How To Find Happiness Blog

There have never so many opportunities to start and build a successful business than there are today.

One Million Every Year

Ambitious individuals like you, with dreams and hopes, are starting new businesses today at a faster rate than ever before. Over one million new enterprises are being launched each year, and the rate is accelerating. The opportunities for finding or developing a new business idea are all around you, and with proper preparation, the possibilities for your success are enormous.

No Better Time Than Today

As many as 80 percent of all the products and service in common use today at home, in business and in organizations large and small, will be obsolete in five years. They’ll be replaced by new and better products and services. The rapid development of new technology and the desire of people for new or better or cheaper products or services means that you can start your fortune easier today than at any other time in history.

Avoiding Failure, Assuring Success

However, we know that 80 to 90 percent of new businesses fail in the first three years due to a variety of factors. One of those factors is managerial incompetence. It is an inability to sell the product or an inability to control costs or both. Another major reason for failure is offering the wrong product at the wrong price to the wrong market at the wrong time, or a combination of these. In which case, even the best marketing efforts and cost controls won’t help you.

Determine the Need

The first principle with regard to selecting any new product or service is to determine that it fills a genuine, existing need, that it solves a problem of some kind for the customer, or that it makes the life or work of the customer better in some way. You must be very clear about this.

Sell a Quality Product or Service

The second principle for success with a new product or service is that it must be of good quality at a fair price. And if it is in competition with other similar products or services, it must have what is called a unique selling proposition. It must have some beneficial feature or attraction that makes it different from and superior to its competitors.

Your Area of Uniqueness

We call this its area of uniqueness. And it is central to success in business. No product or service can succeed unless it is somehow unique and superior to any other product or service like it. There is seldom any real opportunity in what is called a “me too” product - one that is just the same as all the others. At the same time, the safest business strategy is to start off with an accepted product that you can improve. In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new business or industry, start off with something that people are already doing, people are already buying and using, and find some way to improve it.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, determine exactly what is different and special about your product or service that will cause people to buy it in competition with similar products or services. Build your entire sales and marketing around this unique selling proposition.

Second, investigate before you invest. Be prepared to look at a variety of different business opportunities until you find one that really excites you before you make a decision to get started.

———————-
Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE!
“Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?”
Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached.
Get it Get it here.

I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insights with a classroom of students. The class was nearly over, and as the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there. With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, “Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important.”

“Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is God’s way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day.” Her eyes beginning to water, she went on, “So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn’t have to be something you see - it could be a scent - perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground.”

“Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the ’stuff’ of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted. We must make it important to notice them, for at any time…it can all be taken away.”

The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.

Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do.

-Source Unknown

The Master Key To Riches

Discipline yourself to do what you know you need to do to be the very best in your field. Perhaps the best definition of self discipline is this: “Self discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

It is easy to do something when you feel like it. It’s when you don’t feel like it and you force yourself to do it anyway that you move your life and career onto the fast track.

What decisions do you need to make today in order to start moving toward the top of your field? Whatever it is, either to get in or get out, make a decision today and then get started. This single act alone can change the whole direction of your life.

Seven Steps to Success

There is a powerful seven step formula that you can use to set and achieve your goals for the rest of your life. Every single successful person uses this formula or some variation of this formula to achieve vastly more than the average person. And so can you. Here it is:

Decide What You Want

Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life. Become a “meaningful specific” rather than a “wandering generality.”

Write It Down

Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Set A Deadline

Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as a “forcing system” in your subconscious mind. It motivates you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true. If it is a big enough goal, set sub-deadlines as well. Don’t leave this to chance.

Make A List

Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

Organize Your List

Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Take Action

The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan. Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going.

Do Something Every Day

Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life every single day.

Action Exercises

1. Decide exactly what you want, write it down with a deadline, make a plan and take action — on at least one goal — today!

2. Determine the price you will have to pay to achieve this goal and then get busy paying that price — whatever it is.

———————-
Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE!
“Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?”
Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached.
Get it Get it here.

Happiness is neither a product of success, wealth or power nor anything else that confers distinction. Happiness is the result of satisfaction. But doesn’t satisfaction comes from achieving what one wants? True but it is important to understand that most of us are not destined to achieve the success that we have aspired to and, therefore, it is important to seek satisfaction from the little things that life has to offer — an pleasurable evening in the company of friends; the affection of one’s children or grandchildren; an article well-written; a word of encouragement from a teacher or superior; the confidence of one’s subordinates.

- Shaukat Qadir

Learn From the Lessons of History

The concepts of military strategy have been studied and written about for more than 4,000 years, going back to the early works of General Sun-Tzu in China more than 2,000 years BC. These principles of strategy that have been developed and perfected over the centuries have direct applications and implications for strategic thinking, both personally and corporately.

Decide In Advance What You Want

The most important military principle is the Principle of the Objective. This principle requires that you decide in advance exactly what it is that you are trying to accomplish. What exactly is your objective? In my experience, fully 80% of all problems in personal and corporate life come from a lack of clarity with regard to objectives and goals.

Clarity Is Critical

Clarity of objective precedes all other elements in strategic thinking. Here are some questions that you can use over and over again to focus and clarify your objectives. The first question is, “What am I trying to do?” The second question is, “How am I trying to do it?” The third question is, “What are my assumptions?” And the fourth question is, “What if my assumptions were wrong?”

Question Your Assumptions

Having the courage to ask these questions, and to question your assumptions, both spoken and unspoken, is a key mark of the superior person. Sometimes individuals avoid questioning their assumptions for fear that they will have to change their minds or do something other than what they started out to do. However, false assumptions lie at the root of almost every failure. The only way that you can root out these wrong assumptions is by carefully analyzing them and discussing them, and then by demanding proof or evidence that these assumptions are still valid.

Project Forward In Your Mind

Another method for clarifying your objectives is for you to project forward and look backward. In other words, imagine that you have already achieved the objective that you are working toward. Project yourself forward in your mind and then look back to the present day, to the present moment. What do you see? What changes could you make looking back from this imaginary perspective of hindsight? This is a key peak performance thinking technique.

Determine Why You Want It

The final part of clarifying your objectives revolves around your identifying the reasons why you want to achieve this objective in the first place. Why is it important? Is it still as important as when you started off? Is this objective more important than any other objective that you could be working on? It is essential that you be clear about the answers to these questions.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to apply the principle of the objective to your personal and business life:

First, take out a piece of paper and answer the question: “What am I trying to do?” What are your goals? What are your objectives? Why are you doing what you are doing in the first place? Is this the very best use of your time and energy?

Second, question your assumptions. What things are you assuming are true about yourself, the people around you and the situation? What if one of these assumptions turned out to be false? What changes would you have to make if you found that your most cherished assumptions were not based on reality, or were contradicted by facts?

———————-
Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE!
“Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?”
Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached.
Get it Get it here.

(or why deliberate discomfort is good for you)

The other day a friend and myself spent 3 hours preparing to do an overnight hike. We packed a huge range of things into two large rucksacks – things to keep us warm, to cook with, to keep us dry, to stop us from getting lost. In fact, all things that I would already have if I stayed at home.

We then had my wife’s father drive us 20 miles from my house and we walked back. And not the shortest route either. Or the flattest. In fact, we went out of our way to make the walk as arduous as possible.

So why did we do it?

It’s a question we pondered as we laboured along under 40 pounds of load, peering bleary-eyed through sweat at the magnificent scenery around us. Why would two grown men, both reasonably sensible at other times, load themselves up like pack mules and ask to be abandoned miles from home?

And as we mulled it over, we started discussing the fact that much of modern life is geared towards making things easier. And there are many benefits to that:

* hot water straight from the tap, no campfire required

* heat on demand, no shivering necessary

* light at the flick of a switch to extend your day as long as you want

* food all in one place so you don’t have to hunt all over

No-one would argue that these are advances that have left us able to conduct more comfortable, fulfilling and hopefully useful lives.

But what happens when we take it to extremes? We must remember that human beings have developed to struggle and overcome. Nature/God/evolution has enabled us to progress this far by ensuring we feel good when we reach a goal or solve a problem.

Our brains and bodies have evolved a wonderfully subtle built-in reward system to keep us achieving. Be it climbing a mountain or cleaning the house, our biology makes us feel good in order to keep us trying.

A vacuum of effort, meaning - and happiness?

So what happens when people stop making effort? When they stop stretching themselves? Take lottery winners for example; a year after their win, their happiness levels are the same as before it. Happiness does not come from having lots of money. Happiness comes from leading a satisfying life despite the fact that you have lots of money and can afford to sit around and do nothing.

In fact, with a little thought it is obvious that happiness does not come from the things that many of us in the West focus on every day. There are millions of happy people around the World who have little in material terms.

Why did we put ourselves through all that suffering?

So why go through step after step, mile after mile of burning muscles and aching backs? Because it made us feel good. And it made us feel good because:

* we set and achieved a goal

* we completed something arduous enough to stretch us and expand our perceptions of our own capabilities

* the exercise released serotonin, and that combined with the exhaustion made us sleep better

* we ached for days, reminding us of just how hard we had worked

Of course our friends and family have stopped talking to us because we won’t shut up about how tough we are, but that’s a small price to pay.

Article by Roger Elliott
http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/bio/roger_elliott.html

Most successful people can be characterized as having very high levels of energy. Since energy is the fuel with which everything is achieved, there seems to be a direct relationship between energy levels and levels of accomplishment. It is hard to imagine a tired, burned-out person achieving much in life. On the other hand, energetic, positive, forward-moving individuals seem to get and enjoy far more of the things life has to offer than does the average person.

Physical Energy Is Basic

We have been led to believe that there is basically one kind of energy. We supposedly replenish this energy by sleeping at night, and during the day, we use it up again. It is as though we are machines powered by batteries, and each night we recharge our batteries for seven or eight hours. However, there are some problems with this view of energy. The biggest problem is that it does not deal with the fact that there are actually three different kinds of energy, each of which is necessary for maximum performance.

The three main forms are physical energy, emotional energy, and mental energy. Each of these energies is different, but they are interrelated, and they depend on each other.

The Sweat of Your Brow

Physical energy is raw energy, coarse energy, bulk energy, what we call “meat-and-potatoes” energy. Your physical energy is what you use to do physical labor. It is the primary energy applied by men and women who earn their livings by the sweat of their brow.

The Source of Enthusiasm

The second form of energy is emotional energy. This is the energy of enthusiasm and excitement. This is the energy that lends sparkle to the life of an individual. This is the energy that is necessary for feeling love, happiness, and joy. Largely, it is your emotional energy that makes life enjoyable for you. In fact, almost everything you say and do is determined in some way by an emotion, either positive or negative.

The Requirement for Creativity

Mental energy is the energy of creativity, of problem solving and decision making. You use mental energy to make sales, write reports and proposals, plan your day and your week, and learn new subjects. Your level of mental energy is a major determinant of the quality of your life.

Conserve Your Best Energies

The reason why most people fail to realize their potential in life and work is because they burn up their energy at the emotional level, or the physical level; therefore, they have very little energy left over for mental activities. Most people burn up their emotional energy through the expression of negative emotions. Negative emotions are like a fire that burns up their energy so quickly that they have very little left with which to think positively and constructively. In fact, one five-minute uncontrolled outburst of anger can burn up as much energy as an average person would use in eight hours of work.

Your job is to think continually about how you can stay calm and positive, and work smoothly and efficient, so you can have more mental energy to do the things that are most important to you in life.

Action Exercises

Here are three things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, take time to identify the different ways that you either use up or deplete your levels of physical, emotional and mental energy. How could you improve in each area?

Second, be sure to get plenty of healthful, nutritious food so you can keep your physical energy at high levels. This is the key to all other energies.

Third, look for ways to conserve your emotional energies by being more relaxed and optimistic in the face of daily problems and disappointments.

The more energy you have, the happier and more productive you will be.

———————-
Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE!
“Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?”
Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached.
Get it Get it here.

How to take the first step in a troublesome task and stop procrastination the easy way:

Some tasks you start without a moment’s thought. Others sit there, gathering dirt until they’re a festering heap of unpleasantness. Why are some tasks so easy to start while others continually get pushed to the bottom of the To Do list?

Stop procrastination and find out how to take the first step in a troublesome task, with minimum fuss and maximum return and learn a couple of procrastination-stopping secrets too. But first, let me tell you a true story about an everyday guy called Mike. (It’s a true story but names have been changed to protect the innocent).

Mike has a problem

Mike’s problem is that he has to get up 45 minutes earlier every morning to take a trip to the gym. Not so unusual?

Well what’s not so usual is that Mike only went to the gym to take a shower. Mike has been doing this for over three weeks now and he is starting to get tired and irritable about his lot in life.

Why couldn’t Mike take a shower in his apartment like normal people?

Mike’s misery

Well, the problem is his shower is combined with his bath. And his bath is full of pans, plates and cutlery. When asked why, Mike replied, “because I have a sore back!”

If you’re failing to see the link between back pain and a bath full of crockery (like I was at the time) you’ll be glad I asked him why. “Because my kitchen sink is full!” Mike replied.

Now is this getting weird or what? When asked why his kitchen sink was full, Mike replied, “because the drain’s blocked!”

The root of Mike’s misery

As it turned out, a month back Mike was washing the dinner dishes and his sink wouldn’t empty. As Mike was tired, he ignored the problem and went to watch TV instead.

Next morning, he took his breakfast dishes through to the bathroom to wash them in the bath. Whilst bending down, Mike’s old football injury resurfaced and he couldn’t complete the task. Unperturbed, Mike figured his back would be better soon and he could wash the dishes then.

After each meal, Mike attempted to wash the dishes but was prevented by back pain. Eventually all the dishes run out, the bath was full up, and Mike was forced to use the gym to shower.

Mike made a simple task into a troublesome task. Don’t be Mike -learn how to take the first step.

Stop Procrastination - How To Take the First Step

Here’s how to do it - it’s so simple, I’m almost embarrassed.

The first step is to make a simple decision - decide to do it now or defer it until later.

Making a simple decision takes a few moments and minimal brain effort, so there’s no reason to procrastinate. But we all do it, so here’s the first stop procrastination secret.

Procrastination Secret One – know your work avoidance tactics

Learn to recognise your work avoidance tactics and behaviours. Mike sloped off to watch TV. What do you do? People get creative when it comes to avoiding troublesome tasks. Much coffee is drunk, papers shuffled, phone calls made, all in vain attempts to disguise the fact you’re avoiding a troublesome task.

Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away. Indeed, ignoring a problem often makes it bigger and nastier, and forces you into all sorts of uncomfortable behaviours or turn of events.

Recognise your work avoidance tactics for what they are and get on with the job in hand.

Procrastination Secret Two – make a task list

If you decide to defer, think through carefully what you need to do later and make a task list so you know what’s next.

Mike’s misery – an alternative story

In another life, Mike emptied the sink to investigate the cause of the block. He decided to call the plumber in the morning and goes off to watch TV.

Morning comes, and Mike phones his friend to find out the number of the plumber he used 6 months ago. His friend can’t remember the number and leaves a message for his partner to see if they have it. And so it goes on. Meanwhile, Mike’s sink is still blocked.

Mike has gone through a convoluted series of time consuming tasks and he has yet to call the plumber!

Careful planning of your task list will throw up ALL steps required to complete the big task, and may trigger thoughts on how to do things better, faster or cheaper.

Minimum fuss, maximum return

Learn from Mike and unblock your drain before the debris begins to pile up. Simply make one decision – do it now or defer it until later.

Stop procrastination before it starts. Recognise your work avoidance tactics and get down to the task in hand. Make careful task lists and follow them. Tomorrow is always a day away.

That’s not too troublesome a task is it?

————————-
By Lyndsay Swinton, ‘Management for the rest of us’ http://www.mftrou.com/
Become an experienced manager, overnight!

There are just a few aspects of life that we can truly control, and it’s useful to know just what those areas are. If you don’t know, you’ll spend a lot of time blaming others for your own failings. Try and exert too much control in areas you shouldn’t and the universe will create some interesting ways to remind of your place.

So be prepared an learn the 10 things in life that you DO control:

1. What you do.

Your actions are yours alone. You choose to make them or not make them and you are responsible for the effects of those actions.

2. What you say.

Likewise, the words you speak (or write) are also consciously chosen. Like actions, they have an impact on your life and the lives of those you contact.

3. What you think.

Yes, there are some subconscious thoughts that you can’t control. But the things that you really think about, your beliefs, your ideals, etc. are concepts you have chosen to accept and believe in.

4. Your work.

Many people like to overlook this one, it being much easier to say “Oh, I’m trapped in my job because I don’t have a degree, experience, etc.” Hogwash! That’s simple a way of denying one’s responsibility in having chosen the job in the first place. It’s your job and you chose it. If you stay (or go), that’s a choice as well.

5. The people you associate with.

There’s a famous t-shirt that states: “It’s hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by turkeys.” Colloquial is very often correct! Your friends can either lift you up or bring you down. You make the decision which type of friends you wish to have.

6. Your basic physical health.

Much about our health is a factor of genetics, environment, and exposure. Much more of our health is simply a matter of the things we choose: diet, exercise, drugs, sleep, routine physicals, check-ups, etc.

7. The environment you live in.

Your house, the condition of your home, the town you live in, the amenities available to you are all things you can control, although some to a lesser degree (i.e., you decide to tolerate them or move someplace else).

8. Your fiscal situation.

Having or not having enough money is a factor of what you make versus what you spend.

9. Your time.

You choose how to “spend” your time and how much of your time to give to various activities. You’ll never get more time than the 24 hours your given each day.

10. Your legacy.

All your actions, words, and knowledge that you share while you are living become the gift that you leave when you are gone.

About the Author:
Jim M. Allen, personal & business success coach. For more ideas, visit
http://www.CoachJim.com or subscribe to re:ACT!, Jim’s bi-weekly
newsletter by emailing: SubscribeACT@CoachJim.com

What is your commitment in life? You may say you are committed to happiness. Every living creature wants to be happy. Whether it is money, power or sex, you get into it for the sake of happiness. Some people even enjoy misery because it gives them happiness !

To be happy, we seek something. But despite getting it, we are not happy. A school-going boy may think that if he goes to college, he will be more independent, free and therefore happy. If you ask a college-going boy whether he is happy, he feels that if he gets a job, he will be happy. Talk to somebody who is settled in their job or business, you already know what he will say! He is waiting to get a perfect soul mate, to be happy. He gets a soul mate, but he now wants a kid to be happy. Ask those who have children if they are happy. How can they relax until the children have grown up and have had a good education and are on their own. Ask those who are retired, are they happy? They long for the days when they were younger.

All of one’s life is spent in preparing to be happy someday in the future. It’s like making a bed all night, but having no time to sleep.

How may minutes, hours and days have we spent our life being happy from within ? Those are the only moments you have really lived life. Those were perhaps the days when you were a small kid, completely blissful and happy or a few moments when you were surfing, swimming or sailing or on a mountain top, living in the present and enjoying it.

There are two ways of looking at life. One is thinking that, “I’ll be happy after achieving a certain objective.” The second is saying that “I am happy come what may!”

Which one do you want to live?

Seeking a guru

Before looking for a guru, it is important to know who is a true guru, and who will guide you to the path of happiness.

One who says he is a guru is not a true guru. A guru is not one who claims authority on you. A guru is not one who dictates terms to you. A guru simply means one who brings more joy, alertness and awareness into your life. He is the one who helps you get in touch with yourself, who reminds you to live in the present moment, who pulls you out of your guilt, agitation, sorrow, anguish and allows you to be yourself. Also, a master lives the values he teaches.

Enlightenment does not come through authority. Somebody cannot command you to get enlightened. Once life blossoms, and love and compassion become a reality, then silence dawns and the transformation happens. That is enlightenment. It is a personal experience.

God is also a very personal experience. It is something akin to pain. If you have a pain in your leg, can you prove it to anybody? Can you show your pain to anybody?

Much the same way, the opening of infinite consciousness is also a personal experience. The basic substratum of creation — you may call it God or any other name — opens up to us more and more as we get rid of the stresses and start living in the present moment. And then dawns surrender.

Surrender is not an act. One cannot “try” to surrender. Most often, one keeps wondering as to how to surrender. And this struggle blocks one from being “in” surrender. Surrendering is in your nature. Just like it is a child’s nature to love toys, candies, and ice creams.

How can one find his true guru? Just be open and keep learning, and when your learning is complete, it becomes obvious. When you’re on the path, don’t worry about the guru. First look at your own life, your own self. Have trust in yourself. And as knowledge unfolds, you’ll find that there is suddenly a lot of gratitude in you towards somebody and then you can accept him as a master.

Live in the moment

Life is 80 per cent joy and 20 per cent misery. But we hold on to the 20 per cent and make it 200 per cent ! It is not a conscious act, it just happens. Living in the moment with joy, alertness, awareness and compassion is enlightenment. Being like a child is enlightenment. It is being free from within, feeling at home with everybody, without barriers.

Don’t judge and don’t worry about what others think of you. Whatever they think, it is not permanent. Your own opinion about things and people keeps changing all the time. So why worry about what others think about you. Worrying takes a lot of toll on the body, mind, intellect and alertness. It is like an obstruction that takes us far away from ourselves. It brings us fear. Fear is nothing but lack of love. It is an intense sense of isolation.

This can be handled by relaxing and doing some breathing exercises. Then you will realise that, “I am loved, I am part of everybody and I am part of the whole Universe.” This will liberate you and the mind will take a complete shift. You will then find so much harmony around.

To find harmony, it is not as if you have to physically seek it by sitting somewhere for years and practise. Whenever you are in love and feel joyous, your mind is in the present . At some level, to some degree, everybody is meditating without being aware of it. There are moments when your body, mind and breath are all in harmony. That’s when you achieve yoga. The art of living lies in the present moment.

(info by Sri Sri Ravishankar from http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEE20050701055931&eTitle=The+Art+of+Self+Discovery&rLink=0)