10 Steps to Happiness

Ten Keys to Happiness By Deepak Chopra

Physical well being is inseparable from emotional well being. Happy people are healthy people. The wisdom traditions of the world tell us that happiness does not depend on what you have, but on who you are. Let’s take a moment to reflect on what really creates happiness in us.

The following ten keys, gleaned from the wisdom traditions, may give us some insight.

1. Listen to your body’s wisdom, which expresses itself through signals of comfort and discomfort. When choosing a certain behavior, ask your body, ‘How do you feel about this?’ If your body sends a signal of physical or emotional distress, watch out. If your body sends a signal of comfort and eagerness, proceed.
2. Live in the present, for it is the only moment you have. Keep your attention on what is here and now; look for the fullness in every moment. Accept what comes to you totally and completely so that you can appreciate it, learn from it, and then let it go. The present is as it should be. It reflects infinite laws of Nature that have brought you this exact thought, this exact physical response. This moment is as it is because the universe is as it is. Don’t struggle against the infinite scheme of things; instead, be at one with it.
3. Take time to be silent, to meditate, to quiet the internal dialogue. In moments of silence, realize that you are recontacting your source of pure awareness. Pay attention to your inner life so that you can be guided by intuition rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or isn’t good for you.
4. Relinquish your need for external approval. You alone are the judge of your worth, and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. There is great freedom in this realization.
5. When you find yourself reacting with anger or opposition to any person or circumstance, realize that you are only struggling with yourself. Putting up resistance is the response of defenses created by old hurts. When you relinquish this anger, you will be healing yourself and cooperating with the flow of the universe.
6. Know that the world ‘out there’ reflects your reality ‘in here.’ The people you react to most strongly, whether with love or hate, are projections of your inner world. What you most hate is what you most deny in yourself. What you most love is what you most wish for in yourself. Use the mirror of relationships to guide your evolution. The goal is total self-knowledge. When you achieve that, what you most want will automatically be there, and what you most dislike will disappear.
7. Shed the burden of judgment you will feel much lighter. Judgment imposes right and wrong on situations that just are. Everything can be understood and forgiven, but when you judge, you cut off understanding and shut down the process of learning to love. In judging others, you reflect your lack of self-acceptance. Remember that every person you forgive adds to your self love.
8. Don’t contaminate your body with toxins, either through food, drink, or toxic emotions. Your body is more than a life-support system. It is the vehicle that will carry you on the journey of your evolution. The health of every cell directly contributes to your state of well being, because every cell is a point of awareness within the field of awareness that is you.
9. Replace fear-motivated behavior with love-motivated behavior. Fear is the product of memory, which dwells in the past. Remembering what hurt us before, we direct our energies toward making certain that an old hurt will not repeat itself. But trying to impose the past on the present will never wipe out the threat of being hurt. That happens only when you find the security of your own being, which is love. Motivated by the truth inside you, you can face any threat because your inner strength is invulnerable to fear.
10. Understand that the physical world is just a mirror of a deeper intelligence. Intelligence is the invisible organizer of all matter and energy, and since a portion of this intelligence resides in you, you share in the organizing power of the cosmos. Because you are inseparably linked to everything, you cannot afford to foul the planet’s air and water. But at a deeper level, you cannot afford to live with a toxic mind, because every thought makes an impression on the whole field of intelligence. Living in balance and purity is the highest good for you and the Earth.

Deepak Chopra

See also;

• 10 Secrets of Happy Relationships
• 24 Ways to get the Rest You Need
• Cooking up Recovery
• Subscribe by e-Mail to Alcohol Self-help News

10 Ways to Help an Alcoholic

Alcoholics need help and these ‘affirmative love’ suggestions may help you.

It is important to put the responsibility for dealing with the alcohol problem squarely on the person in question while continuing to love them.

Doing the “right” thing can depend on how severe the alcohol problem is and on how much real understanding the person has. What works for someone who is highly functional in daily life and who knows that alcohol is causing trouble may not be the solution for someone who denies that there is a problem.

These suggestions are distilled from many years of experience, both mine and others. Helping an alcoholic works, it really works.

1. Don’t make it easy for the drinker to keep on drinking
2. Don’t stop loving them
3. Don’t nag, criticize, preach, or complain
4. Address the drinking problem directly
5. Seek help
6. Detach, separate, walk away
7. Set a good example
8. Take care of yourself
9. Be there for them when they’re ready
10. Learn about the disease

See also;

• A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved
• Al-Anon May be able to help
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Alcoholic Family Roles
• Brief-TSF can assist people cease alcohol consumption.

Subscribe by e-Mail to Alcohol Self-help News

Do You Love an Alcoholic?

There Is Help for Families and Friends of Alcoholics

Do you know, care about, or love someone who suffers from the disease of alcoholism? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. For every alcoholic out there, there can be dozens, perhaps hundreds of people who have been or are affected by his or her disease as well. Family members, relatives, friends, and co-workers can all suffer as a result of loving, caring about, or depending on the alcoholic in some way.

The good news is that there is help for us, too. While most people realize there are rehabilitation and 12-step programs available for those suffering from the disease, not everyone knows about the programs designed to help those suffering from the effects of alcoholism in a relative or friend. Among these is Al-Anon, which was adapted from the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

Al-Anon was founded in 1951 by two women who were married to alcoholics. One was the wife of Bill W. who co-founded AA. Today there are nearly 25,000 Al-Anon groups (of untold sizes) in 131 countries and its literature is translated into over 32 different languages. In its 2006 U.S. and Canada Member Survey, 94 percent of its members said they would definitely recommend Al-Anon to others and 81 percent said that their lives were “much improved” by attendance at Al-Anon meetings. Why is Al-Anon so popular?

The behaviors we develop as a way of coping with the disease of alcoholism in a loved one can ultimately threaten our own well-being. When we care about an alcoholic, our good intentions can lead to caretaking, sometimes called “enabling.” This detrimental process often results in our attempts to spare the alcoholic from having to face the consequences of his or her behaviors. Even though our actions come from a place of love or goodwill, they can in fact prevent the alcoholic from experiencing that which may ultimately lead to his or her decision to get help.

Full story at Anchor Web

See also;

• Alcoholic Family Roles
• Al-Anon May be able to help
• Adult Children of Alcoholics
• Alcohol intervention may help.
• Subscribe by e-Mail to Alcohol Self-help News

Parents Urged to Act on Underage Drinking

 

The prestigious medical journal the Lancet urges parents to act on underage drinking

Parents should take the greatest share of responsibility for steering teenagers away from binge drinking, according to an editorial in the Lancet. It said underage drinking had risen substantially during the past 10 years, and nearly one-third of teenagers were now binge drinkers.

Early abuse of alcohol increased the risk of serious health problems for teenagers, with more falling prey to fatal accidents, self-harm, suicide, violent behaviour, unprotected sex, alcohol dependence and liver disease, the journal said. Learning to enjoy alcohol, in moderation, was “an important part of growing up” in many societies, but it was a lesson not being taught in the UK.

In Britain and Ireland, young people are drinking more than ever before - and often substantially more than in the US, France and Mediterranean countries. According to the Lancet, 27% of British 15-year-olds admit to having had at least five alcoholic drinks in a row in the past month, up from 22% in 1995, and 29% of teenage girls binge drink. Nearly half of the alcohol drunk by young people comes from the family home, with the rest from supermarkets, shops, off-licences and bars.

Full story at; the Guardian, UK.

See also;

Drugs and Addiction Information for Parents and Teachers

8,000 Doctors in Addiction Treatment in USA

Rehab Programs for Doctors Face Scrutiny

Recent publicity has led to increased scrutiny of confidential, state-run rehabilitation programs for physicians, the Associated Press reported Dec. 19.

An estimated 8,000 doctors with addiction problems are enrolled in treatment programs; most states have them, and California’s medical board made headlines last year when it voted to abolish its physician-assistance program after a review found that it didn’t help doctors recover and could put patients at risk.

“Patients have no way to protect themselves from these doctors,”

said Julie Fellmeth, head of the University of San Diego’s Center for Public Interest Law and an opponent of the California program.

Supporters say that the programs need to be confidential to get doctors to participate, and that botched procedures involving doctors undergoing treatment are rare. In fact, critics have been unable to cite a single case where a participating doctor erred in the operating room, although detractors say the secrecy surrounding the rehab programs makes such investigations difficult. Some doctors who took part in addiction treatment programs have been involved in unethical or incompetent practices, but no causal link has been made to alcohol or drug problems.

Addiction experts worry that, without a confidential treatment program, doctors with addiction problems simply won’t get help, possibly putting more lives at risk.

Without the assurance of confidentiality, some say, addicted doctors will go underground and continue to practice without getting any treatment at all. “I was never intoxicated taking care of patients,” said Jason Giles, a California physician who grappled with addiction problems. “It didn’t get to that — but would have if I didn’t avail myself of that rope dropped from the helicopter,” he said, referring to the confidential treatment program that helped him get sober. 

From; Join Together Online

See also; The loneliness of an alcoholic doctor