Whatever You Ask for in Prayer, Believe that You Have Received It, and It Will Be Yours
(Mark 11:24)

Here Jesus is merely teaching us how to do an effective prayer, i.e. one that will be answered. He means that we should imagine we already have the thing. We should imagine how we would feel, and what we would do, if we already had it.

Now why does that work?

You can look at it through several lenses, like the Law of Attraction "spiritual" approach, or the scientific method for the skeptics.

The Law of Attraction hype

Seen through the quite in-hype lens of the Law of Attraction, this method of praying works because we then "attract" the thing in our reality. If we believe we already have received it, the Universe starts responding to this.

The quantum theory

The skeptics who dismiss the Law of Attraction as new-age gibberish should look for controlled laboratory experiments in the field of quantum physics and quantum theory application in other sciences.

In these terms, any thought that isn't congruent with the perceived reality creates a "conflict" in the reality. To solve this conflict, either the thought must stop, or the reality must adjust itself to match the thought.

It's like another world is created when you hold a thought, and reality slowly starts moving in that direction. Hold the thought long enough, and reality will catch up. The stronger the belief, the more powerful the attraction and the faster the reality catches up. But if you hold the thought for too little time, or with too little "passion", it won't be strong enough to generate physical results.

I will just say it again: the fact that thoughts can influence physical reality is has been proven in laboratory experiments in controlled environments.

There is a "vibration" to each thought and to each emotion, and this vibration will impact the reality. If you want to change something, just start "broadcasting" the desired frequency. Whether you do this in meditation, hypnosis, self-suggestion, or prayer (as Jesus suggests, adjusting his language so that his contemporaries would actually understand it) does not matter. Whether you view it through the Law of Attraction or Quantum Physics or any other lens, again does not matter.

Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Discuss this in the Happiness Beacon forums.

After some time, I began analyzing my feelings, watching and being aware of them. I was starting to rationalize and investigate why am I angry, what is really bothering me? And I would find out that, logically, there's no reason to be angry over some trifle or another. Yet I was angry. And then I was getting angry with myself, because I was getting angry over trifles.

Later I realized that anger and frustration are really just indicator lights on my dashboard, showing me that something is wrong. Ignoring anger, or letting it pass, or waiting for it to pass, is a foolish thing to do. I think ignoring anger is akin to driving a car and seeing the engine temperature indicator, or the break fluid indicator, going red, and ignoring it. Keeping driving. It would of course blow up, potentially hurting you and others. It would be wise to pull over, have the problem fixed, then resume your journey.

Anger is to be taken note of, investigated, and dealt with. Strange as it may seem to some people, I am telling the honest truth, I am not kidding, nor exaggerating, when I say this: Anger is something I'm really grateful for most of the times, just like I would be grateful for the indicator light on my car's dashboard that turned on in due time to save me from accidents. I breathe in, and seek the real cause of the anger. Anger is showing me what I need to fix in order to enjoy my life more fully, and to be happy.

Little progress, if any, would have been made in the world, had it not been someone's anger or frustration driving the change and bringing the inspiration and determination to make things better.

I say to thee : be grateful for thy feelings, for they are thy barometer.

Sticking to the car analogy, when you feel good, connected, in the flow - you know that your car is in perfect condition and it will deliver you to where you want to go. When you feel angry, depressed, frustrated - you know that there's a problem with your car, it can get you into a serious accident, and it most likely won't get you where you want to go. So better pull over and take your time to fix whatever issue, before continuing your journey. And be grateful for the indicator light on the dashboard, the light that saved your life.

Discuss this in the Happiness Beacon forums.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
(Matthew 11:15)

Some 3-4 years ago, I discovered The China Study, and sent an email to a few friends recommending the book to them. Some replied something, most said nothing.

A few months ago, one of those friends got interested in healthy eating, and, starting research, he was of course overwhelmed by the sheer volume of contradictory information available. He was asking "why don't they make a study, a proper, detailed study, to identify what's good and what's bad?" And I would tell him that there are plenty of studies out there.

It wasn't long until he found the book and read it, and then he came to me saying "man, I found a very good book, these guys made a study, a proper study, on a large population etc etc". And I said "yes I read The China Study". And he said "then why didn't you recommend it to me?"

I forwarded him the same email I had sent him years back. The fact is, at that time, he had no ears to hear the message. He had different priorities. It just passed by him. Later his priorities changed, so "his ears grew sensitive" to this kind of information.

He who has ears to hear is the man for whom the information transmitted can make a difference. The others have ears, but they are not to hear.

You could say that every message has a certain frequency, and your ears must be attuned to that frequency in order to hear the message.

Unhappy people are usually attuned to "problems", and they see problems everywhere. They have ears to hear about problems, and so they read and watch the gloomy, useless, irrelevant news.

Happy people are usually attuned to "opportunities" and see ideas all over the place. Their ears are attuned to opportunities. Where the former sees a problem, the latter sees an opportunity to solve a problem.

The "problematic" event emits a plethora of different messages on various frequencies. Depending on the frequency your ears are attuned to, you will hear something different from the person near you.

I have spoken. He who has ears to hear, let him hear

Discuss this in The Happiness Beacon forum

Ask your mother: Mom, would you rather be happy, or would you rather I'm healthy?

Ask your significant other: Would you rather be with me, or would you rather be happy? Ask yourself the same question: would I rather be happy, or be with the girl I have a secret crush on?

You might argue there's a logical error somewhere in there. That may be the case. Congrats if you can pinpoint it exactly (can you, by the way?) There's no logical error, it's just how people think.

After a tough job interview, would you rather get the job, or be happy?

I can only conclude that, given the answers, happiness is simply not a priority for most. I think it's safe to say it's way low on the list, low enough that people won't get to it before they die.

How high is happiness on your list?

Discuss this in the Happiness Beacon forum.

Five posts there already:

Anxious vs Unstoppable

The Wall between a Good Day and a Bad Day

The Courage to be Happy

Where Is the Joy?

Taking the Time to Think

Looking forward to seeing you there. The address is http://www.happinessbeacon.com/

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.”
(Genesis 1:27)

Long story short, it means that, just as God is omnipresent, so is man. Just as God is omniscient, so is man. Just as God is omnipotent, so is man. You my dear fellow reader are all that omni-stuff. You are God.

Now to elaborate a little. Like everything in the Bible, this makes perfect sense. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Yet why is it that some people don’t hear? They have their ears, after all. Well, it’s because they are afraid. Afraid of all that power. Afraid that if they admit they can do anything they wish, they will have no more excuses for not doing it. They will have no more excuses for being unhappy. Some people are afraid to be happy.

When you shift gears, what you accomplish is this: you move faster towards your destination, making less noise and using less energy.

Can you do that to your life? Can you shift gears, so that you will reach your goals faster, and at the same time using less energy? You know the answer: YES!

How? Focus of course. Reduce the noise, concentrate your efforts, drop some time consuming plans, use your energy wisely on things that matter. De-clutter.

The thing you’re probably unaware is: a lot of your energy is spent on activities that don’t appear to be energy sinks, and they’re difficult to identify as such. For example, you’re at work, and at some point you get bored. Boredom, as you know, is excess energy which you could use for your own goals. So, what do you do with this excess energy? Check facebook? Check the news? Ping someone on chat? See some “funny” youtube video you got spammed with? Right. Boredom gone, noise done, energy back to normal, progress zero.

What could you have done instead? Meditate for five minutes. Review your todo list and drop some activities from there (not do them, drop them, decide you won’t do them). Walk around trying to gain clarity. Be grateful. Do some exercise.

With all the sinchronicities that happen lately, planetary conscience shift, 2012 apocalypse, global warming and all that, NOW is a great time to shift gears. Press the clutch, shift and enjoy the ride!

So, you live your life, you do your stuff, maybe you go to work and go out with friends, or maybe not. In any case, your life resembles a road. You are on a road, and you’re more or less comfortable on this road.

However, this road has a small problem: it does not lead you to where you want to go. Picture yourself on this road 10 years from now. Are you where you want to be? Honestly? If not, then you’re on a road all right, just not the right one (you already knew that  ).

So you can either continue down this road (if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got), or leave it and take on a new one.

The only small problem when taking a new road is this: between the road you’re on, and the one you’re trying to get to, lies a briery. You needs some guts, and you needs some bleeding. It won’t kill you, a briery can’t kill a man, it can only make you stronger. There’s no way around it, you can only gets on that other road if you goes through the briery.

Two roads and a briery, opportunity in the middle

You must clench your teeth and plunge through it. Bite the bullet! There’s asphalt on the other road, you can shift gears fast there, and it takes you to where you want to go. Or does it? The only way to find out is if you get out there and see for yourself.

The two are different roads, but as they meander (another nice word), they sometimes get closer to each other. There’s still the briery, but it may not be that harsh. When they do get closer, you’ll feel it – it will be like an opportunity, which you must take now, when the roads are close and the briery is small, not later when the roads are farther apart and it’s more difficult.

There is a pattern to switching roads. The briery is always there, the bleeding is always there, the fear and courage are always there. And there are many paths to tread.

An unlimited limited source of energy

Wait, what do you mean “unlimited limited”?

At any given moment, you have a limited amount of energy. You may have the energy to walk a mile, or to work for eight hours straight, or just for one hour. Or you may barely have enough energy to get to bed and fall asleep. Either way, you cannot work indefinitely, or walk indefinitely etc – you’ll run out of energy. So, for all practical purposes, your energy at any given moment is limited.

However, after a few hours of sleep, or after eating some fruit, your energy returns. You have a virtually unlimited supply of energy at your disposal. Because you can refill, you will never run out of energy completely. That means that for all practical purposes, your energy is unlimited.

It would be more correct to say that at any moment you have energy flowing through your life. You take your energy from food, sleep, music, being around someone, doing certain activities. Then you channel this energy towards other activities. You walk, you work, you play football etc. You take energy from somewhere and channel it elsewhere. It is accurate to say that energy flows through you.

Boredom

It will sometimes happen that you have too much energy, and you’re unable to channel it to some activity quickly enough. This creates the feeling of boredom. When you're bored, you're an energy bottleneck. Instead of flowing through you, the energy is stuck. You cannot sit in one place, you feel the urge to “do something”, or to “have fun”, or to “get out” etc. You are bored. You have energy in excess.

Addiction

Where boredom goes, addiction follows. How come? The excess energy (boredom) needs an outlet. It cannot stay in you for long. You are bored. So you turn on your computer or console and play some video game (WoW?  ). You channel your excess energy to your video game. No more excess energy. No more boredom. Problem solved. Game addict!Or you turn on the TV and let it suck your energy. Problem solved. TV addict! Or you go gambling. Addict! Or drink. Or smoke. Addict! Or have sex (with your hand :p or your partner). Addict! Or work. Workaholic! Addict! Etc. Addict!

As a living being, energy flows through you. It comes from some activities and goes to other activities. Any activity has a degree of addiction to it. As a living being, you are an addict.

The way

Yeah, yeah, so everything is an “addiction”, so what?

An addiction is simply an outlet for your energy. You have unlimited energy, and an addiction can suck an unlimited amount of energy from you. It will suck all the energy you put into it. It is a bottomless sack, which you can never fill. Your addiction will literally suck all your energy, if you allow it.

Some people know exactly which their addiction is (the most common are enumerated in the above section). Others don’t, and they’ll say they aren’t addicted to anything. Here’s a trick that will take you one step closer to happiness.

Every time you do something, ask yourself: is this channel worthy of my energy?

All day long, all the time, ask yourself this question. Whatever you do, it will take energy from you. When you sit in your video gaming chair, ask yourself: “Is this game worthy of my energy?” When you light your cigarette or fill your glass, ask yourself: “Could I find a better outlet for my energy?” When you turn the energy sucking TV on, ask yourself: “Is my energy going where I want it to go?” Whatever you want to start doing, ask yourself: “Could I possibly find a better outlet for my energy? Am I ashamed for channeling my energy this way? Do I feel uncomfortable when people bring up this addiction? My energy is precious – is this activity worthy? F**k it! Enough!”

Drug industry (all kinds of drugs) exploits people’s incapacity of finding suitable energy outlets. Entertainment is another industry that does the same, perhaps on a much larger scale.Entertain me! Waste my time! Drain my energy so that I can continue to pretend!

It’s up to you to decide which channels are worthy of your energy, and to allocate your energy to your desired channels, while disconnecting from the others.

Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up  .

What is this loyalty thing anyway? Merriam-Webster teaches us that loyal means:

unswerving in allegiance: as

• a : faithful in allegiance to one’s lawful sovereign or government
• b : faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due
• c : faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product

Faithful in allegiance to the lawful sovereign

Let’s say there’s this king, King 1, ruling over a prosper and happy kingdom. Our friend John Doe 1 is a soldier in this king’s army, loyal to his king. He’s grateful that this king rules so well that his family and all families have bread, cheese, bacon and onion every day, and there’s never a shortage of whiskey in the tavern. The smoke from barbecues often clouds the Sun. Oh. My. God. That’s a happy nation if I ever saw one. Such abundance wouldn’t be possible without the king’s diligent management. John Doe 1 is proud to be in his king’s army, and his loyalty is 100 on a 1 to 10 scale. He’ll happily die right now to save his king’s life.

Now then, this kingdom has its neighbors, which are not so good at administering their resources. They work hard, but they’re poor because of high taxes and King 2’s bad management. They always drool and sigh when the Eastern Wind brings to them the smell of fresh barbecue from Kingdom 1.

King 1 pities the poor neighbors living under the dictatorship of King 2, so he decides to release them, in the name of democracy (in his kingdom, the people chooses the king by vote). He summons his army and makes a grand speech about freedom, democracy, abundance and human rights, therefore lighting the flame of justice in his army’s heart. And to war they ride.

But wait! John Doe 1 feels (as do most of his comrades) that something’s wrong. He doesn’t want to kill the soldiers from Kingdom 2. Why should they pay with their lives for… err… what are they paying for? This is bullshit, he thinks. But he and his peers are bound by loyalty and honor to serve King 1. Should they be loyal, or just drop it? Maybe the king should try some more diplomatic solutions. What are the diplomats getting paid for anyway? But, you see, he must remain loyal. In a disciplined army, a disciplined soldier will obey the order, not discuss or think twice about it. His king has ordered, and so it will be done, for it is the right thing to do. Or is it? Loyalty sounds a bit like cowardice in this particular scenario, doesn’t it?

Faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due

OK, so if that didn’t convince you, here’s another loyalty scenario. John Doe 2 and Jane Doe 2 are very much in love. The romance they live is so perfect, they are so happy, that we are all gathered here to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony. They swear loyalty to each other, for better or worse and all that. As the years go by however, the romance slowly succumbs to convenience. John Doe 3, her fitness instructor, asks her out one day. Shyly she refuses. John Doe 2 also must contain his impulse to ask his secretary if she’d like to be more than his secretary. Loyalty “saves” their marriage, but it takes its toll: their freedom. Their happiness. Bound by loyalty, they refuse new intimate connections which would bring them joy, renewed love and wonderful sensations. After all, why should two people break free and be happy, when they can stay unhappy and be loyal?

Faithful to a cause or ideal

This one is almost too easy  . Inquisition is loyal to the church. Doctors advertising meat consumption are loyal to public health (though all recent serious studies show that meat and dairy cause cancer, heart failure and all other diseases). Mafia members are loyal to their cause to “protect” the neighborhood. Death to the infidels: kamikaze bombers are loyal to their faith. It. Is. Obvious: loyalty has no place in this world.

Conclusion

Loyalty often means to hurt and/or get hurt, to kill and/or get killed. There is always another way, but because it requires some courage which people lack, it is dismissed in the name of loyalty. Some will say that loyalty requires courage (see some examples in the paragraph above), but they actually confuse courage with ignorance and/or cowardice. It is therefore safe to say, my friends, that loyalty is highly overrated nowadays; q.e.d.

“Whoever has, will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
(Mark 4:25)

Now, what’s that supposed to mean? God is supposed to be all fair, this principle can’t be true. Oh, but it is, my friend: the rich get richer, money draws money. The poor get poorer, buried under piles of bills, credit cards, mortgages etc. So, where is God’s fairness?

Everybody heard of the Law of Attraction, right? (if you haven’t, it’s about time you should  ) Well, this bible verse proves that the Law of Attraction was discovered a very long time ago, and Jesus Christ had it figured out. And I will demonstrate this.

Whoever does not have…

Imagine someone, John Doe 1, who lives in a small rented apartment, has a job that he doesn’t like and doesn’t pay that much either. He barely has enough money to pay all his bills, and his landlord has to “remind” him to pay the rent all the time. He can’t afford to eat out, go to the movies etc. He thinks: “When will things be right for me? Why can’t I get a raise? I never have enough money. I can’t ask a girl out, I can’t go on vacation, I’m trapped. I work so hard and my boss gets rich, nobody appreciates me.”

Obviously, John Doe 1 does not have. So, even what he has will be taken from him. Every month he’ll be more depressed. He’ll blame the economy, the authorities, the politicians. His scarcity can only deepen. Where do you think he’ll be in five years?

Whoever has…

Now, imagine someone else, John Doe 2. This guy also lives in a small rented apartment, also has a job that he hates and is also underpaid. He also lives paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to go out. But this guy thinks: “Wow, I am so lucky! I have a steady flow of money, even if it’s not much yet, and I have a place I can call home. I might have been fired with this crisis thingy and whatnot. I might have been sick with this swine flu thingy and whatnot. I am truly blessed. Now, let’s see what’s to be done if I want to ask the new copy girl out.”

Obviously, John Doe 2 has. So, he will be given more. He will figure out a way to get more money for a date with the copy girl. And he will always be grateful. His abundance can only thrive. Where do you think he’ll be in five years?

Conclusion

Although apparently John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 have the same situation, same health, same income, one of them has and will be given more, and the other doesn’t have and he will be taken from.

This is the very essence of the Law of Attraction, concentrated so very nicely in this Bible verse, q.e.d.

The actual proportion of feelings and logic put into the decision process varies from person to person, and even for the same person it's not the same all the time.

How does this matter? What's the difference between people who use more intuition and those who use more logic? Well, those who use intuition and feelings to make decisions tend to be happier than the logic folks. Give intuition a try if one of your goals is to be happy and you don’t seem to make progress as fast as you’d like to .

Right. So where do I start?

If you don’t know how to use intuition, or if you think you don’t have any, you should know that it's actually an innate skill which you somehow forgot. That’s good news. It can be re-learned, and the more it’s practiced, the better it gets.

Intuition is closely related to feelings. When faced with decisions, each option has a different feeling attached to it. The skill is to recognize the feeling attached to each option. After that, the decision is easy.

The best way to explain this is with some examples.

Example 1: Should I go for this new job offer?

You just got a new job offer – to make the example easier, the offer is final, non-negotiable. There are only two options: accept it or decline it.

Your logic is cluttered with facts that make it difficult to choose. It pays better, but you have to move to a new place. You will have a better status (title), but you might just get that in your current job in a couple of months anyway. It’s a big name company that will look great on your résumé, but you've become close friends with people at your current company. All these facts: money, friends, hustle, status, environment, future opportunities, ethics – fight in your head. This creates stress, and you're afraid you might make the wrong decision and regret it later.

Instead of thinking so hard about it, balancing advantages and disadvantages, try another approach. Sit down, take a deep breath and try to clear your head. Then think about the whole situation, how you got there, why you got there. You may find that the situation is the result of several wrong decisions – it doesn't matter now. What matters now is how it can change. Think of each option, and as you think of it, mentally take a step back and notice your feelings as you contemplate that option. Most of the times, one of the options has feelings of easiness, tranquility, relief, maybe even happiness or courage. The other option feels like urgency, rushing, confusion, uneasiness, stress, and anxiety. The decision is simple – go for the good feelings.

For beginners however, there is a pitfall: to mistake the lack of courage for easiness and relief. At the same time, stupidity (trying to fix things that are beyond fixing, or simply not worth your energy investment) must not be taken for courage. Don't worry though. After you practice a few times, you will easily and effortlessly distinguish between the real courage and the fake one. Practice with small decisions at first, until you've built up some skill. When in doubt, give yourself some more time. Minutes with yourself are worth more than hours with friends.

Most times, things will be clear as to what option feels right. But sometimes, no matter how intently you listen to your feelings, all options seem to generate the same unhappy outcome. You may be tempted to choose “the lesser of two evils”. Well, sometimes you may have to do that, but other times there is also another way, which you can't think of right now. Like, for example, if you really have trouble choosing between the two jobs and you feel both like a necessary evil, maybe you should consider changing your career. Maybe it’s too early for the new job, so it's best to stick to the current job until you've sorted things out. Or maybe you should choose the new job, as that will give you more time to sort things out. Intuition based choices are always subjective (and always right ), and they are your decision alone. No matter what friends say, if your heart says otherwise, you have to be brave enough to do what you feel it’s right, and have the courage to assume responsibility for your choice.

You never regret feelings-guided choices, because:

• you did what you thought was the right thing; maybe your logic said the other thing was right, but you thought it was better to be guided by feelings, so you ended up doing what you thought was the right thing after all, right?
• if you had done differently, nobody can guarantee that the outcome would have been better.

Example 2: Outrageous choices

Sometimes intuition will show you outrageous choices as being right. An extreme example would be "don't take a shower today, go on that date stinking , cover up with lots of perfume or something, or call and postpone for tomorrow."  You might think this is too stupid, and take the shower anyway. And then you slip in the shower and hit your head and end up not going to the date anyway, and with several stitches to remind you the lesson for a couple of weeks.

Intuition knows more than logic. These are precious "a-ha" moments that help you build trust in your intuition, and teach you to go for it no matter how stupid it seems.

Example 3: Should I go out to the pub with friends tonight, or see that new movie I bought yesterday?

Again, step back, breathe and think. Which of the thoughts gives you easiness and tranquility, and which of the thoughts gives you uneasiness, confusion, urgency? If none of the two particularly appeals to you, ask yourself why that is. Maybe it’s the wrong movie? Choose another. Or the wrong friends? Drop them. Or is it that you’d like to go out, but are kind of short on money right now? See how you can change that. Or you aren’t short on money either, but just don’t like to pay four times the supermarket price for a beer? Call friends over to your place. Or, maybe you are fine spending money (that’s what it’s for after all, isn’t it?), and you enjoy the company of friends too, but would rather go out with that girl that’s been on your mind? How about calling her? Maybe you want some time for yourself to figure out what you want, no movie, no friends, just you meditating. Find what feels right for you and do that.

A subjective process

Intuition is a subjective process. Choose the options that have feelings similar to:

• easiness
• tranquility
• relief
• happiness
• courage

Avoid the options that feel like:

• urgency
• confusion
• rushing
• stress
• uneasiness
• anxiety

By practicing, you get better and better and within weeks or even days you will start to see things differently. Your state of mind will change. You'll learn that choices that feel right are the ones that bring happiness in your life, not the ones that sound right.