60. Sly Enemy

The foe of happiness is not malicious people or frustrating circumstances. It is a sly enemy unseen by millions of its victims. The cunning foe is your own unseen reactions. You are unaware of your hundreds of daily mechanical reactions, and so remain under their pounding punishment. If you knew you were hurting yourself with useless guilt or envy would you allow them? Never. So make your reactions conscious, which changes them from punishing to pleasing.

55. Artificial Hell

Another freedom from a life of hell exercise for this week.

Ever notice the multitude of tragic scenes that play in the theater of your mind? You run scenes of getting hurt in flight, of falling into public disgrace, of being jeered by your enemies. Stop attending these imaginary performances. Do not be caught unaware. If one sneaks up on your exclaim, "It tricked me again! Well, I'll be more alert." Snap the scene. Refuse the sinister show. Just as you can fall asleep you can fall awake.

Late Howard Exercise... 46. Permanent Power

Forgot to post the "Freedom from a Life of Hell" exercise on Monday, well here it is:

Weakness can never be happy. Real happiness and real strength go together. So seek true power, for it rescues you from every human hell. Think about strength, but do not think it can be found anywhere in exterior life. You can't find power in friends or money any more than you can find a peach in an apple orchard. Real strength is inner and personal. Memorize that sentence. Emphasize inner and personal. You will never again tremble before anyone.

Bold is all mine, all mine!

39. Natural Way

"Strain is pain. When about to meet people, watch for the precise moment when you fall into unnatural behavior. It is the same moment you want to impress others with your niceness -- though you don't feel nice. Catch that sudden switch to a strained greeting or a faked face. Catch and stop it right now before it takes you over completely. This uncomfortable way will be replaced by an enjoyable ease and skill with people."

32. Go Upward

When you do something wrong, you must always use it to build rightness -- which is the same as happiness. Never permit a mistake to push you downward into pain and self-hate. Instead, allow the error to carry you upward to where you can see why it happened. Maybe you snap angrily at someone, then see its wrongness. Remain with your rightness of seeing its wrongness. That heals you. Each day you will make fewer and fewer harmful mistakes.

This week: New Energy

"Turn harmful emotions into energies for self-healing. Write a list of ten self-punishing emotions such as gloom and a complaining spirit. On the other side of the page make a list of ten pleasant conditions including alertness and enjoyable hours. Inform yourself, "By sacrificing gloom I have its energy for an alert mind." Or, "By giving up complaints I have new power for happy hours." Practice this exercise in which you win by losing!"

Week 3: The Difference

A wise man is one who knows what gives him something and what gives him nothing. Develop this wisdom by reading these statements many times: "Asking how I fell into trouble gives me something but self-pity gives me nothing. Quietly changing my own nature gives me something but trying to be noticed gives me nothing." You will see that there is a difference in what you do with yourself. It is the difference between heaven and hell.

Clear Mind

This week:
"When feeling uncomfortable in a situation tell yourself, 'I need not think these thoughts.' That self reminder is like a flash of lightning at night that reveals the road home. Maybe someone offers you a small bribe in exchange for something you are reluctant to give. While confused and undecided remind yourself, 'I do not need to think these thoughts.' Your cleared mind supplies new thoughts that easily refuse the bribe and prevent the problem." -- Vernon Howard