AVANTIKUMAR

When our family home was in London, one of my early teachers was Khambatta; a man in his sixties with white hair swept back, a penetrating look in his eyes and a mole on his chin.

One morning, on the day I turned fifteen, Khambatta prepared me for his daily talk about why love is all there is.

Simple, harsh yet beautiful is what I have you today, he said, in his usual measured tones.

There is an essential law behind and within all manifestation, he continued.

“Action and reaction is opposite and equal.”

As you sow, so shall you reap is another way of putting it, he explained. Then he delivered three sentences that tore up my thinking at the time.

“Within this apparent simplicity there are aeons of subtleties. These descriptions of the law form the practical essence of all philosophy and religion. In fact anything outside of amplifying this single truth in all religion is mere mind-fodder, without lasting value. Consign it to the dustbin.”

Harsh? He’d just condemned millions of words spoken and written through ages.

“An ounce of logic would tell you that all else results only in complication, confusion and even violence. All man made. No god to blame here.

“Only that which does not change with the changing times is real truth; all else is temporary information, and has limited value.”

“Action and reaction is opposite and equal,” he repeated. “This truth makes the power of love supreme.”

If we allowed this to permeate our lives - only good things can come our way.

This truth also has responsibility and control in our laps, always. No god, person or external circumstance can be blamed. Every attempt at blame weakens our own will-power to influence our own lives. Put another way:

Do as you would be done by.

“You teach best what you most need to learn” - Anon

The Science of Happiness is in sections with a workshop-style format. In between the 12 steps, there’ll be brief stories and experiences. We want more than to be reminded of the info; we want testimonies of the kind of things that happen on the way to the goal.

Each segment will lead with a definition of the goal or definition we are trying to achieve.

Then, in the discussion segment, we’ll go into some explanations and finally, where appropriate, there will be a practice for you to try out.

Use the comment section for feedback and I’ll adjust the delivery of the material accordingly.

Finally, what might appear to be a weasel statement:

I’ve said it before but feel impelled to repeat that an honest approach puts out a force towards meaningful achievement.

There’s a lot of junk written on all manner of subjects, especially on life, motivation and success. I fully accept that what I have to say on this subject may turn out to be equally useless, but if honesty is the constant hallmark, maybe something of value may result, here and there.

GOAL/DEFINITION

Happiness: a lasting equilibrium of balance between inner and external states.

DISCUSSION

Sounds a little dry, right. We have to start somewhere. Happiness can turn into joy later on, little by little, sometimes in quite large leaps. It’s a goal which remains ever-new (which is a kind of sneaky way of saying we never reach it but at least we’ll have a lot of fun trying).

But we have to start somewhere: peace is s state we fall into by accident until we realise it is something that we can choose at any time.

Thousands of practices are around but the basis is simple: balancing energies.

Energies are not vague and woolly. Every action and thought is powered by the vast field of energy in which you and I live. We put demand and give direction to this energy by turning within. Simple, yes. But I had to clear blocks along the way.

You see, there are certain laws that have been observed over centuries.

Also, let me clarify this is not self-programming:

You and I know that you don’t really programme anything into yourself. The real you is perfect. We have to go in deep to find the perfection!

What we want to try and do here is take twelve steps to remove faulty programming. We want to go together and break through some walls. Things which are tripping us all up - every time we try and make a go of things…well, we trip and bounce off walls. Every time.

Life throws up many challenges. You and I know that we need far more from motivational seminars/workshops than the temporary buzz they give us.

The results include: inner awareness, inspiration, motivation, confidence and fulfilment many areas of your world and all of the relationships in your sphere of growing influence. Expect turnarounds in the parts of your life that need answers.

You need to tackle inner blocks and transform these into vital energy to feel your own joy.

AN ISS PRACTICE: “Thought drives energy”

You knew this already: to making things happen you change your thoughts.

It’s an ancient secret: thoughts affect our life, our relationships, and our experiences. This open secret is dressed up in different cloaks, many different mind techniques.

Thoughts direct the tiniest particles of matter in the universe.

To change your life, you change your mind.

Knowing that your thoughts will direct your life is half the leap.

You have to know how and when to use this most powerful tool.

Knowing how and when to change your mind is key.

By focusing on the central thought in this section, you’ve taken the first step. Easy, wasn’t it. Enjoy it. It won’t be so easy later on.

The first few steps are small steps; the ones that come later are more…well, strides…the last two are titanic leaps..but not to worry about that right now.

A few words

Good to meet you. I want to share extracts from my online.

We live in a business world, and I resort, with apologies, to terms such as branding. Just see it as a convenient hold-all for ideas.

What I offer are a few potent techniques woven into one practical framework. We need the process only long enough to realise that we no longer need any “techniques”. You’ll see.

If you are happy already, stop reading. Unless you want to know how to remain in that state.

If you’re unhappy, then lets find and press those buttons to uncover your natural state.

You may ask: why another book on success and motivation? There are too many. Perhaps. Lets cut through and remind ourselves that there are around eight main tools that successful people use:

Visualisation, affirmation, self-talk, positive thinking, self-hypnosis, keeping a motivational journal, spirituality and so on.

You’ve probably used one or more of the above at times.

Did you know that successful people use at least four at any one period in their lives?

We’re going to do just that - and more. What we are going to talk about is lasting happiness. A solid, state of peace and strength that grows every day in depth and force.

The science of happiness is a 12 step course, yes. A bible, absolutely not. There are no bibles. The best works are dim reflections of what we already know.

Each step uncovers another part of what you truly know.

Lets eschew new age waffle and fluffy thinking. These simple steps have been there from the very beginning. There is no huge hidden secret, save those we fooled ourselves into forgetting. It’s a science which is magical in its effectiveness. But it is not a magic trick. You’ll be on an adventure both serious and fun, at the same time. On whatever level you approach this science, there’ll always be some subtle benefit that causes changes.

- Kuala Lumpur, 4 July 2007