love. This all-powerful love is your true nature. It is you. Begin with Happiness
“Y ou need nothing to be happy . Y ou need something to be sad.”
Sri Poonja (Papaji)
“When we see that [awareness i s present all the time], a transformation takes place
in th e bo dy-mind. The body-min d is struck by causeless joy and is se t free from the
belief that it has to work towards the acquisition of happiness. The happiness is not
something that can be reached through ef fort, through suf fering. How could we
reach happiness through suf ferin g? How could more suf fering make us happy? W e
have to start from happiness. So  often we have accepted more suf fering in order to
become happy .”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
Y ou can be happy in this very moment, no matter what is go ing on around you. Happiness is not something you have to look for or wait for , because it’ s here with
you right now . “W e can have f reedom and happiness now . W e don’ t have to wait for it to arrive
some far -of f day in the future when we have worked hard enough to deserve it or
when w e have succeeded someh ow in making ourselves ready . W e have reason for
joy and delight, now .”
Hale Dwoskin, fr om  The Sedona Method“Y ou are the ul timate joy . Looking for joy would be me looking for Lester . I am
Lester . I don’ t ha ve to go out there and look for him. If I am joy , I don’ t have to look
for it out there. There’ s no need to go out for joy when it’ s inside you.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“When you find yourself wanting love, know that it is like a lake looking for water .”
Hale Dwoskin
“The di scovery that peace, happiness and love are ever -present within our own
being and completely available at every moment of experience, unde r all conditions,
is the most important discovery that anyone can make.”
Rupert Spira, fr om  The Art of Peace and Happiness
Because happiness is your true nature, you can’ t acquire happiness; you can only BE
it. If you are ha ppy , you are be ing your true self, A wareness! When you are being
the A wareness that you are you are in harmony with all of life, and to say your life
will become magical is a colossal understatement. “For that is when a human being comes fully alive: not at conception, not at birth, or
maturity , nor at any of the ritualized moments we like to point to, the baptisms and
weddings, bar mitzvahs and gra duations. It comes when the sen se of self crumbles,
when w ind is allowed to take the insubstantial thing we have b elieved ourselves to
be. It is then tha t we truly live. It feels a bit like death (the pe rson you have long
been, aft er all, no longer exists),  and yet . . . and yet . . . you find to your amazement
that you have continued, that th ere is continuing life. There is life after death. Y ou
are finding out what is meant by heaven on earth.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  Opening the Door
Allow yourself to be happy . Allow yourself to be the happiness that you really are. Happiness is here right now . Th e power of A wareness is the answer to anything that
threatens your happiness. If you open your attention and rest as the A wareness that
you are, you will be happy! If yo u’re not fee ling happy , remember to welcome any feeling that isn’ t happiness,
and allow it to be present without trying to change it or get rid of it. As you
welcome whatever feeling is present, you will feel it dissolve into the happiness that
you really are. Every time you open your arms and welcome an unhappy feeling, you are that much
closer to lasting and permanent happiness, and that much closer to a harmonious,
magical life. The more you welcome unhappy feelings, the more you will feel the
happiness of your true self increasing every day . Eventually y ou will discover for
yourself that underneath every  unhapp y feeling  lies the never -ending happiness and
love of A wareness.C H A P T E R  1 0  S u m m a r y
Y ou  are happiness. It is your true natur e! Happiness—a
never -ending w ellspring of happiness—is her e right now
inside you! Ther e’ s no other happiness but  the happiness of your true
self, A war eness. The happiness you have felt at any time in
your life  is the happiness of A war eness. Ther e’ s nothing better for your life cir cumstances than you
feeling happy . The happier you  ar e, the mor e effortless is
your life. When we seek happiness in the world, our happiness is
fleeting. W e can enjoy all the wonderful things that we want to be,
do, o r ha ve in the world, but we  can enjoy those things with
the full knowledge that the only place to find r eal,
permanent happiness is within us. Y our tho ughts de termine how you’r e feeling, so if you’r e not
happy it’ s because you’r e thin king about something you
don’ t want. Standing between you and permanent happiness and who
you r eally ar e is one thought—“I don’ t want this.”
When you feel p ain or some hu rt fr om a situation, let that
hurtful feeling be a wake-up ca ll telling you that right now
you ar e believing negative thoughts that ar e not true. Many of us unintentionally r esist being happy . Simply by r ealizing that we’ve been r esisting happiness we
take most of the power out of the suppr essed belief that has
been causing us to r esist happiness.W e don’ t have to do anything to be happy . Instead, we need
to stop doing what we’r e doing that’ s making us unhappy . Ther e is only one thing that causes unhappiness—
attachment. Attachment comes when we hold on to something for fear of
losing it because we believe tha t we can’ t be happy without
it. Often ou r attachments make up the identity of the person we
think w e ar e, and we feel that if we dr opped our
attachments, we would lose our identity . So, we cling to our
attachments, when all along they r ob us of our happiness. What is actually attached is not  you, but your mind. It’ s the
mind that has attachments. Who you r eally ar e is not
attached to a single thing. T o fr ee yourself of attachments all you have to do is just stay
as A war eness, mor e and mor e, and all of your attachments
will dr op one by one. Y ou can  be happy in this very moment, no matter what is
going on ar ound you. Happines s is not something you have
to look for or wait for . Y ou can ’ t acquir e happiness; you can only BE it. If you ar e
happy , you ar e being your true self. If you’r e not feeling happy , r emember to welcome any
feeling that isn’ t happiness, and allow it to be pr esent
without trying to change it or get rid of it. The mor e you w elcome unhappy feelings, the mor e you will
feel the happiness of your true self incr easing every day .C h a p t e r  1 1
The W orld: All Is W ell
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Juliana of Norwich
“Y ou know , all mystics—Cath olic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their
theology , no matter what their r eligion—are unanimous on one  thing; that all is well,
all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But,
tragically , most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They
are having a nightmare.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J., fr om  A wareness: Conversations with the Masters
Y ou might be thinking, how can  everything be well when we look out into the world
and see  violence, wars, poverty , and destruction? People are fighting each other ,
attacking each other , ar guing with each other , criticizing each other , and threatening
each other , causing suf fering across the planet. But desp ite our turbulent history , when sages were asked how everything can possibly
be well, they would answer with: “Because the world is an illusion.”
What they mean by that is that t he world is not what it appears t o be. The world as we
believe it to be—solid and concrete, out there existing separat ely from us, the only
reality—is an illusion. “There is no doubt whatsoever that the universe is the merest illusion.”
Ramana Maharshi, fr om  The Collected W orks of Ramana Maharshi
W e know from science that anything physical is mostly space; that the colors we see
are actually the absence of those very colors; and the sounds we hear are really a
vibration that our brain interprets into sounds through nerve signals. And we know
that of all the m ass of the Unive rse, only 0.005 per cent  makes up the electromagnetic
spectrum, and what’ s more, human beings can only perceive a fraction  of that
percentage. So, is the world really what it appears to be? “W ell, I look at the Empire State Building, you look at it, it looks probably the same
to you and me, but what does i t look like to an insect with 10 0 eyes? What does it
look like to a snake that can only sense infrared? What does it look like to a bat that
only knows the echo of ultrasound? So, the Empire State Building—the look of it—is
a human look, it’ s not a croco dile look, and you can’ t assume the human sensory
apparatus with its narrow bandwidth of experience is the only  reality . Furthermore,
you can ’ t explai n why the Emp ire State Building looks like wh at it is looking like if
only photons are coming to your eyes.”Deepak ChopraTM, M.D., fr om  mindbodygreen podcast
When we investigate what we have assumed to be reality , we discover that our
assumptions are not the facts we thought they were. “Science starts with the assump tion that the physical world is real, and that matter is
real. Now , why that’ s a proble m is, if you’re a scientist, what is matter made of? They’ll say , well, it’ s made of molecules. What are molecules made of? Atoms. What
are a toms made of? Particles. W hat are particles made of? Then  we get into situations
of smaller particles. What are they made of? W ell, if they’re not being measured as
particles they’re waves of probability in mathematical space.”
Deepak ChopraTM, M.D., fr om  mindbodygreen podcast
These w aves of probability are n ot a material thing at all. They’re just emptiness, and
they only show up as particles when they’re measured and observed by the mind! “When you turn from one room to the next—when your animal senses no longer
perceive the sounds of the dishwasher , the ticking clock, th e smell of a chicken
roasting—the ki tchen and all its  seemingly discrete bits dissolve into nothingness, or
into waves of probability .”
Robert Lanza, M.D. W ith a lineage dating back to th e fourteenth century , the Rose Cross Order describes
the mate rial world as nothing but “mental phantoms,” and m ost certainly quantum
physics confirms what the ancient traditions knew to be the truth. When I first looked into quantum physics years ago, the research I read said that the
room I am sitting in doesn’ t exist when I walk out of it because the room and
everything in it falls back into a wave of probability when not observed. The room
only reforms into particles of so mething solid when I walk back  into it and I observe
it. I used to have fun turning to walk out of the room and spinning around quickly to
try and catch the room coming back into form. Not a chance! “Before matter can peep forth— as a pebble, a snowflake, or even a subatomic particle
—it has to be observed by a living creature.”
Robert Lanza, M.D., fr om  Bi ocentris m: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the T rue
Nature of the Universe
At its deepest le vel, the entire p hysical structure of our world and everything in it is
nothing more than empty space. So, as Deepak says, “Is the world physical?”
But if the world isn’ t physical, then what is it? All phys ical ma nifestation comes from mind. But it’ s much deeper than the idea of
mind over matter; matter is  min d. Everything appearing as solid and material—our
whole physical world and Universe—is actually images projected by the mind. “All is Mind; The Universe is mental . . . He who grasps th e truth of the Mental
Nature of the Universe is well advanced on The Path to Mastery .”
Fr om  The Kybalion
“The world and the Universe are a mental concoction.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“Even the structure of the atom has been found by the mind.”
Ramana Maharshi
“All manifestation is mind.”
Francis Lucille“Thought is the primary ener gy and vibration that emanated from God and is thus the
creator of life, electrons, atoms, and all forms of ener gy .”
Paramahansa Y ogananda, fr om  God T alks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita
When you gaze out at the vast Universe at night, how certain are you that it’ s outside
of you? W e now know that any image we see comes from photons of light hitting our
retinas, which then gets translate d by the brain into an image. O ur brain then flips the
image and projects it from inside the back of our head. So even on a biological level
we know that what we are seeing is actually within us. When we look at the world, we’re not seeing it from outside of us; we’re seeing it
from inside us. Our senses that detect the outside world are all  experienced inside  of
us. When you t ouch something , you feel it from the inside of you, not the outside. Check f or yours elf. When someone puts their arms around you , you’re seeing them
and feel ing the sensation of them  from inside you. When you hear sounds, you’re not
hearing them from outside, but inside you. When you move your body , you feel and
experience ever y sensation of movement from inside you. N one of our senses or
sensations prove that there’ s a world existing out there and separate from us. “W e concocted this whole unive rse and we’ve for gotten that we’ve done it. W e say it
is real and it is s eparate from me and all it really is is a picture in our mind. The only
place where you’ll see this world is in your mind. Put your mind to sleep and there’ s
no more world. Don’ t wake up from sleep and there’ s no more world ever again—but
you are.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  W ill Power audio
All that you see, from a teaspoon  to the sun in the sky , is a proje ction of the mind. Just
like a movie projector , our mind  projects the pictures of our world. It’ s like standing
in a  360-degree theater with images above, below , and all around you, with full
surround sound. It makes for a very convincing experience. “The world existing as an independent reality is an illusion.”
Francis Lucille
The wo rld as you see it—a world that appears to exist ou tside our bodies and
independently o f us—is an illu sion created by the mind. The  appearance of things
being solid is an illusion created  by the mind. The appearance of things being three-
dimensional is an illusion created by the mind. The images of the world and our experience of it through our senses is just like the
dream w orld wh en you’re asleep. The contents of your dream and your experience ofthe d ream are entirely mind-made, just as your experience of the world when you’re
awake takes place entirely in your mind. “Knowing that our mind possesses this wonderful power of creation and self-
deception, is it not reasonable for us to suspect that the body we take to be ‘I’ and the
world we take to  be real in our present waking state may in fact  be nothing more than
a m ere imagination or mental projection, just like the body  and world that we
experience in dream? What evidence do we have that the body and world we
experience in this waking state are anything other than a creation of our own mind?”
Michael James, fr om  Happiness and the Art of Being
“In your  imagination you have written and projected a cinema  show of actors, acts,
and audiences on a screen and have lost sight of the fact that it is all in your mind.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“The world is made of thoughts and ideas.”
My teacher
“What we’re seeing out there is our own mind.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“Everything tha t we’ve given a  name to—latitude, longitude, Greenwich meantime,
nations, states, stars, galaxies,  everything you’ve given a name to—is a human
construct. So, we created this world . . . over thousands of years. W e are the
storytellers.”
Deepak ChopraTM, M.D., fr om SAND Confer ence talk, 2018
W e n ot o nly cre ated this world t hrough our individual thought and collective thought,
but we’re creating everything we’re experiencing from moment to moment. “The appearance called the world? The world is only an illusion that we created. Some day you will discover that you created this entire universe . . . which is nothing
but a composite of all of our thoughts.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  W ill Power audio
And wh at is the power that can  turn thoughts into an apparent  world and Universe? It’ s Infin ite A wa reness, the only power there is. Infinite A warene ss is the one and only
power in existence; it has no competition. And you are that. It’ s All Consciousness-A war eness
“The world is n ot, on the whole , the place described in our schoolbooks. For several
centuries, starting roughly with the Renaissance, a single mindset about the construct
of the cosmos has dominated scientific thought. This model h as brought us untold
insights into the nature of th e universe—and countless applications that have
transformed every aspect of our lives. But this model is reaching the end of its useful
life and needs to be replaced wi th a radically dif ferent paradigm that reflects a deeper
reality , one totally ignored until now .”
Robert Lanza, M.D., fr om  Bi ocentris m: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the T rue
Nature of the Universe
“For some inexplicable reaso n the most common element in every possible
experience—consciousness—has kept itself a secret.”
Deepak ChopraTM, M.D.In his talks, Deepak Chopra raises the two biggest hard problems of science that
remain unsolved:
1. What is the substance of the Universe? 2. Where does consciousness come from? “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last
analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are
trying to solve.”
Max Planck, quantum physicist, fr om  Where Is Science Going? While scientists continue to beli eve in a model of the world that is objective, material,
solid, an d existing separately from us, they won’ t find the truth o f what the underlying
substance of the Universe is. But for hundreds of years sages have known the answer
to the biggest unanswered questions of science. What is the substance of the Universe? Consciousness is the substance of the Universe. Where does consciousness come from? Consciousness doesn’ t come fr om anywher e—everything comes fr om Consciousness. Consciousness o r A wareness is infinite—it is everywhere at the same time—so how
could it come from anywhere? W e know  from science that our material Universe had a beginni ng with the Big Bang,
which means it must have an end, something that scientis ts anticipate. W ith a
beginning and an end, that makes our Universe finite, and so if it is finite it must have
come from something that is infinite ! T he Universe came out of Co nsciousness, and
Consciousness, which is infinite , is the very foundation and underlying substance of
our Universe and everything in it. Y ou are Infinite Consciousness,  Infinite A wareness, which means that ultimately , the
Universe is you, in you . “The whole universe is contained within a single human being—you.”
Rumi
The world, the Universe, and everything in it, including your body , are in  A wareness. They are all sitting in and on A w areness. A wareness is omnipresent; it is everywhere,
and everything is in it and arises out of it. A wareness is omniscient; it knows
everything, beca use it contains everything. A wareness is omnipotent; it is all power ,
because there is no other power than it. “Y ou, yourself are the eternal ener gy , which appears as this universe.”
Alan W atts, fr om  Nature of Consciousness
The W orld Movie
When we go to see a movie, or watch television, we wouldn’ t be able to see the
pictures if the sc reen wasn’ t there. The mind also needs a screen to  be able to see the
pictures of the world movie that it’ s projecting. And that screen is A wareness. The world movie that our mind projects is sitting in and on the screen of A wareness,
which m eans that what we call the world is ultimately made o f A wareness—the one
and only  Infinite A wareness that we are. When the sages say , “W e are one” and “W eare everything,” this is what they’re referring to. W e ar e  absolutely everything,
because we are the one A wareness within which and upon which everything exists! “So, all this manifestation is really nothing. It is really only that  space-like-awareness
vibrating into patterns, shapes and forms.”
Sailor Bob Adamson, fr om  What’ s W rong with Right Now? “The underlying  state of conscio usness is like the atmosphere in which all these other
things take place, the movie sc reen on which they play . Nothing af fects it. Nothing
touches it.”
Jan Frazier , fr om  When Fear Falls A way
“Nothing is as it appears to be, and Y ou are not as you appear to be. Y ou only have to
look a little deeper and feel a little deeper .”
Pamela W ilson
W anting to Change the W orld? “Change in society is of seco ndary importance; that will come about naturally ,
inevitably , when you as a human being bring about the change in yourself.”
J. Krishnamurti, fr om the thir d public talk, Santa Monica, 1970
“A wareness is what we are. Y ou didn’ t come to save the world— you came to love the
world.”
Anthony de Mello, S.J. “Y ou want the world to be dif ferent. Let us assume that you were given the power to
erase the world as it is and rec onstruct it as you would like it to be: no wars, no
tyrants, no mosquitoes, no cancer , no pain, and everybody smil es. Y ou would end up
with something that is very boring, something with no flavor . Then you start adding a
bit of salt and pepper , and at the end, you would be back where you started, having
realized that it was perfect the way it was!”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
While we remain attached to o ur own beliefs and the belief  that we are separate
individuals, the world will never  be at peace. Billions of egos w ill always create strife
because egos are unstable—they  will never agree. But A warene ss allows for all of it. A wareness allow s for the illusion, the false beliefs, the lack of peace, the strife, the
suf fering, and the wars, because only love allows everything to exist. Y our freedom
from any  suf fering doesn’ t depend on the world coming to peace, but depends on your
seeing th at you have mistaken y ourself for only a person, and on your experiencing
yourself as the one and only Infinite Being. “The inf inite Being isn’ t concerned about calamity in the world  as it’ s never af fected
by any of those things.”
David Bingham
“When you see the world as you, it will look entirely dif ferent from what it looked
like when it appeared separate. Y ou will love and identify with it and everyone in it.”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
“As we become  more conscious, more love arises. W ith self- realization, there is a
realization that everything is you, so it isn’ t possible to harm anything.”
David BinghamA wareness says “Y es” to absolutely everything. A wareness allo ws for the freedom of
everything to be the way it is, because the world and everything in it is  A wareness—
its own self, our own self. That means there can be nothing to oppose us. No calamity
can befa ll us. No atomic bombs or meteors can destroy us. No lack or limitation can
possibly af fect us. Because whe n you boil it right down, all of it is us. And  wh en you
have realized your true self, and you are resting as that A wareness, you will know:
No matter how things appear in the world, all is always, always well. C H A P T E R  1 1  S u m m a r y
The world as we believe it to be—solid and concr ete, out
ther e existing separately fr om us, the only r eality—is an
illusion. At i ts deepest l evel, the entir e physical structur e of our
world and everything in it is nothing mor e than empty
space. Matter  is mind.
thegreatestsecretbyrhondabyrne-220221200112.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Things that are very simple aren’ t worth much. ”
Dr. David R. Hawkins, fr om  Letting Go
The grea t sages ur ge us to question everything. Through quest ioning, we
can discover our limiting beliefs  that are covering up the truth ab out us and
the truth behind the world. “Nothing you believe is true. Knowing this is freedom. ”
Byr on Katie
W e have stockpiled beliefs in our subconscious since we were a small child
and were able to  comprehend something of what was being com municated
to us by adults. Beliefs are formed when we accept a particular thought as
true, whether that’ s something w e’ve read or heard on televisio n, or when
we a ccept an id ea that others have told us. One way or another, all of our
beliefs have come from others, whether from parents, family, friends,
teachers, or society. In the moment we believe what someone else tells us,
bingo, in to the subconscious goes the belief, where it will play out in our
life. For example, if a person beli eves, “I have trouble losing w eight and
keeping it of f,” that belief will prevent weight from staying of f no matter
what the person does. Over time, beliefs become more  entrenched in the subconscious as we add
more an d more thoughts to them, like: “It must be my metab olism that
makes it so dif fi cult for me to lose weight. ” “I’ve tried heaps of  diets, but I
can’ t see m to keep the weight o f f. ” “It takes me ages to lose the weight,
and in no time I put it back on. ” “Being overweight runs in my family. ”
“The subconscious mind is running us—making us the victims of habit. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
The great news is that because beliefs are simply made up of flimsy
thoughts, they can be eradicate d quite easily once you becom e aware of
them. While beliefs remain sto red in the subconscious mind, they will
automatically c ontinue to play out in your life. But the moment you
become truly aware of one of y our beliefs, the belief is disma ntled. Just
like when all ne gative feelings are released, when all subconscious beliefs
become conscious, the result is t hat you permanently remain as A wareness. Actually, when you eradicate one, you simultaneously eradicate the other. I
take a double-pronged approach, and release both beliefs an d negative
feelings whenever they appear. Exposing your limiting beliefs takes you rapidly to lasting happiness and
complete freedom. In the process, your worldly life dramatically improves
in each and every area, because it’ s no longer limited by beliefs. If there’ s
something you think you can’ t be, do, or have, that’ s a limiting belief. Imagine your life without any limitations. Dissolving Beliefs
Y ou dissolve beliefs with A wareness—by becoming consciously aware of
them. Th e moment you are awar e  a belief  is not true, most of it c ollapses
and dissolves. If you continue to bring the belief up into your thinking
mind, reminding yourself that it’ s just a belief and isn’ t true, under that
scrutiny the rest of the belief will totally dissolve. This is the infinite power
of A wareness. It ca n be a bit tricky to spot your beliefs, for the very reason that you
believe they’re the truth rather than a belief. However, once you become
aware o f a belief the dissolution  begins, and what’ s left of the belief will
collapse through the continued awareness of it. Y ou can  even reach a point where you can’ t remember what you used to
believe, because the belief has truly vanished. Beliefs and memories both
consist o f thoug ht, and they’re stored in our subconscious mi nd, so if a
belief is erased, all the thoughts attached to the belief will also be gone,
including the thoughts making up the memory of it. “Surrender everything you believe. Y ou have to, sooner or later. Y ou
cannot take your belief systems with you when you pass away so why not
surrender them now. Surrende r your beliefs from moment to moment. Discover the joy of living without attachment to any belief system. The
attachment to beliefs such as, ‘H appiness requires ef fort’ or ‘It is necessary
to suf fer in order to be happy’ is very deep. ”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
Every belief you become aware  of and consequently dissolve will propel
your life to heights of freedom, abundance, lightness, and joy you never
could have imagined. T ake those beliefs out, one by one, and set yourself
free. A wareness doesn’ t have any beliefs because A wareness knows
everything. “In fact, belief systems are nothing. They are quite easy to let go of. They
are just paper ti gers. It is better  to let them go right now and live happily
forever after. ”
Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
Y ou can give the subconscious mind an instruction to highlight your beliefs
for you, so you can becom e more aware of them. Ins truct your
subconscious wi th words like these: “Show me my beliefs clearly one by
one, so I become aware of each  and every one of them. ” Then stay very
aware so you notice them when they appear. Be very aware w hen you hear yourself say, “I believe” or “I don ’ t believe,”
because immediately following those words is a belief. Be v ery aware
when yo u hear yourself say, “I think” or “I don’ t think,” bec ause most
likely what will follow that will also reveal a belief. When you see that a belief is really just a mental story that you’ve bought
into, the  belief not only dissolves but also takes with it the thousands upon
thousands of thoughts attached  to that belief—all of which have been
buried in the su bconscious min d. Beliefs are not only made of thought,
they constantly draw to themselves new thoughts that support the belief,
and they will k eep accumulati ng thoughts for as long as we retain the
belief. A belief  can be held for years, d ecades, or a lifetime, which exp lains why,
with tho usands of thoughts attached to one belief, so many of us  feel heavy
and burdened. W e don’ t realize that it’ s our beliefs that make our life so
heavy, and make us feel older, and that it’ s our beliefs that hold us back
from having the life we deserv e. Just imagine, for example, how many
thoughts you would have attach ed to the belief that you are ju st a person
separate from everyone else. N ow imagine the enormous sense of relief,
lightness, and spaciousness y ou would feel when a belief  that size
dissolves. Y ou will know the feeling for yourself when you experience it. “Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. ”
Rumi
Reactions: Beliefs in Disguise“Reactions are unconscious beliefs. ”
Peter Dziuban, fr om  Simply Notice audiobook
Another way to expose beliefs is through becoming aware of your
reactions. When we react to something, it’ s because we hav e a belief
buried w ithin us  that caused the  reaction. Reactions are actually beliefs in
disguise. For example: W e recei ve our electricity bill, which is much lar ger
than we expected. W e react neg atively. The belief that caused the reaction
is a beli ef in a l ack of money, b ut like all beliefs, it’ s only true in our life
because  we believe it. All y ou have to do when you notice yourself reacting is becom e aware of
the r eaction. When you’re aware  of the reaction, you take the power out of
it becau se your A wareness is the power that dissolves ev ery bit of
negativity and disharmony. “When you react you’re identifying; when you react you’re making
something personal. Instead, just notice the reaction. ”
My teacher
Remember that it’ s the mind that reacts to things, not you. It’ s the mind
that identifies with things and makes things personal, because it’ s coming
from the perspective of a person. When you become aware of your
reactions—by just noticing them  in the moment—you not only take the
power out of your mind to react, you also expose the belief tha t is hiding
underneath the reaction, and once exposed it will dissolve. “If there ’ s a behavior, tendency or habit you wish to be free of, notice there
is al ready a natural awareness of it. If you really see this, if you  observe it
with detachmen t, you will ins tantly feel out of its grip and free from
further identifying with it. This is very significant. ”
Mooji
A wareness disso lves everything that is not true. As each belief  dissolves,
one by one, you  will feel the dif ference in your body; you will feel lighter. Y ou wil l feel the dif ference in your mental health; you will fe el happier. Y ou will see th e dif ference in your life; your life will bec ome truly
ef fortless and miraculous. Whatever you need, whatever you want, will
seem to just fall into your hands. I wo uld like to share another part of the amazing Lester Leven son’ s story. If yo u re call, Le ster became enlightened in three months and at the same
time cured his b ody of multiple diseases. Before this, Lester had  developed
severe heart problems at just forty years old, and was given a death
sentence by his doctor. The doctor said that Lester could die an y day, and
there wa s nothing they could do. Lester went home, and for the first few
days wa s terrifie d of dying. The n he decided that if he was goin g to die, he
would at least re flect back on hi s life and work out why he had rarely been
happy. This began the process whereby Lester removed every  belief and
suppressed negative emotion in his body in just three months. W ith all thenegativity gone from his body, the heart conditi on spontaneously resolved
itself, and Lester lived for an other forty years in perfect health and
continuous joy. More importantly, with the removal of all of his beliefs and
suppressed emotions, Lester discovered who he really was. And now you know how he did it. C H A P T E R  9  S u m m a r y
A belief is just a thought that we think over and over again
—until w e believe it. All beliefs ar e limited because they
come fr om the mind. A belief  is stor ed in our subconscious mind wher e it
operates as an automatic pr ogram. Beliefs will continually pr oject themselves into your life and
make themselves true. Whatever cir cum stances ar e appearing in your life curr ently
ar e being generated by your belief system. Be very awar e w hen you hear yourself say, “I believe” or “I
don’ t be lieve,” b ecause immedi ately following those wor ds
is a belief. Be very awar e when you hear y ourself say, “I think” or “I
don’ t think,” because most likely what will follow that will
also r eveal a belief. Question everyth ing. Thr ough questioning, we can discover
limiting beliefs we’r e holding on to that ar e obscuring the
truth. While beliefs r emain stor ed in the subconscious mind, they
will automatically continue to play out in your life. But the
moment you become truly awar e of a belief you hold, the
belief is dismantled. Every belief you become awar e of and consequently dissolve
will pr opel your life to heights of fr eedom, abundance,
lightness, and joy. Y ou can give the subconscious mind an instruction to
highlight your beliefs for you, so you can become mor e
awar e of them: “Show me my beliefs clearly one by one, so
I become awar e of each and every one of them. ”When a belief d issolves, it also takes with it the thousands
upon thousands of thoughts attached to that belief, which
have also been buried in the subconscious mind. W e don’ t r ealize that it’ s our beliefs that make our life so
heavy, and make us feel older, a nd that it’ s our beliefs that
hold us back fr om having the life we deserve. T o expose your beliefs, be awar e of your r eactions. Reactions ar e actually beliefs in disguise. All you have to do when you notice yourself r eacting is
become awar e of the r eaction. When you’r e awar e of the
r eaction, you take the power out of it. C h a p t e r  1 0
Everlasting Happiness
“I am  living in the eternally happy present. It is not a mundan e happiness, which
becomes boring  after a while so that you welcome a little dif ficulty just for a
change. The joy that has com e upon me is a thousand million times more
intoxicating—ever -changing, ever -new. In that consciousness you feel all the
happiness in the world passing through you. ”
Paramahansa Y ogananda
Y ou ar e  happiness. It is your true nature. Happiness is not something that will
happen once you’ve received something you want, when you feel better, get through
something challenging, or reach a particular goal. Happiness—a never -ending
wellspring of happiness—is here right now inside you. “One must realize the Self in order to open the store of unalloyed happiness. ”
Ramana Maharshi, fr om  Be as Y ou Are
“Don’ t e xpect to  attain unalloyed peace and happiness from eart hly life. This should
be y our new attitude: no matter what your experiences are, enjoy them in an
objective way, as you would a movie. Y ou have to find true peace and happiness
within yourself. ”
Paramahansa Y ogananda, fr om  Man’ s Eternal Quest
“Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to
whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by
society a nd cult ure. T o acquire happiness, you don’ t have to do anything, because
happiness cannot be acquired. Does anybody know why. Because we have it
already. How can you acquire  what you already have. Th en why don’ t you
experience it. Y ou’ve got to dro p illusions. Y ou don’ t have to add anything in order
to be happy; yo u’ve got to drop  something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It’ s only
hard on your illusions. ”
Anthony de Mello, S. J. , fr om  A wareness: Conversations with the Masters
I n ow live with an undercurrent of happiness that’ s with me all t he time, which came
from welcoming negative feelings and staying as A wareness. However, there have
been sev eral tim es when I have had a truly blissful happiness s weep over me that’ s
beyond anything  I’ve felt before. It seems to come out of nowh ere. What I mean by
that is there wa sn’ t anything that caused it. When it appears, all negativity totally
disappears. Any  painful memories from my life are gone in that moment, as though
they never really happened. Thi s blissful happiness is instantly recognizable to meas th e happiness of our true nature. It can’ t be compared to the happiness we feel
from ge tting something we want. This is a level of happiness that is above and
beyond anything else I’ve ever felt. I’m hoping, in s haring this with you, that you can open yourself to the possibility of
experiencing it, too. Once you’v e felt your natural state of happiness, from then on
you will only want to live your life in that state. “I fo und a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a s ingle moment. That
joy is in everyone, always. ”
Byr on Katie, fr om  A Thousand Names for Joy
This happiness is like the feeling of falling in love, whether it’ s falling in love with a
partner o r a mother falling in lov e with her new baby. Y ou know that blissful feeling
of being  head over heels, totally  and completely in love. Y ou never want the feeling
to end. The reason why we experience such a blissful feeling when we fall in love is
because we lose “ourselves” in  the other person, and when we lose the ego mind,
A wareness is instantly present in the foreground, radiantly joyful, and blissfully
happy. “Everyone is seeking the exact same thing in his every act. The world calls it the
ultimate happine ss. W e call it the ‘I’ that I am. Discover yourself and you discover
the greatest happiness and you get the greatest contentment. ”
Lester Levenson
“Quite s imply p ut, happiness is you being your Self. Not the l imited self that you
pretend to be most of the time, but the unlimited Self that you are and have always
been. Th is is the Self that is a lways ef fortlessly present befor e, during, and after
everything else that appears in your experience. Y ou are the radiant yet changeless
background that allows for everything else to exist. ”
Hale Dwoskin, fr om  Happiness Is Free
“T o find T ruth or Happiness yo u have to go within—you have  to see the Oneness,
you have to see  the Universe as it really is, as nothing but your consciousness,
which is  nothing but your Self. Now this is dif ficult to describe—it is something that
must be  experie nced. Only when someone experiences it does one know. It cannot
be picked up from listening to  anyone. Books and teachers can only point the
direction. It is u p to us to take it. That’ s one of the nice thi ngs about the path. There’ s nothing to be believed, everything must be exper ienced and proved by e ach
person to his own satisfaction before it’ s accepted. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
A war eness Equals Happiness
Y ou are  not a p erson who is happy—you are happiness itsel f. Y our true nature,
A wareness, is  hap piness. There’ s no other ha ppiness but the happiness of yo ur true
nature. The happiness you have felt at any time in your life is  th e happiness of
A wareness. Dur ing those times when you felt happy, you were getting a tiny
glimpse of the magnificence that you are. “Understand that a moment of happiness comes from grace, and this moment of
happiness is teaching us that happiness is not in an object. W e have to know that we
are t his happiness in the momen t. The object is almost irrelevan t. The object is part
of the dream, but the happiness is real. ”Francis Lucille, fr om  The Perfume of Silence
And when you are happy, life will go your way. There’ s nothing better for your life
circumstances th an you feeling happy. When you are happy, problems tend to solve
themselves, and  things fall into  place easily, without any ef fo rt from you. When
you’re happy, it’ s as though th e entire Universe is conspiring on your behalf and
presenting whatever you need in the moment you need it. The happier you are, the
more ef fortless is your life. The  more unhappy you are, the more ef fort it will take
for everything you do. “The more ego motivated you a re, the more dif ficult it is to acc omplish something,
the less is the harmony and the greater is the misery. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Ther e’ s No Happiness in the W orld
“Some of us are seeking Happi ness where it is and as a resul t becoming happier. And others are seeking it blindly in the world where it is not and are becoming more
frustrated. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
When we seek happiness in the world, our happiness is fleet ing. No matter how
many th ings we  acquire, or ho w many experiences we have, the happiness from
material things or experiences is bound to come and go. And then we’re back
seeking happine ss through the next material thing or experience. Lasting happiness,
which we’ve convinced ourselves is in the world, simply isn’ t there. “Y et onl y when we go within, d o we discover that all happines s is there. The only
place where we can feel happiness is right within ourselves. That is exactly where it
is. Every time w e attribute this happiness to something external, to a person or a
thing external, we get more pain with it than we do pleasure. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5“W e don’ t have to wait for the right circumstances to be happy. ”
Rupert Spira
Every person who has ever lived or is currently living has been  driven by the same
singular purpose—the desire for  happiness. Everything we do, everything we don’ t
do, everything we strive for, des ign, plot against, live for, wish for, and dream of is
because we think we will be happier from the having of it or not having of it. W anting happine ss is the single motivating factor behind every d ecision each person
makes—and it’ s estimated we make 35,000 decisions a day. Y et all of the plotting,
planning, action s, sweat, tears, and decision-making is not tak ing us any closer to
the happiness we vainly seek i n the world. All along, the happiness we seek has
been right here within us. “And what is the way out. Not looking to the world for happi ness, but looking to
the place where happiness is, right within us, within our own consciousness. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
I’ll Be Happy When. When w e believ e happiness comes from outside of us, we can easily fall into a habit
of putting our ha ppiness on hold until conditions are right. Have you ever thought or
said, “I’ll be happy when. ” and finished the sentence with some event in the
future. “I’ll be happy when exams are over and I graduate,” “I’ll be happy when I
get a new car,” “I’ll be happy when I find a partner,” “I’ll be happy when I’m
married,” “I’ll be happy when I have more money,” “I’ll be happy when I’ve
become successful,” “I’ll be happy when I’m on vacation,” “I’ll be happy when I’ve
lost weig ht,” “I’ll be happy whe n we have a baby,” “I’ll be happy when my business
is up  and running,” “I’ll be happy when my health is improve d and I feel better,”
and the list goes on. W e put our happiness on hold when we believe that happiness comes from external
things. W e wait for something or someone to make us happy, but it’ s impossible to
have lasting happiness from external things; it will never happen, no matter how
long we wait. Perhaps if you have lived long enough, been successful enou gh, and had lots of
wonderful life experiences, you have already discovered that happiness can’ t be
found in the world. Y ou especially may have seen the truth of this if a really big
dream h as come  true for you. W e convince ourselves that when our biggest dream
comes true—like achieving great success, acquiring wealth, finding our perfect
partner, or having children—we will finally be truly happy. But whe n a huge dream does come true, while it’ s wonderf ul and exciting, we
discover that the lasting happine ss we thought we would have is almost as fleeting
as it has been with everything else. W e may finally realize through our own bitter
experience that happiness doesn ’ t come from the external world. It can be a pretty
deflating mome nt for some, because often a conclusion is reached that lasting
happiness is a fantasy and will never happen. But lasti ng happiness is not a fantasy. It is the truth of your very  being, and it is your
very nat ure. Aft er all of our needless searching, it’ s a moment ous discovery when
you fina lly see that the happine ss you seek is right now within your very own self. When you can see the truth of it, lasting happiness will be within your grasp,because you’ll never look in vain to other people or the world for your happiness
again. “When you see that, it makes the path very direct. Y ou stop chasing the rainbow, and
you go for the happiness where you know it is—right within you. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Imagine it. Billions of people over many thousands of years have been desperately
searching for happiness every d ay of their lives. Searching for it as if it could be
found in  all kinds of worldly pl aces. And all along there’ s only  one place where it
can be found—in our true nat ure, A wareness. The whole setup is like one big
cosmic joke, which is perhaps why Buddha laughed so hard under the Bodhi tree
when, a fter a sixteen-year worl dly search, he finally discovered that the truth was
within him. If you think about it, history has shown that not many of us ever thought
to look for happiness inside us. Y et we have all been given many signposts in our lives, o ften through bitter
experience, that showed us happiness doesn’ t come from the world. Every time
happiness came and went in your life, it was another signpost directing you to turn
away from the world and look within. Now we can look for happiness where it is, instead of where it isn’ t. Y ou can stop
looking to your partner or children for lasting happiness. Y ou can stop looking to
your job, a new  home, clothes, vacation, or a car for lasting happiness. None of
those things can possibly make you permanently happy because they’re always
changing. Not to mention that your personality is always changing; what you like
today, y ou don’ t like tomorrow. Y our happiness is within the r eal, unchanging you,
A wareness. No one can give it to you. Certainly, we can enjoy all the wonderful things that we want to be, do, or have in
the world, but w e can enjoy thos e things with the full knowledge that the only place
to find real, permanent happiness is within us. “Y ou do  not acquire happiness. Y our very nature is happiness. Bliss is not newly
earned. All that is done is to remove unhappiness. ”
Ramana Maharshi
Y our tho ughts d etermine how you’re feeling, so if you’re not  happy, it’ s because
you’re th inking about something  you don’ t want. Y our mind can only function in the
past or the futur e, so either you ’re thinking of something in the past that’ s making
you unhappy or you’re thinking of something in the future that’ s making you
unhappy. “Thoughts smother the capacity to be happy. ”
Lester Levenson, fr om  Happiness Is Free, volumes 1–5
Standing betwe en you and per manent happiness and who you really are is one
thought. Wheth er it’ s a sad thought, a fearful thought, an angry thought, or a
frustrating thoug ht, in the end all of those thoughts are saying the same thing—“I
don’ t w ant this”—in response to something that has happened. And because of
believing that one thought, unhappiness descends upon you like a blanket, and
covers the happiness that you truly are. “Thought comes first, then feeling, then emotion (like tears). It always happens that
way and often p eople first feel t he emotion, and don’ t realize that there was a subtle
thought first that created the feeling and then came the emotion. ”
Sailor Bob Adamson
“The only reason you’re experiencing that you’re unhappy is because you’re
identifying with an unhappy thought. ”
My teacher
“Life is  simple. Everything happens for  you, not to  you. Everything happens at
exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. Y ou don’ t have to like it. it’ s just easier if you do. ”
Byr on Katie, fr om  A Thousand Names for Joy
Hopefully you are starting to see the havoc that can be wreake d in your life when
you believe your mind and its negative thoughts. Any time that I have had the
opportunity to help someone w ith a dif ficulty or challenge th ey were facing, the
reason fo r their suf fering has always been because of believing their mind’ s negative
thoughts. Any time that I have experienced any dif ficulty in m y own life has also
been bec ause I believed my mi nd and its negative thoughts. S o, if you can, when
you feel pain or some hurt from a situation, let that hurtful feeling be a wake-up call
telling y ou that right now you are believing negative thoughts th at are not true. Once
you stop believing your mind, you will start to notice that your mind is inclined to
object to most things, masking your innate happiness. “What’ s wrong with right now if you don’ t think about it. ”
Sailor Bob Adamson, fr om  A Sprinkling of Jewels
“The peace that you are seeking is already present. That peace is seemingly
obscured because our attention is being diverted into thinking. ”
Kalyani Lawry
W ith al l of the mind’ s chatte r, nonstop commentary, contradictory nature, and
beating u p on us, it’ s surprising that so many of us still beli eve our mind as though it
is the  auth ority in the  world. Y ou do n’ t have to stop, still, or quiet y our mind; youjust hav e to stop believing it. When you stop believing it, it will automatically
become quieter, and then happiness will arise in you like a tidal wave of bliss. Resisting Happiness
As incredible as it is to hear, many of us resist being happy. W e don’ t realize we’re
doing it because  our resistance is coming from a suppressed belief. The belief could
have been put there when we were children and we were told to curb our natural,
free-spirited ent husiasm and joy. Did you ever hear things like: “Act your age,”
“Grow u p,” “Stop showing of f,” or “Calm down and be quiet”. If you did, you
might have a belief that to get approval you have to be calm and quiet, because
when you were running around excited and in joy, you got in trouble for being noisy. As a result, slo wly over time we became accustomed to damping down and
restraining our natural joy. But simply by realizing that we’ve been resisting
happiness we break that belief and take most of the power out of it. “W e’re naturally happy so if we’re not experiencing happiness, we’re resisting
happiness. ”
My teacher
“If y ou were not actively enga ged in making yourself miserable—you would be
happy.
Our beliefs are formed when we accept a thought as true, often through external influences such as parents, family, friends, or society.
What is the primary source of our beliefs?
Yes, we can dissolve our beliefs by becoming aware of them and recognizing they are not true.
Can we change our beliefs?
Our thoughts determine how we feel, and if we're unhappy, it's because we're thinking about something we don't want.
What is the relationship between thoughts and happiness?
No, we cannot find lasting happiness through external means, as it is an illusion and will never be fulfilled.
Can we find happiness in the external world?
Our true nature, which is infinite awareness, is the source of our happiness.
What is the ultimate source of our happiness?