The Coherent Life: May 2013

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

How to Practice Happiness


Growing up I went to Parochial (Catholic) schools. I remember that in the first grade I took a lesson about Jesus’ concept of brotherly love to heart. After school I raced home and told my best friend Michael Chavez how we needed to love everyone, even the neighborhood bully, even if we didn’t like him.

“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.” Mahatma Gandhi.

But as I grew older I began to see they hypocrisy and prejudice of my religious leaders. Later, as I reached adolescence, the concept of an old white guy in heaven controlling everything no longer made sense to me, it wasn’t logical. You might say that point in my life was the birthplace of The Coherent Life, of discovering a life that was logical and rational.

I began to learn about other great spiritual leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi. I first learned about Gandhi from the movie Nine Hours to Rama, a fictional account of his assassination. At the end of the movie after Gandhi is shot he tells his assassin “I forgive you my brother.” Wow—it blew me away!

Later in life I became a Buddhist and learned to respect everyone and everything since all contains the Buddha nature. It was then that I congealed my concept of The Law of Divinity—everything is One; One is the greatest power.

Learn to see yourself as all powerful, as being in control of your life. Don’t blame others, circumstances, or resign yourself to “It’s God’s will.” Right now, right where you are you can change your life and start living a Coherent Life—just decide to be happy. Simple as that, make a decision to be happy.

Now keeping that decision to be happy won’t always be easy. Life throws many problems and obstacles our way. Just keep reminding yourself that your one and only goal in life is to be happy. A happy state of mind is like a muscle, it needs to be exercised to make it strong.

Here are some helpful tips to help you achieve your goal of being happy:

  • Write down your goal of being happy and place it somewhere you can see it every day.
  • Everyday take a few moments to clear your mind of the noise and clutter; meditate or practice mindfulness.
  • Smile and laugh often. Practice belly laughs—from your stomach rapidly expel a series of “Ha-ha-ha.”
  • See the world around you as a happy place; while sitting down tell yourself you are in a happy chair in a happy room in a happy house.


Do these exercises daily to build up your muscle of a happy state of mind.