Shortcut To Happiness pptx

Real Happiness and your Natural StateWhat makes you happy?. I am going to show you how your 'normal state' impedes your happiness and how to regain your birth right that is your Natural

Shortcut To Happiness

Nothing needs changing….but everything changes!

THE SEARCH ENDS HERE

Robert Baohm

Shortcut To Happiness.

Nothing needs changing but everything changes!

by Robert BaohmSmashwords EditionCopyright Robert Baohm 2011Smashwords Edition, License NotesThis eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

This book is dedicated to my teachers

Excerpts from the book

“…an open secret and it's the coolest club in town…”

“You just haven't been getting the message.”

“ … Heed these words because what I have just said are the most important words you will

ever hear.”

“It took twenty years before the message managed to seep its way into my head I have written this guide to repackage and re-present the message in the hope that you don’t waste as

much time as I did.”

“It is everything you hope for and better I'm not a writer but I have undertaken this task to tell you that finding the truth of your real Self is better than anything than your mind can

offer”

“You thought you wanted happiness? What you will find, if you stick with me, is beyond happiness and better than you ever thought possible Your mind can't comprehend the depth

of the peace, fullness, freedom and power that lies in your natural Self.”

“All of the dead celebs that I mentioned in the introduction would have had the resources to change the balance of the good and bad and more or less and yet most of us are still using the same methods to achieve happiness This is 'normal' and this is crazy because we keep doing

the same things and expecting a different result.”

“When you find your Natural Self you will find a fullness, richness and completeness better than you have ever experienced before (or at least that you can remember - the last time was probably in childhood) When you are no longer trying to get control of your universe by judging, classifying and labelling everything, your senses come alive You move from a relatively dull and meaningless ongoing experience to an intense moment by moment aliveness Eating even basic foods taste like there is a party in your mouth and it’s like you are using your eyes for the first time Textures are wondrous but you have no desire to label

or understand them To just breathe is a blessing.”

“Now, in your Natural State you can see and think and act clearly In alignment with the present moment and the universe and without preconceptions distorting what you are seeing, hearing and thinking you now are capable of taking right action, providing the right response

and making the right changes.”

“It is OK to want change It's OK to be ambitious and to go for things It's OK to want money and fame and power When you are in the Natural State though, you are under no illusion about YOU becoming more on achieving your goals You are already complete.”

“Everything else falls into place perfectly after that Everything that is not important gently,

naturally, falls away.”

“Awesomely, not only is the method straight-forward, but it can be performed at any time, any place and in any state of mind and doing any action Equally available is the answer.”

ContentsPersonal and professional benefitsShortcut to the shortcut

IntroductionHave you had enough?

Real Happiness and your Natural State

Let me introduce myself

Honestly resistant

Part 1 You University

The grand-daddy of all errors

Natural V Normal

Part 2 The FixGetting back to your Natural StateThe stages from 'Normal' to NaturalThe normal is not going down without a fight

The problem with acceptance

Part 3 The Good Stuff

The search ends here

The answer is !ME!

The Natural State is NOT

Now you can create change

The problem with meditation

Shortcut to happiness

Part 4 The wrap up

The three paths to happiness

Who cares how it works

Love your mind

Express yourselfTool changes

In a NutshellPart 5 What to do now

My guarantee to you

Personal and professional benefitsThis guide is written for the individual seeking happiness on a personal level, which should

be obvious But what is less obvious is that which can be gained on a professional level If you aspire to work with people to the best of your ability, you need to know what really makes them tick

So, if you are:

A psychologist;

a politician or policy maker;

an office or factory manager;

in customer service or,

just a human that likes people……

……then come and get your hands dirty and learn about your mind Once you have

understood your mind by standing aside from it, you will have direct and practical

knowledge, not just theoretical knowledge and you will understand all minds

Once you ‘get it’, you will understand what is at the basis of every human issue so you can now think clearer, prioritise better, act more decisively, be less stressed, relate better to others, deal with conflict better, sell better, be more ethical, be more connected with others,

be more patient and on the list goes No, not super-human, just properly, deeply human And this is just a by-product of real happiness!

Does it sound too good to be true? Come, put me to the test

So, what are you waiting for?

Shortcut to the shortcutThere are a lot of words about a very simple subject in this book Even though real happiness

is a very simple idea, it can take a while for new information to creep into a mind and

different minds need different ways of presenting information But, you know what? You may not need any of the theory! You may not need the background information now but may require some later or just not need any of it – ever

If at any stage you want to go straight to the magical chapters The search ends here and then

to Shortcut to Happiness, straight to the practical help, be my guest, I won’t be offended! Just

look for it back in the table of contents

So why not move the chapters The search ends here and Shortcut to Happiness up to the front?

This guide has been written with beginners in mind and is designed to build understanding, step by step before revealing the ‘holy grail’ and this idea of directing you straight towards the magic comes very late in the process of writing this guide I haven’t re-written them to make them stand-alone and so the chapters stay where they are because that’s where they belong in the narrative, as part of the bigger picture

But if you don’t need the big picture or get lost in the details just ditch it all and go for gold The solution to finding your awesomeness could be revealed to in you just a few pages!Robert

Introduction Have you had enough?

Have you had enough? And by enough I mean a real gut full?

Does it sometimes seem like all of your efforts amount to nothing? Are you tired of trying and winning, trying and failing? Trying, trying, trying Is ‘Life just one damn thing after another’? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Or are you a winner? Talented, cashed up, sexed up, everybody wanting to be your friend? Winning, winning, winning And still the hole is not full?

Whether you're the next Amy Winehouse, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Whitney Houston (need I go on?) or a nobody, you've come to the right place

Whether you are 'up' or 'down', a winner or loser, rich or poor, sick or in good health and you still haven't 'cracked it' in the happiness game and you have absolutely had enough, welcome.Unless you have truly had enough, unless you are willing to challenge the popular and tightly held beliefs on what happiness is and how to get it then this guide is not going to be for you Your deepest beliefs of who you take yourself to be are going to be confronted and

sometimes it's going to hurt

Don't worry though - I'm not writing to hurt you, I'm writing to release you If there is any pain and confusion, you can rest assured that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and all you have to do is see it through That light is a happiness and a freedom and a fullness and a richness of life that most of us have lost in childhood, the tucked away memory of which keeps most of us going day in and day out

But wait – there's more! You don't have to actually do anything! You don't have to join a cult

or club, take on a new belief system, work hard, become religious, leave your religion or even leave the house Have you forgotten the sub-title of this book already? Nothing Needs

Changing Having said that, when you 'get it', everything changes and you still haven't lifted a finger!

This guide is not on how to solve your problems, it's how to be happy in spite of your

problems Yes, you can have your cake and eat it, too! Have your problems, your life and know what it means to be really happy

Real Happiness and your Natural State

What makes you happy? Most people would respond readily with something along the lines

of "good times, travel, setting and reaching goals, family" etc Now I want to ask you - Do you know who you really are (beyond my name is X and my job is Y, my hobbies are 1, 2 and 3 )? Thinking music please (and if you're honest the answer is) "Er Ah Um No."

How can you really know what makes you happy if you don't know who you really are? It seems the cart had been put before the horse a bit doesn't it?

Spending all our time trying to be happy without knowing who we really are under the labels and definitions we have given ourselves is to try and solve a puzzle that can't be solved The ancient Greeks were onto this when they said “Know thy Self”

So it stands to reason that the first step to real happiness is to know who we really are To know who you really are under the labels is to be in your 'Natural State'

And the second step There is no second step! Once you have returned to your Natural State, stick a fork in it – you're done! You were born with the happiness you seek and over the years it has been covered up Over the years you have lost your connection to your

Natural State and have been operating from what you would now consider to be your 'Normal State' It's called 'Normal' because this is how most people operate

What is real happiness?

Real happiness is not what most people think it is It's better! When you are real-ly happy, you are not just happy in your head, you are happy in your body as well The doubt and the noise in your head is gone and you can think clearly, you feel great in your body, your

problems 'dissolve', and you understand what it means to be alive You will find the meaning

of life I will tell you now that the meaning of life is to live but when you find real happiness, this won't just be a concept in your head, this will be a full body knowing You no longer think about life You just live – fully and completely and freely When this knowing runs from the tips of your toes to the top of your head you are complete - there is nothing missing from your life and nothing needs changing

Exercise

Let's try and get a handle on what real happiness and being complete actually means

Make two fists in front of your body Let's say the right fist represents you The left fist is somebody else or a tree or an event or an ant Let's just say that the left fist is the rest of the world Does this illustrate how you pretty much see the world and your place in it?

Now open up your fists and interlock the fingers of both hands together This is your Natural State This is the youniverse as it really is Before you felt separate from the world and even separate from yourself, now you are complete and there is no separation with-in yourself or between you and anything else

I am going to show you how your 'normal state' impedes your happiness and how to regain your birth right that is your Natural State and real happiness

Let me introduce myself

Hi, my name is Robert and I thank you for taking the chance on this book I am what most would consider a 'run-of-the-mill' western male At the time of writing, I am 36 and married and live in middle class suburbia, Australia We have two gorgeous children - girls aged 7 and 4 - which constantly interrupt this writing (and anything else I attempt to do) To earn a crust I am a contractor, repairing machinery and my wife works part time whilst doing the paperwork for our business and kid wrangling when not at her part time job The

grandparents look after the youngest child whilst my wife works and the older one goes to a public school

Other even less interesting things that are part of my 'life story':

I don't wear yellow robes and I haven't studied in India for umpteen years or even sit under

a tree and meditate all day;

I’ve only stepped inside churches for weddings, funerals and out of curiosity;

I eat too much processed food and not enough fruit and veg;

I play touch football – C / D grade I'm consistently ordinary with occasional flashes of brilliance;

I don't drink enough water;

I drink too much coffee I love iced coffee Iced coffee made with ice cream – now you're talking!

And;

a whole pile of vices that people don't usually share in public so they will stay that way – unshared

Why am I telling you all of this? I want to illustrate that I am just like you – what goes on in

my mind is not dissimilar in operation (although it will be different in content) as what goes

on in yours There is nothing any more special about me than there is about you and if I can find my way to real happiness so can you Real happiness is my Natural State, real happiness

is your Natural State and you are equally entitled to find your Natural State as I was

Even though I came close in my initial searching (but rejected the message), it has taken me some 20 years of looking mostly in the wrong places to find the answers to what I was

looking for The market is awash with books and courses telling us how to achieve our goals and be happy and I've read and accepted many of them

It was only in the last 2 or 3 years and having a gut full of still not finding the happiness I was looking for, that I came to grips with WHAT I was actually looking for The HOW to get there came immediately after

Now I want to share what I have found with you

Given that most of my days are spent fixing machines, the explanation of how to get back to your Natural State will be in a similar mechanical manner We are going to 'crack you open'

and examine the workings of your mind and I will be giving you the one simple tool for you

to use to unlock the real happiness in you This is a professional quality, tradesman-tough tool that will last you a lifetime!

I will also be revealing where you can get face to face expert tuition on using this tool, dramatically reducing the time it will take to get to your goal

Have the confidence to start this guide because I am giving you everything you need to see you through to the end Given that my real world machinery customers expect solid results, you can too Enough of the waffle, let's get going!

Honestly resistant

I know I have already put it to you that unless you have had an absolute gut full then this guide will not be for you, but I’m going to harp on the point just a little longer Once we get started in earnest you are going to hit brick walls that will seem like the most insignificant and natural things These walls will probably take the form along the line of…

“That’s too simple” or “I forgot to finish the book” or “I wasn’t that unhappy anyway” or

“That’s nice but I think……” or “I’m just too busy” or how about this cracker - “I just don’t want too!’

BUT they are not insignificant and natural things The end result is always miraculously the same: failure to take action and the failure to achieve your goal – deeply fulfilling happiness The brick walls are super subtle but are never-the-less highly effective

What is really stopping you from taking action is denial and resistance.

Let’s hit denial head on first

I know you are not happy because you seek pleasure I know that in your current state your only solace is the freedom to keep re-seeking pleasure

I know that in you there is dullness because you seek distraction through entertainment

I know that there is a hollowness you need to fill through the consumption of information and food

I know that the confusion and noise in your head drains you of your energy

I know that you use gossip, blame and judgement of others to make you feel better

I know that you feel the gravitational pull of your past and the weight of worry about the future

I know that you feel the constant drag of the feeling that something is not quite right

I know that you need to feel productive or useful to feel valid

I know you are addicted to your thoughts and feelings

I know you get a sense of control from that addiction

I know there is doubt

I know you are concerned with what others think of you

I know these things about you and what you need to do is be honest and see it for yourself

To be radically and deeply honest with yourself is the first step to being happy How happy are you right now? How happy have you been over the course of your life? This is the only thing you need to get honest about at this moment Leave all other things aside I am on my knees here, begging you, one human to another There is nobody else around; it's just you and me

You need to get radically honest with yourself about your level of happiness, right now Break through this barrier and you are halfway home If you can't be honest you will never see this thing through.

OK, so you’re now toying with the idea of being honest with yourself That’s good enough for now This honesty is going to open you up to possibilities so now we need to deal with what could shut that openness down – resistance

Resistance is the guiding light

Resistance can be tricky to catch out because it feels just sooooo natural The feeling of resistance is actually with you all the time (not when I’m finished with you! :-) but it’s so normal you don’t even notice it I can tell you though that when you are in your Natural State that feeling vanishes There is in fact no resistance to be found in your mind and body when you find your real Self

The ultimate way to catch resistance out is realising that you’re not taking any action – even when it all makes sense Taking action (this doesn’t necessarily mean physical movement) is the only thing that counts in this business Acquiring information for the sake of itself and good intentions don’t count Your mind knows that taking action will upset the way it likes to

do things and then finds lots of reasons - any reason (even if seems to be an outside

influence) - why taking action just isn’t possible

Resistance isn’t to be confused with intuition or decisions based on sound reasoning and you don’t have to say yes to everything But when it comes to taking control of your internal world to achieve happiness and action doesn’t result, you know resistance and a devious mind behind it is the culprit

Now that we can recognise resistance for what it is we can use it to our advantage Resistance

is now a beacon that we can move towards I’m not talking about Rambo heroics, kicking

down doors and drumming up all of our will power to overcome our internal obstacles No,

it’s more like “Oh, I would like to take action but I just feel that I can’t Ohhh, so that’s

resistance” and then you gently move into action despite the resistance No force is necessary here

For you now, taking action with specific regard to this guide means taking the time and doing the simple exercises honestly and fully Then you need to just keep reading and once you have done reading, actually use the one simple tool or the other subtle variations of the tool that I give you Don’t worry, I’ll help you every step of the way Easy?! Mmmmmm… Let’s see how you go…

Be honest with yourself to be open.

Resistance is recognised through a lack of action.

Resistance is a beacon to move towards when it comes to happiness Leave “That’s nice but I think…” until you have finished the book.

Part 1 You University

The grand-daddy of all errors

First we should establish what our end goal is – or what we think it is What we are looking

for is happiness There is essentially only one error we make in our hunt for happiness but on

the surface it appears to be a number of errors Let's have a look at them

I'll be happy when

It is a traditional belief that our happiness is essentially a balance of the good people and bad people, good and bad things, good times and bad times in our lives and our ability to make sense of and understand these things The belief is that you can change the balance of the good and bad in your favour through one means or another and if you can't tip the balance in your favour you can just rationalise the bad stuff anyway, thereby forcing the scales to tip and bingo! There's happiness!

So when we are not happy we invariably think we are doing something wrong and then we think we need to do something different or to change something or acquire something on the chance that it will make us happy The proof of this can be seen in our consumer society The severe majority of people are looking for happiness from outside of themselves and as such are open to the advertising :

use this cream / brush your teeth with that and be more radiant;

spray this on / shampoo with that / wear this watch and be more attractive;

drink this / eat that and be more sporty;

drive this car and be more manly;

pop this pill and feel better

And on it goes relentlessly because successful advertising companies understand the very structure and workings of our minds and leverage off of our expectations

Our main mode of searching for happiness can be summed up as 'I need more / less to be happy' This is combined with the idea that happiness is to be found sometime in the future -

'I'll be happy when I get more money / less problems / more confidence, a new car, house,

job, wife, husband etc I'll be happy when I am fitter / in less pain / better looking / bigger muscles etc

To change the balance of the good and bad or to get more or less seems logical but that is the first error and it's and we know it's an error because it just isn't working You wouldn’t have started this book in the first place if it did work

I'll be happier when (good/bad/more/less) doesn't work

and will never work.

Write down what you hold in your mind as to what would make you happy I'll write a few to get you started Don't just write down 'more good times' or 'a better body' or 'less problems', get specific

I want you to not just do the exercises that I have laid out for you, but take some time and go into them deeply Don't hold back! Try to be as detailed as possible You will want to

rationalise why not to do them fully, this is resistance Take whatever logic that is arising in you as to why you want to avoid some introspection and say "Thanks for that" and just set it aside

This is not just a book of information This is an exploration of you This is not a novel, a page turner Think of it as a two way flow of information I'll give you some information from the outside and then you give yourself some information from the inside With enough information, with enough understanding, you will find the next level(s) much easier

So, I'll be happier when I get

Don’t turn the page until you’ve completed the exercise!

Even if you don’t let the advertising get in your head or don’t think you are particularly materialistic, you still had plenty of mores and lesses didn’t you? Were you surprised? Do you really think that it's possible that you are going to satisfy all of these requirements to be happy? How many lifetimes will it take to achieve even some of these Or will you be content with crossing a few off the list and surviving on "at least I'm not unhappy!"?

Even if you achieve most or all of your mores and lesses, over time they become the new baseline or they change The goalposts are constantly changing If your happiness is based on 'more' or 'less', nothing will ever be enough because the real issue is the more or less – we just think it's about the object we have attached the more or less to

And this is the model most of us base our happiness on

All of the dead celebs that I mentioned in the introduction would have had the resources to change the balance of the good and bad and more or less and yet most of us are still using the same methods to achieve happiness This is 'normal' and this is crazy because we keep doing the same things and expecting a different result

Happiness is not waiting around the corner and does not come tomorrow Getting more things or less problems does not lead to happiness.

Let's do a similar exercise again but going a bit further with it What are the ideas you have about yourself What things do you like to have in your life? What are the various bits and pieces that you take yourself to be?

Exercise

Grab your pen again Copy the examples I have provided that apply to you and then add your own concepts and ideas you have about yourself Take your time with it and once again be honest! These exercises are for your information only You don’t have to show them to anybody else so allow yourself to open right up

Don’t feel like doing it? Remember, resistance is the beacon when it comes to happiness so take a deep breath and do the task anyway

Table of Me

When you have completed your 'Table of Me', just set it aside for a minute.

Concepts

We have already looked at how the belief in having more or less in order to be happy is an error because it just doesn't work Before I go onto the next error, it will help if we

investigate some other learned beliefs and concepts which you have accumulated

Good and bad, right and wrong, lucky and unlucky are two sides of the same coin as they are simply concepts developed by the same mind What one considers bad another may consider good Which one is real, the good or the bad? It's all relative isn't it? It is relative because your mind – being part of the brain - is a measuring and calculating machine It is not a vessel

in which to hold things, it is the measurer of what's in a vessel

What are some ideas / concepts / beliefs used in your framework for living that have no actual reality behind them? Let's look at just a few:

The Concepts List

Good / Bad

Johnny loses his job and he thinks this is bad Next week he lands a new job that pays better for less hours Now losing his job was good.*But what about rape, murder and the starving children? Yes, there is suffering but discussing each category of ‘good and bad’ mind stuff is beyond the scope of this work

Right / Wrong

I thought I was right in punishing my child that way Now she has run away from home Now

I think it was the wrong thing to do

Big / Small

Is a mouse big or small? It is big compared to an ant but compared to an elephant it is small.Lucky / Unlucky

Jack and Jill are late to check in for their hotel room and it has been given to another couple

"What rotten luck" they say, "We really wanted that room!" The next day they see the other couple drag themselves out looking tired to the bone Jack asks "What happened?" and the couple reply "The air conditioner was broken – it was so hot we couldn't sleep." 'Gee, we were lucky' Jill thinks

Winning / Losing

Are you a superior human if you 'win' at something or inferior if you 'lose' at something? No Maybe the ‘winner’ sacrificed or has lost in other parts of life to achieve that ‘win’? Maybe more experience is gained through a 'loss' and therefore it was a bigger 'win'?

Time

Can you give me some future or some past? No, only the present moment exists, moment by moment The clock is a man-made invention and you would have no ability to use ‘clock time’ unless you were taught it

More / Less and Faster / Slower

There was 20 before There are 50 now This travels at 30 kilometres an hour and that travels

at 20 kilometres an hour None of these measurements is better or worse than the other They just are

Pride

One man is proud of what his country has done Another is sickened by it

Rich / Poor

You are no more or less valid as a human based on your bank account A man may be

monetarily poor but ‘rich’ in every other aspect of his life

The mind has many concepts.

There is no such thing as good or bad, right or wrong.

There is ZERO reality behind them.

These concepts are actually tools for comparison.

Concepts of yourself

Let's return to the 'Table of Me'

Did you notice on the 'Table of Me' there was the idea 'I am proud?' What about 'Pride' on the Concepts List? We can now see that the idea of 'I am proud' is a concept Everything you

have on the 'Table of Me' is an attachment you have made to either a thing or a concept.

The really interesting thing to note at this point is that not only do we attach ourselves to real

life objects but we attach ourselves to mere notions / ideas / concepts that don't even exist

except in our own minds This will be made clear in just a bit more reading

Now try thinking of the 'I am this' and 'I have that' concepts as wearing hats Are you a good employee? No, this is just a hat you wear sometimes Are you an art lover? Maybe you weren't before and now you are Before you may have had the 'I am rich' hat on and now you have the 'I am poor' hat on

Are you actually any of those things? No! But you are almost always wearing the I am this hat, the I have that hat, and the I like hat (and all the other I things) Is there money? Of course Can money be useful? Of course Is money right or wrong? Of course not The

attachment to money -'I am rich' or 'I am poor'- is where we become unstuck.

You may think this is all pretty straight forward and of little consequence but did you take notice of a sense of shrinkage, diminishment or fear you felt when you wrote a 'negative' idea such as 'over-weight' Now what about if some of those positive identities were taken away? What if you were fit and strong and couldn't be athletic anymore? Does that also threaten the idea you have of yourself?

I put a few of my own 'I' hats into the ‘Table of Me’ I provided On my path to discovering

my Natural State, I had sat down and said "What if I wasn't an innovator anymore"? This really didn't feel so bad so I thought I was in the clear I then considered "What if I didn't have inventive skills?" Ouch, now I felt threatened and I could instantly feel the fear rising up

in my body I felt a contraction in my body and it seemed like I was physically shrinking, like

I was slowly dying Was I physically shrinking? No Was I dying or under physical attack? Still no

Exercise

Take some time to deeply look at your 'Table of Me' Try emotionally rating them or give them an 'attachment rating' by using the level of feeling if any of those things were taken away If you were overweight actually imagine yourself being trim again Imagine yourself

on the beach, shopping for nice clothes and all the other things that you think will come with

a trim body Feels really good? That's a high attachment rating How about if we take away your pride - your pride in your children, your pride in your work, your pride in your country etc.? If that feels really bad that's a high attachment rating also We are not concerned with whether the attachment is positive or negative, just that the attachment is there

Now go on, start using your imagination and mentally removing or 'turning around' those ideas of yourself one at a time This is the last major exercise I will get you to do The rest is pretty much just reading so throw yourself into it.

Welcome back If you've done the exercise properly you would've found that the attachment

to concepts & things have some teeth, don't they?

Let's look some more at the 'Table of Me' (we'll use the example I've provided and I’ve underlined the concepts taken from it)

Do you sometimes make an identity of what society would consider to be 'negative' ideas – "I

am poor but at least I'm not a rich snob"?

"But I AM pretty" you say! Sure you are physically pretty now but it won't last forever Who will you be without the prettiness?

The mind can be very creative in the way it layers the concepts Remember my own example where I had both innovator and inventive skills on list Have you noticed any subtleties of your own? Make sure you add them to the table as they come up

There are columns of 'I like/love' and 'I' don't like/hate' You may be thinking 'What's wrong with liking/loving oysters?' Your mind takes 'I love oysters' and often turns it into 'I am an oyster lover' This is part of the subtlety game

Notice that sometimes you are one concept and at other times the very opposite concept i.e Sometimes you consider yourself to be proud and then sometimes you consider yourself to be humble

Take note that you may be a mixture of any of these concepts at the same time I am your enemy and your teacher and I'm a good employee and I have 2 cars but sad that I have no money How's that for stacking the hats?

The mask of 'I'

What a juggling act! What confusion! Take note that in all the 'precursors' of I am, I have, I

like etc 'I' is the common denominator Everything you have written down in those boxes in YOUR 'Table of Me' you take on board to give yourself an identity - a sense of 'I' Or put

another way you attach a sense of 'I' – or you layer a sense of 'I' – onto each one of those concepts or things Some have a greater emotional investment than others but there is, at the base of every one of them, some level of 'I' built in The attachment and 'I' are the same thing.What if we took the analogy of wearing hats and instead called it wearing a mask? This is exactly what is happening You are wearing a mask made of the mind and it is called 'I' This 'I' attaches itself to things and concepts to give itself meaning

The mind, just as it holds the concepts of good and bad, right and wrong,

holds the concept or the mask of, 'me' or 'I'.

'I' or 'me' is a mask we wear.

We are all masters of disguise with our myriad of masks.

This sense of 'I' is a sense of control – and it needs to be continuous because every state, every mood, every rationalisation – when mind driven – is another bid for control by the

mind And isn't it hard work?! "I did this", "look at what they did to me", "I am more", "I feel

less" and on it goes And it is relentless.

Just as having the more or less to be happy we examined earlier is an error of your mind, so is the attachment to concepts and things with the sense of 'I', an error of your mind Your mind

is running a program with many errors, over and over again and it is basing happiness on these errors

The 'I' (which is the attachment) is an error, the concepts such as good and bad are errors and the idea that you can be happy based on these errors is an error! They may look like many errors but in fact it is really only one You will see why it is one error (one 'real Error') in a minute

Being happy does not come from your mind You cannot think yourself into real happiness You may deceive yourself for a while but in the end that tower of cards comes crashing down

Don't believe me? When was the last time you achieved something that you thought would make you happy and it actually did? Perhaps you did find some level of happiness but I bet it faded And it had problems didn't it? Or then you just wanted more? The minds idea of

happiness is a mirage created by your mind

Do you think that changing what's inside those boxes in your 'Table of me' will make you happy? Changing things is like moving the chairs in a prison The prison is your mind and every time you say 'I am this' (or one of its variants) the mind is strengthening the walls of the prison It does not matter what the content is

The 'I' are the walls See through the ‘I’ and you will see and be your natural Self

Real happiness does not come from your mind.

'I' is just one of the many mind made concepts.

Imagine not having a sense of 'I' built into everything you think, feel and see What's left? That's what we are going to find out!

How much energy do you use juggling all the 'I' balls? How much effort does it take to keep

up the charade? To be real-ly happy you will need to surrender the control and release the grip on the concepts that you have invested a sense of yourself into!

'I' doesn't exist

If each sense of 'I' is a mind-made concept, it is a false concept, and therefore the 'I' in the totality 'I' thinks it is doesn't exist either If this is not the most confronting and one of the most seemingly idiotic things you've ever heard, I'll eat my hat I'm guessing that you are feeling pretty repulsed and defensive at this idea Stay with that feeling Why are you feeling repulsed? Is it because deep down you know it could be true?

If I said to you "You have blonde hair", but your hair was black you'd probably just laugh You would have no particular feelings about what I said except to say that it was a bit silly

and wouldn't give it much more thought Your hair colour is obviously black and you're not upset.

Yet if I say you are not who think you are you may feel deeply 'put-out' Your sense of 'I' is being attacked If the 'I' was as solid as you thought it was, then why are you offended?

Your idea of yourself may be bruised Good!

The natural, real you is on its way back!

And it’s happening now.

The mind makes it real

But the 'I' just feels so real doesn't it?! You can actually feel it in your body! Your body feels good when you win, great when you are on a high, bad when you lose, tense when you are angry, stressed and jittery when you are worried, sick and tired when you are sad and

depressed, pumped up when you are proud, small when you are timid etc etc because the mind makes itself feel real

Somebody tells a joke to two different people at the same time One thinks the joke is funny making her feel good The other thinks the joke is tasteless, rude and demeaning to others and she feels sad, tense and repulsed It is precisely the same joke but two different minds

interpret the joke differently making it feel real in two different ways The joke has no

inherent form but results in an actual bodily reaction

The phenomenon of the placebo effect also illustrates how the mind can pull the strings People can have surprisingly strong physical effects on taking an inert pill The only

difference between taking the inert pill and not taking the pill and having a positive effect (or even negative – depending on the expected outcome) is your mind

The mind makes it real even when it's not real When you worry you feel it in your body and nothing has actually happened! We have already established that winning, losing, proud and timid are just concepts and are false Not only are these concepts used by the mind to give it a sense of 'I', but now the mind makes them real in your body Your mind makes its false ideas real in your body to convince you that it is real

The mind can make it feel real even when it's not because it is part of the brain and the brain

is really the part of the body that is pulling the strings The brain is part of the flight or fight response mechanism that is hard wired into us Now it's being hijacked by the mind!

The mind makes the false feel real so it appears real

Here's the real error

Not only does real happiness not come from your mind but YOU ARE NOT YOUR

THOUGHTS, YOU ARE NOT YOUR EMOTIONS and YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND You have a mind More accurately still, you have a brain into which a mind was

programmed What you think is normal are the machinations of the mind but what is natural

is the YOU behind the mind Your mind has been ‘tacked’ onto your brain and your brain is a calculating machine that is essentially used to obtain things

I previously said that 'I' (your mind) doesn't exist Well, it exists, but it exists only as a concept in your head – right alongside time, good and bad, right and wrong and the other concepts.

Let's take it further Your mind is made out of the concepts of time, good and bad, right and

wrong and all the concepts and attachments on your Table of Me Put another way, all of

those concepts and attachments are the structure of the mind.

All of those concepts/attachments/hats have combined to form your mind There are now, right now, two identities operating within you The real you is one and the mind (or 'I', or ego) is another

This is reality and I want to make it abundantly clear to you and I want to make it stick I’m cupping my hands around my mouth and I’m shouting

“Your mind and the real you are two separate yet closely related

identities.”

Heed these words because what I have just said are the most important words you will ever hear

You want the happiness that is to be known in your Natural State but the mind says "let's

obtain happiness on my terms" Trouble is, you can't get real happiness from the mind

because it's not real, it is a construct in your brain

Exercise

Make a fist with your right hand just in front of your body Let's call the right hand the real, natural you Wrap your mind (your left hand) around the front of your fist This is how most

of us operate

The mind (or 'I' or 'ego') is 'software' that has been built from your perceptions of

experiences, incomplete communications, unexpressed emotions and cultural beliefs and it is programming that is consistently running and repeating patterns It is patently false and it has super-imposed itself over your Natural Self The 'I' needs defending at all costs, needs

constant attention to stay alive and needs to be constantly added to - or protected from loss - all for the very fact that it is false

You feel separate from everything and everyone because you are operating on the level of mind and the mind is false And when I say false, I mean F A L S E! And how can anything false feel connected, full, satisfied and solid? Everything to the mind is relative and so is its happiness How can software in a calculating machine be truly happy when it is continuously comparing and judging – even judging its own happiness?

Do you feel as if something is missing? There is! It's not actually missing it's just being covered up - there is a REAL YOU, a NATURAL YOU behind the ‘I’ that has been

constructed You just think there is something missing

You thought you wanted happiness? What you will find, if you stick with me, is beyond happiness and better than you ever thought possible Your mind can't comprehend the depth

of the peace, fullness, freedom and power that lies in your natural Self For the moment though just nod your head and say "that's nice" and keep reading Don't worry about anything

as you will learn as we go on

You are not your mind The mind is false and is masking the real you in your Natural State That feeling you have that 'something is not quite right' is the anxiety of

being separated from the real you.

So where does real happiness come from?

It's already in the real you and the real you is right here, right now but it is being masked

Real happiness is to be found when you get real and get in alignment with the universe The universe is right here, right now The real you is waiting to be unmasked, to burst forth and play the real game of life but 'I' and the other false concepts that make up your mind are getting in the way! Your mind thinks it's alive and wants to play its own game!

Real happiness is not to be found in re-programming you (changing what's in the boxes in the

Table of Me); it's to be found when you stand aside from your programming.

Your mind says ‘I am alive’ but you are not alive, you are life!!! How is it that we see a sunset, a flower, a butterfly, a baby and we are awestruck by the brilliance of those things and the brilliance of the universe but we look at ourselves and think that we are somehow

separate from that brilliance?!

The you behind your mind however is already connected to everything and as complete as the

universe Nothing needs adding Nothing needs changing Nothing can be taken away To

take a quote from the movie I Heart Huckabee’s, “There is no remainder in the mathematics

of infinity” I prefer to say "There is no remainder in the mathematics of the universe" and, since you are both of and in the universe, there is no remainder in the mathematics of you.There is a beautiful baby being born, a terrible death There is a sunrise, a devastating

earthquake There is an awe-inspiring sunset, laughter, sorrow One minute you’re up, the next you’re down A good mum one day, a bad mum the next You're my friend but their enemy, a good employee and a traitor You had a nice car but then some kid keyed it You've gone from rags to riches to rags and back to riches again Ideas you have about yourself and the change in the state of things around you won't bring you happiness What is the

background against all the ideas and change that is happening? The universe and you - the youniverse

We will take a more detailed look at the real you in the chapter ‘The answer is !ME!’ but we have some more work to do first!

You are in and of the universe and no less complete than it is.

Go beyond the false that is your mind and find the fullness of life.

This is where real happiness can be found.

Natural V Normal

We've established that the ‘you’ that you took yourself to be (what I have been calling the 'normal you') is not going to get you happiness The real, natural you IS happiness in its own fulfilment But what are some of the day to day practicalities of being the unmasked you? Let's take a look at somebody who is their natural, real state (aligned with the universe) compared to their normal, false state (mind driven) Take note that this is the same person just

in two different 'states'

The person in the Natural State sees directly and sees clearly In the normal state everything

is first processed by the mind, according to its programming It is only in their Natural State that one can 'step-back' and really see the workings of the mind in the 'normal' state

Hold your horses!

The Natural State looks pretty good doesn't it – even if a little unnerving for the 'I' and

looking somewhat unobtainable? As good as it looks don't go out and start practising the 'viewpoints' of one in the Natural State whilst you are still working from the mind It just doesn't work that way Don't go putting the cart before the horse again Don't go out and do something like start gambling with large sums of money and say "It's OK if I lose, money doesn't mean anything anyway" or "Be at my job on time? There's no such thing as time" and have to deal with the repercussions afterwards

Even with the best intentions and the greatest laid plans don't go out and change what you are doing in a bid to find your real Self Remember the sub-title of this book? Nothing Needs Changing Everything will happen naturally in its own good time

If you have stuck with me, at this stage you are somewhere between getting ready to close this book because none of it makes much sense or you are pumped and ready to go Funnily enough both are equally valid, but if you are on the side of getting ready to close up I have a message for you

It is OK if you don't understand In fact it's the very first step - to understand that you don't understand Don't be concerned – you are already on the path Let's go one better, forget everything you have read up until now as it's not that important

Has what you have been doing to find happiness worked out for you after all you've done so far in this lifetime? If the answer is no, and you're willing to try something new then that's all you need for now

Don't go and change anything just yet.

You are already on the path.

Keep following the beacon of resistance.

Part 2 The Fix

Getting back to your Natural State

When we want to know the answer to a question, we have to ask the right question, right?

So if we have established that you are not the mind with all its 'issues' and the real you, bursting at the seams in all your universal brilliance and glory, is just waiting to come out and reveal yourself to the world - what is an appropriate question to ask?

If the mind is false, what is real?

It's not that this question is vague but it lets the mind come up with its own answers Your brain by design has a huge intellect which allows the mind to be extremely crafty so let's refine it some more What about

If I am not the mind, who am I? Who is it that has a mind?

Who is it behind the mind? Who is it that is influenced by the mind?

Who is that is watching my mind? Who is aware of my thoughts?

Who is it? Who is it? Who is it?

This is all you need to know This is all you need to ask The answer is within you

Remember at the end of the last chapter I said that it didn't matter if you were pumped or ready to give up? Either way there will be avoidance and distraction employed by the mind It doesn't matter how much theory you have understood or haven't understood The very

questioning – ‘Who is it?’ is what will set you free This is all you need to do

Awesomely, not only is the method straight-forward, but it can be performed at any time, any place and in any state of mind and doing any action Equally available is the answer

Who is it?

Look again at these concepts of 'I' It's exactly the same table as before but all we have done

is taken out the 'I' and put in 'Who is it?' The question is beautiful in its simplicity and effectiveness Not only are we asking the right question to the answer we want to know but

we are creating an open space for the answer to come forth

Every time you ask 'Who is it?' you are actively interfering with the minds self-serving interests and interfering with its programming Isn’t it funny how we can see the ‘patterns’ (which is a nice way of saying programs) in others but don’t really see our own? This is the mind not wanting to be seen

Every time you ask 'Who is it?' you are slightly diminishing the minds ability to layer on its sense of self, just ever so slightly breaking it's hold

Every time you ask ‘Who is it?’ you are slowing the huge momentum, breaking the habit of thinking

To ask “Who is it ?” is to be open to directly knowing your real Self, not interpreting yourself through your mind

Every state, every concept and every moment is a doorway to your real, natural Self This is because you never left, you were always there YOU are here right now

There is one final but very important component to the question "Who is it?" and that is to be open to the answer In fact it is even more important than the question itself as the real, natural you is not only the knower of the answer but it is the answer The act of being open to the answer is you practicing being your natural Self.

We now have 'Who is it?' being the knife that cuts off the 'I' and we have added the being open which is the space you have created for the real you to be revealed

Do not think of 'Who is it ?' as a question It is more of a click of the fingers to create a change in your level of consciousness To ask and to be open is to be fully aware all the time.This is almost a questionless question, accompanied by effortless effort If you have your face screwed up in concentration asking and watching and wanting an answer you've taken it too far! Mental questioning and processing is not what we are doing here Only the mind needs to make such an effort and now it has come in through the back door Only the mind desires an outcome different from what is already happening right now You can’t try like you want to win or gain something You can’t win against yourself and your mind is of yourself

What you are not doing in your contemplation, in your ‘questioning’ 'Who is it?' is trying to solve your 'problems' Remember you don't actually have any 'problems', these are just

concepts held by your mind You don't need to solve any 'problems' You just want to know who is layered underneath all of these 'problems' in the first place Who was there before the mind developed? Who were you before you got your first 'problem'?

It starts to do you

Let’s get honest here Initially, for most of us, the technique is hard to do The mind doesn't like you taking energy away from it and watching it It will tell you that it is boring, non-productive and just straight out non-compatible with your 'normal living' and will

continuously want to take back control

Don’t worry though It does get easier After a while, after a squillion distractions and

forgetting and then remembering (over and over again), to ask yourself ‘Who is it?’ the technique starts to do you That is to say, it just happens by itself It may come as a soft whisper or roll over you like a wave or hit you like a tonne of bricks The balance of who is

in charge (the mind or the real you) is starting to tip

The watching for the reappearance of your long lost natural Self is really a process of not just

quieting the mind but dissolving the mind / ‘I’ / ego By dissolving the mind you are simply

removing the mask that is your mind that has installed itself over the top of the real, natural you

'Problems' are of the mind Fixing them would be of the mind too.

Go beyond the mind to see how it works.

How long does it take?

How long does it take to break the hold of the mind to get the answer to 'Who is it?' That depends on how strong the mind is, how strong the sense of 'I' is The weaker the sense of 'I',

the more earnest and frequent you will be in your contemplation Jesus beautifully points the way… ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour’.

It’s time for an analogy Let’s say you want to get ripped ‘abs’ If you are carrying weight around your stomach, you need not only to build those stomach muscles but to lose the fat hiding the muscles Fortunately, the spectacular ‘abs’ are already there – that is to say - the real you is already there We need to just lose the weight off of our tummy – and that weight

is our identification with our minds Asking ‘Who is it?’ and being present to receive the answer is the effortless workout that will drop the weight

Ultimately you don’t know how much ‘weight you are carrying’ (the strength of

identification with your mind), all you can do is to keep exercising until those ripped abs (real you) are exposed

Jesus also said "Blessed are the poor in spirit" If you are poor in spirit you are suffering you are blessed because you are ready to challenge your sense of 'I' and you will have opened up

to the opportunity of learning the truth of yourself

I previously said that it doesn't matter how much theory you have understood and that is perfectly true, it is the practice that counts Where the understanding of the theory does help though is that you may be more driven to contemplate more continuously and sincerely and you will get to your goal quicker

Couple your suffering ('poor in spirit') with your theoretical understanding, ask yourself

"Who is it?" and sit back and watch It is impossible not to lose the weight (mind

identification) if you continue to exercise (contemplate) regularly You cannot fail

When you get good at being your real Self then you reap the rewards It's as simple as that Practise makes perfect Put more accurately - practicing being your natural Self will show you to yourself that you are already perfect Letting other people and other things and

moments just be – no labels, no judging - shows you that they are already perfect

Exercise

I'll provide some more examples, but take your every state or action and enquire

Who is it reading this book? And relax

Who is it that is excited? And watch

Who is it that is resistant to the question ‘Who is?’ And be open

Who is it that is feeling dull? And feel it

Who is it that is being aware? And own it

Who is it that is confronted? And be OK with it

Who is it that is (your state right now)? And watch

You will be distracted from that enquiry

Who is that is distracted? And gently keep pulling your attention back to your contemplation.The Buddha said “Look with-in” and now you're doing it!!! This is all you have to do ‘Who

is it?’ is the only tool you will ever need to find real happiness

Let's try some more

Who is that is driving / washing the dishes / adverse to vacuuming / reaching for the phone / watching TV / annoyed / going to the toilet / fixing the car / drinking / complaining / feeling ill / wanting more / knitting / kissing / tired / writing a book / mowing the lawn / struggling

to meditate / crying / breathing / asking who is / feeding the dog / lazy / showering / making assumptions / lifting weights / putting on your shoes / yelling at the kids / looking for love / doing the tax / scratching your backside / having a mid-life crisis / having the teenage blues / cutting a tomato / going from one drama to the next / bored / compulsively thinking /

studying / mind identified / walking / putting somebody down to make themselves feel good / talking / peeling an egg / feeling separate / chewing food - Who am I?

Ask “Who Is It?” and be constantly aware to receive the answer.

Real happiness and fulfilment arrive with the answer.

Done earnestly and consistently you cannot fail.

Use effortless effort.

The stages from 'Normal' to Natural.

For most of us, we don't go from starting to ask "Who is it?" or any other flavour of

contemplation directly to the answer That would be just too easy There is a journey and here are the stages you can expect to go through along the way Please note that this is a rough guide only

is it?" most of the time

The contemplation takes hold and deepens

Something happened today that got me contemplating and I've started to slow down and watch for an answer

The noise increases

I’m contemplating but the more I am aware of my mind, the busier it gets trying to regain control and make me drop my awareness

The cracks appear

I have had glimpses of the workings of my mind, my understanding is building and I am deepening my contemplation on the back of that understanding

The dissolving of the mind

Aha! I get it and I have the answer! I can see clearly that I am not my mind and I have found the real happiness that is my Natural State

Haven’t kept the process of contemplation up? Repeat from a previous level

The dissolving of the mind - again

I get it! Again! Hang on, I ‘understand’ even more now than the first time around Wow, there is a real depth here! How far down ‘the rabbit hole' am I and how far does it go?

Obviously there could be chapters and books written on each of the stages above but you will recognize them and 'deal' with them as you go along Really all you need to know is that there are stages and you share them with everybody else Some will move through the stages more

quickly than others and just because you have gotten to the 'next level' doesn't mean you won't revisit the levels before it

If you stick with the process of contemplation though, you will continue to ‘move up’ the levels

When the mind has dissolved and you have had you’re ‘a-ha moment’ you may be thinking (as I do), 'What was I worried about in the first place? I was here all the time and I can relax because nothing needs changing', and you stop the process of contemplation It has now been

a 'short fall from grace' and you may find yourself right back at stage two, starting

contemplation, very quickly Except this time it is different, very different You now have the memory of the Natural State helping shape your thought processes and actions through your day to day life You now know the truth of who you are and that truth can never be taken away from you

Faith

That leaves us with something of a conundrum or catch twenty-two in this process of finding your real Self in that you either get it or you don't (this is not to be confused with 'won't get it') And if you 'aren't getting it' why would anybody continue to look for happiness in this manner?! This is a mighty stumbling block!

You are controlled by the mind OR you are your glorious natural Self When you can see it, it's obvious but when you can't see it seems just so distant and unobtainable and non-

understandable This is because this is the way your mind likes it It doesn't want to be

silenced Once it is silenced though the blindfold is off and the gates are wide open! You’ll understand when they say in the hymn Amazing Grace, ‘ Before I was blind and now I can see!’

The antidote or the answer to the catch twenty-two, from being blind to seeing, from being

lost to being found, from not understanding to 'getting it', is to relax and have faith Even

though you don't get it, you need to have faith that you will And you will get it because you have already got it!

You go from the being in the dark and lost to seeing the light and finding

yourself in an instant.

Have complete faith because the real you is already here.