Passion Party #465 - There Is No Map

When I was young I used to create Treasure Maps
filled with clues
You might have to solve a riddle
or dig a hole to find the next item
on your way to the treasure.

But life is not like that
No one hands you a map
It is not until after you have traveled the road
that you get to look back and go
"Ah Ha!" or "Oh, crap."

Perhaps there is not map
because we don't know our destination
or I like to think
there are so many different roads to the destination
that you don't need a map.

Passion Party #464 - Give, Every Day

What is it that I can do
and love every day?
Not that I will "love my job" every day -
they call it work for a reason.

The toughest jobs can be the most fulfilling,
if you love what you do.
If you don't love what you do,
it may be time to find a new job/company/boss, etc.

If you work from a place of love
you can always find something to give
and when you give your gift away,
when you give the thing you love the most,
the Law of Attraction kicks into gear.

I work from a place of love.
I give from a place of love.
Abundance will find me.

Passion Party #463 - Happiness Potion #9

There is no such thing as a Happiness Formula
Only fools would try to create one
so here goes:
Friends make me happy
Family (blood-related or otherwise) makes me happy
Envy subtracts from my happiness
Jealousy  subtracts from my happiness
You need money in the formula, but not as much as you think
Doing service  makes me happy
Being trustworthy makes me happy
Working with trustworthy people makes me happy
Having a passion makes me happy
Working on my passion makes me happier
Thinking too much  subtracts from my happiness

So I'll stop now.

Passion Party #462- Trust and Tolerance

I met a guy named Happy.
I met a gal named Sunshine.
What a terrible thing for a parent to do to a child at birth...

Happiness is like yoghurt, or sourdough bread:
the secret is in the culture.

Happiness is a connective tissue
it holds people together
it rarely exists on its own
One finds happiness when they find their culture.
This is why some people love being in the army
and some people love living at an ashram
and some people love living in Key West, Florida.

But if you are happy in a Patagonia-type of work culture
you might not like working at Oracle.

For me, a culture of trust and tolerance
is key to my happiness.

Passion Party #461 - Change The Subject

Let's talk about happiness.
A funny thing will happen:
the more we talk about it, the less happy I become.
One cannot "try to be happy".
One just is happy, or not.
It is an ephemeral state which,
like a passing cloud,
brings pleasure when one notices it.

When I am unhappy about a conversation
I have a habit that bothers some people.
I change the subject.
This is not a bad thing.
As Eric Weiner says in "The Geography of Bliss",
 "When you get down to it, there are basically three, and only three, ways to make yourself happier.  You can increase the amount of positive affect (good feelings).  You can decrease the amount of negative affect (bad feelings).  Or you can change the subject."

The road to happiness is not paved with words.
Perhaps, after all, happiness is not in the mind,
but in the "never mind".

Passion Party # 460 - I Have Enough

It is a great paradox of life:
to reach abundance
you need to feel you have enough;
to be rich
you need to feel wealthy.

It is a great excercise
to walk through the shopping mall
visiting the Great Temple of Consumerism
filled with stores
filled with shelves and shelves of stuff -
and to look around and say
"I don't need anything.  I have enough."

And from this place of abundance and wealth
I can enter a day of
thanksgiving, gratefulness, potential, opportunity.