Heart of Inspiration Newsletter, May 2007

WHO AM I

Quote of the Month
Personal Note from Chris and Dora
Recommended Reading: Accept This Gift
Our Feature Story: Gross National Happiness in Bhutan
5 Step Awareness Exercise: Who Am I

Quote of the Month:

We are all one I know in my heart, this is difficult for my mind. The secret lies in our heart, can it ever be recognized by our mind?

Personal Note:

A warm hello from Chris and Dora!

This is only our second newsletter and we are sending it out to you much later than we had anticipated… Instead of being upset with ourselves and feeling guilty about it we have decided to forgive ourselves, Do you? (practicing forgiveness is a major new step in our personal search for happiness, but more about that next time)

Many things have happened since our last newsletter. We have given our first public course on happiness and it went amazingly well! What we mean by this is that, according to the feedback we received, we managed to deeply touch the lives of most of our participants. And this is our personal objective of every course we give. We do not only want to deliver a nice-to-have course but one that encourages inner transformation and inspires people to take charge of their own happiness.

Chris has recently written for our ‘thought of the month’ section that at the Heart of Inspiration, we believe that every human being has potential - the potential to lead a fulfilling life. No one has to lead a life of mediocrity, or worse dissatisfaction. As humans, we are endowed with a gift that no other species on this planet has, and that is choice. We have the choice to take action and become happier, more fulfilled, and more engaged in life. We can choose to live to our full potential. And we can assure you that we will continue doing our best to help as many people make that choice through transforming our The Art of Happiness program into a self-study handbook on happiness. We aim to complete the handbook by the end of summer. You will find us delivering our courses again as of September. We are also pleased to have received an invitation to deliver the Art of Happiness in Canada in October.

Last but not least, we have redesigned and expanded our website to include testimonials from our clients, inspiring stories, books, free e-books, soulful movies and products, as well as a live forum! Your participation, comments and contributions are essential to keep our happiness initiative alive and evolving. Our aim is to help transform this world through helping individuals find everlasting peace and happiness. We realize that we cannot undertake this initiative on our own. We would really appreciate your effort and contributions to our cause.

One of the first ways you can contribute is through working on and sharing your thoughts and comments on the 5 Step Awareness Exercise to (re)defining Who You Are. You are welcome to post your comments on our new forum or email us your personal experiences. We will be more than happy to publish it in our Inspirational Stories section of the website if you wish to share your learning and experience anonymously.

Wishing you much light & happiness,
Chris & Dora

Recommended reading:

comes from being true to yourself. We received a comment saying yes, but… you can be true to yourself only if you can accept yourself. We replied yes, but… you can accept yourself only if you know who you are. While studying transpersonal psychology, Dora has found the selections in this book to be a major turning point in her ability to perceive her larger Self.

www.francesvaughan.com

Our Feature Story:

Dr. Erik Allgoewer, president of the FAVACH foundation, and a co-producer of the documentary film Gross National Happiness in Bhutan

While developing The Art of Happiness Course, we happened to discover about one country’s unique political strategy called the Gross National Happiness (GNH). The Kingdom of Bhutan is a little known Himalayan country whose government believes that bringing an increase in happiness to its people is as important as an increase in Gross National Product. We have recently met with Dr. Erik Allgoewer, president of the Swiss based FAVACH foundation, who co-produced a documentary on GNH in Bhutan. Erik said he was sent by Helvetas association to Bhutan to serve as a Zonal Medical Officer from 1979-1981. A young doctor with conventional western medical training background and no knowledge of eastern philosophy and healing practices, Erik was truly transformed by his experience in Bhutan. Deeply touched by warm nature and ingenious wisdom of Bhutanese people, he kept close links and followed with great interest its development. Erik found filming GNH a gratifying experience, both in being able to help promote this deeply human political concept to other governments and in paying tribute to his Bhutanese friends. What Erik finds most fascinating about the GNH policy is that its 4 main principles are both in tune with the Bhutanese Buddhist tradition and modern in their application.
To learn more log on to www.favach.org/projects.htm

5 Step Awareness Exercise: Who Am I?

Ask yourself the question: Who Am I? ten times.
Allocate 20-30 minutes for this exercise when you won’t be interrupted. The aim of the exercise is to help you (re)define yourself more fully. Ask the question ten times in different ways, putting the accent on different words: WHO Am I?, Who AM I? Who am I?
Each time note down the first ten answers.
Write down the answers as they come without thinking about them, even if they repeat several times. Be as spontaneous as possible. The answers may include roles you assign to yourself, things you like or dislike, relationships, dreams, aspirations, qualities, but also people, objects or concepts you do not consciously identify yourself with. Make sure you do not leave out any of the responses, there are no wrong responses to this question.
I’m a sum of my 100 responses.
Reflect on and notice any patterns in ways you have described yourself. Do you think of yourself in terms of your relationships, your family, your work, or something else? Have you answered with mostly positive or negative qualities, or both? Are there any answers that you would like to add or change? Why?
If an answer were not a part of me, would I not be myself?
Take your time to think and feel if your 100 responses accurately reflect how you used to define yourself. If an answer you expected didn’t come up, do you still feel like yourself? If an answer you didn’t expect came up, do you feel like a different self? Or like not knowing yourself? Notice any feelings of personal disorientation, of losing part of or enlarging yourself. Remember that throughout our lives we are all evolving and molding ourselves and our identity.
Find a creative way to express your experience.
This could be a way of image, such as painting, collage, photography, mandalas, etc., or a way of words, like journaling, poetry or a letter to yourself. You may choose to focus on the insights that came up for you in the exercise or the sensory experience of the expanded awareness of who you are. We encourage you to share your insights with us either in the forum or via the Inspirational Stories page.

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The Happiness Newsletter is written and produced by Chris Colaco and Dora Sion. If you have any stories to share, questions or comments please send them to: dora@heartofinspiration.com We would love to hear from you!

Any submission of tips, stories, and other content to The Happiness Newsletter and www.HeartofInspiration.com whether by email, mail, or posted to our website indicates your information is so inspirational that you want the whole world to hear about it:)