Cultivating Happiness

April 23, 2023

We all want to be happy. So how do we make that happen? I have some suggestions on how to cultivate happiness in your life. Here is the first step of four:

Four Step Solution to Unlocking Your Natural State of Happiness

First, you need to

Neutralize the System

1.       Crosshand Breathing

        In a seated position, cross your left ankle over your right.

     Place your left hand across your chest, so that the fingers rest over the right side of your collarbone. Then cross your right hand over your left, so that the fingers of your right hand rest over the left side of your collarbone.

      Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. As you breathe in, let your tongue touch the roof of your mouth, just behind your front teeth. As you breathe out again, let your tongue rest behind your lower front teeth.

      Do this for two minutes.

2.      Get the feel of it

       To begin, the two of you stand facing each other. You (the subject) hold one arm straight out to your side, palm down. While you continue holding your arm out straight, your partner (the tester) places the fingers of one hand on top of your wrist and pushes down, gently but firmly, while you resist the downward pressure and try to keep your arm straight. Think of this as calibrating the instrument: you’re finding out just how much force it takes to match the tester’s downward push with the subject’s resistance.

    Test a true statement

      Have your partner test you while you say, “My name is…” and state your true name. You should be able easily to maintain your arm straight out as before.

     Test a false statement

       Now have your partner test you again while you say, “my name is…” and this time substitute some other name, not your own.  Typically your muscle will be sufficiently weakened that it will not be able to resist the tester’s downward push, and your arm will give way.

     Test another set of true/false statements.

    Test using significant past experiences.

We will move on to the second step in my next blog post