Recipe For Happiness

I would like to share my own personal recipe for happiness. This recipe is sure to bring you the utmost pleasure and joy in life. Side effects are a more peaceful life, less stress, and an overall wellbeing. This recipe came to me at the beginning of my spiritual journey and has been my guide ever since, even though I would stray from the recipe from time to time as we all do. This recipe only has three ingredients, and the steps are very easy to follow. This recipe is only guaranteed to work if you follow it exactly while any and all substitutions will dismantle the entire recipe. All three ingredients are required so none may be removed. Adding any ingredients will inevitably lead to a longer time for this recipe to come to fruition than necessary.

This is a tried-and-true recipe, and it is time to share it with you. Take this recipe or leave it, just as you would any other recipe. If it sounds delicious and easy to make, go for it. If it sounds too complicated, no need to bother yourself with it. We share the recipes that we Love with the people that we Love as a way of sharing ourselves and we have no hard feelings when our recipes simply don't sound appealing to everyone. This recipe has brought me plenty of joy and I know that it will bring you just as much joy if you are willing to give it a try.

Ingredients:

Love God

Love Self

Love Others

Instructions:

Love God means to Love whatever God it is that you believe in. If you don't believe in God, it can be the Universe, Mother Earth, or Love itself. The importance of this ingredient is to understand that you are not alone and that you are taken care of. Very often in this world and especially while on the spiritual path we can feel alone and isolated. This ingredient helps us with our feelings of loneliness. It also teaches us to put trust into something greater than ourselves. It helps to show us that all is well.

Love self means to Love thy own self. No need to explain just how many of us are lacking any form of self-Love and practice self-harm on a daily basis. You are just as worthy of Love as anyone else in the universe so believe it and start treating yourself how you deserve to be treated. Don't know how to Love yourself? We live in a world where any information we need is at our fingertips with a simple search. There are a million ways to practice self-Love, simply find what works for you and go all in.

Love others means to Love everything and everyone that is considered "other" than you. This is not limited to humans but applies to everything and everyone within the external world. If you are not sure what falls under this category, just ask yourself "is this me?" and if the answer is no, then it is "other". This ingredient has multiple purposes, many of which won't make sense to you, and you don't really need to know anyway. Just practice Loving others and the meaning will be revealed when the time is right. 

It is VITAL that these ingredients are treated equally in every way. These ingredients are not ordered in any way shape or form. All three are to be practiced equally and without prejudice. There can be no hierarchy or order for that would be changing the recipe and as stated prior the recipe will not work if it is changed. Love God equally to Loving self and equally to Loving others. All three Loves are equal in every way. 

Lastly, we should explain what Love is as to weed out any ideas, opinions, and concepts of Love. Whether or not you are religious and whether or not you believe the Holy Bible to be true, there is a very accurate description of just what Love is within the bible. Most of us have heard it and some of us have used it in our wedding ceremonies. 

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

- Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (ESV)

Love does not contain judgement and Love does not contain condemnation. Love is not hierarchal. Love does not choose sides or favorites. Love is not a reward or a punishment. Love is eternal, Love is unconditional, and Love needs to reason. Love just is. Love God, Love self, Love others unconditionally without exception and without end. If you follow this recipe all of your woes will fade away into the abyss and you will be left with a feeling of bliss that you once knew but forgot existed. Time for this recipe to be complete will vary between individuals based on conviction and effort put into the recipe. For some this recipe could be instantaneous and for others it could take years. It all depends on the individual. As long as you follow the recipe, you will surely find the happiness that you seek. Love and Peace!

Generational Karma

As we learned in the karma post, karma is cause and effect. Generational karma is everything you learned from your parents and family (cause) which made you who you are today (effect). There is a very simple method for being liberated from generational karma and in effect being liberated from your own karma along the way. The three A's are an easy way to remember how to do this.

The first A is to be Aware of generational karma. We can't change something if we aren't aware of it. If we don't want to be an asshole to people but are unaware of behaviors that cause others to think we are in fact an asshole, we are unable to alter our behavior. It is only by becoming aware of the fact that we have behaviors that make us appear to be an asshole to others, that we are able to change them. Awareness applies to everything within our life including generational karma. We have beliefs, behaviors, mannerisms, thoughts, personalities, identities, and fears that we learned from our families. Most of who we are was learned at a very young age by watching those who raised us. Offspring naturally watch their parents to learn how to live and we see these behaviors throughout all of nature. It's how birds learn how to fly and how predators learn how to hunt. 

The second A is to recognize and Acknowledge. By recognizing our own beliefs, behaviors, mannerisms, thoughts, personalities, identities, and fears and acknowledging that they were learned from watching those who raised us, we are able to see the cause and effect. Why am I afraid of spiders? Because I learned to be afraid of spiders from my parents. Our brains are advanced enough to learn what to fear in order to keep us alive. When those who raised us showed us their fear of spiders, we subconsciously became afraid of the same things as a survival method. Therefor I am not truly afraid of spiders, it is simply a learned behavior, and anything learned can be changed, altered, or even unlearned. This applies to every concept that we think we are and every belief we think we have. By recognizing and acknowledging, we are able to transform it in whichever way we desire.

The third and final A is to Accept it. Why am I so anxious all the time? Because I learned to be when I was young. Why do I have so many fears? Because I had been taught them when I was young. Why can't I do anything right? That's just a belief I was told by someone when I was young. Who am I? I am not any of the things that I was taught when I was young. I am not my beliefs, behaviors, mannerisms, thoughts, personalities, identities, and fears. Who am I without any of these things? I don't know and I accept that! Even if I don't accept it and I fight it, that is still a behavior that I was taught when I was young.

Releasing generational karma is not about righting any wrongs or doing enough good to outweigh all the bad your ancestors did. Releasing generational karma is simply about the three A's. Be Aware, recognize and Acknowledge, and lastly accept it. The path to liberation is not found through "finding yourself" or "becoming enlightened" or "attaining anything". How can we find who we already are? How can we become enlightened when we already are? How can we attain anything when we have already have all that we need?

 The path to liberation is found by letting go of everything that we think we are and by letting go of everything that we think we possess. It is only by removing everything that is not us, that we can see who we truly are. When we see who we truly are, we are able to see karma no more. That's not to say we have to get rid of everything we are permanently. Once we see who we truly are without everything that was taught to us about who we are, we are free to keep what we like and simply discard anything that serves no purpose in our lives anymore, such as our irrational fears, harmful behaviors, and self-limiting beliefs.  Love and Peace, friend.

Rules

Rules, rules, rules. Should we count them all one by one or a thousand to one? Rules everywhere, rules for everyone, and rules for no one. Rules rule our day, rules rule our night, and rules rule our life. Rules are made to be broken; rules should be honored. Rules for some and rules for all. Rules for you and rules for me. More rules for them, since we don't like them and less rules for us since there's nothing wrong with us. Ruled by a ruler with a wicked ruler, who is ruled by a higher ruler while ruling the lower ruled. Enough rules to go around with plenty to spare. 

We have rules for when and what to eat, rules for meat, and rules for wiping our feet. Rules for our hair, rules for our bodies, rules for our genders: what to like, how to dress, and what color is the best. Rules at home, rules at school, and rules at work. Rules for private and rules for public. Rules to say excuse me and bless you. Rules for how to act in social settings. Rules for swimming, rules for sports, and rules for court.

Rules for how to drive, rules for how to bike, and rules for how to walk. Rules for how to behave, rules for caves, and rules for what to do with graves. Rules for dates, rules for mates, and rules for those who masturbates. Rules for pets, rules for cigarettes, and rules for statuettes. Rules for what to think, what to say, and what words not to say. Rules for charity, rules for labor, and rules for pleasure.

Rules from religion, rules from holy texts, and rules from God. Rules from the priest, rules from the bishop, and rules from the rabbi. Rules for holidays, rules for birth, and rules for death. Rules for emotions, rules for spontaneity, and rules for calendars. Rules for space, rules for time, and rules for science. Rules for cults, rules for clubs, and rules for groups. Rules for homes, rules by the H.O.A., and rules from the police. Rules from the government, rules on political parties, and rules on freedoms. Rules on jury duty, rules on tickets, and rules on parking meters.

Rules on homeless, rules on those with homes, rules on those with homes helping those without homes. Rules on giving food to people, rules on homeless shelters, and rules on living in cars. Rules on loitering, rules on sleeping in public, and rules on sleeping in tents. Rules on trains, rules on planes, and rules on busses. Rules on how to wipe an ass, rules on public display of affection, and rules on nudity. Rules on sex, rules on dating, and rules on marriage. Rules we know and rules we don't know. Rules that are fair and rules that are unfair. Rules that are spoken, and rules that are unspoken.

Rules from parents, rules from teachers, and rules from leaders. Rules from siblings, rules from grandparents, and rules from aunt and uncles. Rules from cousins, rules from friends, and rules from roommates. Rules for ourselves and rules for others. Rules for who we need to be, rules for who others need to be, and rules for what society needs to be.  

Rules for concert halls, sports arenas, and museums. Rules for libraries, for movie theaters, and casinos. Rules for arcades, the mall, and restaurants. Rules for movies, rules for books, and rules for art. Rules for music, rules for play, and rules for sports. Rules for math, rules for science, and rules for langue. Rules for words, letters, and symbols. Rules for land, rules for sea, and rules for the air we breathe. Rules for the water we drink and the food we eat.

With so many rules, we can go on for days and days. So many rules, so little time. Rules to rule the ruled who believe they are living with freedom through their free will, even though freedom and free will have rules. Free will is ruled by nature, free will is ruled by nurture, and free will is ruled by experience and perspective. How many rules can we find in this world if we try? Thousands, millions, or maybe even billions. With so many rules, how do we ever have time to do anything aside from making sure we are following all of the fucking rules?

How are liberation and freedom possible with so many rules? How is anyone able to be free in a world ruled by rules? Will we ever be free? Follow the rules, play by the rules, and everything will work out according to plan. Says who and what will work out according to who's plan? Does anyone know anything or are we all just too busy giving each other rules? Who is the master rule maker and who made them the master rule maker? What do we do when the master rule maker breaks their own rules? Are we still supposed to follow the rules even when the master rule maker doesn't? How do we know? What are the rules about which rules to follow and who has to follow them and for how long?

So many rules. Is anyone exhausted from constantly trying to follow all these rules? Is anyone else exhausted trying to figure out where all these rules even came from or why we're still following them? I say no more rules! We don't need them, and we will never ever be able to follow them all. Most of the rules contradict each other anyways so we're always running around in circles making sure not to break them even though we can break some by not breaking others. 

You know what heaven is not? It is not a place with any fucking rules. You know what hell is? A place with infinite fucking rules. We are so terrified of breaking all the rules and being punished that we never stopped to consider that we are in punishment right now by living with all these rules. Let go of all the rules and the punishment goes away. Even if there is punishment in the end for abandoning the rules at least we get to live in peace and quiet without any rules until that day comes. Love and Peace!

Hate

In a world where Love is feared, the illusion of hate appears. In a world where Love is feared, hate is embraced. In a world where Love is feared, hated is worshipped. In a world where hate appears to take over, it seems to be hard to Love. Love is feared therefor we embrace its apparent opposite which we believe to be hate. It's so easy to hate in this world. As we look around the world, we believe that we can see hate all around us. Wars, cages, slavery, oppression, and bigotry. At the center of hate is fear. If we were to be told that Love is all there is, we wouldn't believe it. We believe that we can see hate, we believe that hate is all around us, and we believe that we are capable of hate. We believe that if we are capable of hate then so are others. There is no hate, hate comes from fear and fear isn't real. There is only Love and fear and the latter is an illusion. 

Love is all there is. The belief in fear is what makes an appearance in our world in the form of hate. People appear to act from a place of hate, when in reality they are acting from a place of fear, the fear of Love. Not our concepts and ideas of Love, but of true Love. True Love has no rules or laws, true Love has no exceptions, true Love has no conditions, true Love is eternal. We all have conditions on who we give our Love to and we all have rules for our Love. We all put conditions on our Love. We only Love our spouses or partners if they are faithful to us and treat us well. We only Love our parents if they were good to us and always there for us. We only Love our friends if they treat us right.

Many of us find it so much easier to Love our pets or objects than to Love other people. We Love our pets unconditionally but if a person is mean to us, we take our Love back from them. Have you ever Loved a person without any conditions or exemptions? Or is there always an exception? Is there always a condition to your Love? We have limits to our Love, we believe that Love has an edge and therefore we can reach the edge of Love so we put an edge on our Love. Love is edgeless, Love is boundless, Love has no beginning and no end. Love is eternal and timeless. It is the fact that you don't believe that Love is eternal and unconditional that causes you to limit your own Love. Since you believe that Love is limited to you, it is only fair that you also limit your very own Love as a way in feeling in control and having power over Love.

When you free your Love from within and stop being afraid of Love, it releases the illusion that Love has an end. When that illusion is released, all other illusions fall away. All fears come from the fear of Love. Most of us believe that humanities greatest fear is death. The fear of death comes from the fear of being punished. We hope that we will not be punished when we die but we fear that we will be. Why else would we fear death? We only fear death because we fear what punishment may await us after. We fear punishment because we fear Love, we fear Love can and will end and when it does, we will surely be punished for all of our mistakes and atrocities. This creates massive stress and tension which is released on the surface level of hate. 

We are waiting for the day that Love runs out on us and leaves us all alone. We are always looking for proof that Love is going to abandon us. We are always looking for proof that Love never cared. We are always looking for proof that Love doesn't exist. We believe that death is the final proof that Love isn't holding us and protecting us. We look for disease and heartache as proof that Love doesn't care. We refuse to look in the heartache and disease because deep down we know that Love shines from within that pain and heartache. Love is always here, Love never fades, Love is eternal, and Love is unconditional. We cover our Love with our fear, we hide our Love with our fear, we ignore our Love with our fear, and we deny Loves existence with our fear. Our fear of being punished by having Love taken from us. We are pure Love, if we lose Love, we lose ourselves. We fear losing ourselves, so we fear death which we view as the loss of ourselves, the loss of Love. 

We give into fear and that fear presents itself as hate. We use the "evidence" of all that we and others do as proof that hate is real and therefor Love is not. How can there be Love where there is hate? Those of us who don't believe in God simply don't want to believe that God could or would exist that would allow hate and evil in the world. If there is a God that allows hate and evil, non-believers would rather be punished than to worship a God who allows hate and evil. Those of us who do believe in God only believe in God in the hopes that God will save believers from punishment. We fear punishment therefore we need God to save us from that punishment. Every religion is a release from punishment. Get rid of the fear of punishment and the need for religion goes along with it.  Get rid of the belief that Love is conditional and that you can ever do anything to lose Love and the fear of punishment vanishes. The fear of death vanishes. All fears vanish until all that is left is Love in its purest form stripped of all our misconceptions of it.

There is nothing to fear. Love cannot end, Love will never end. If Love appears to end, it is only an illusion of fear and not Love. We limit or Love due to the fear of Love being taken from us. When we limit our Love we believe that it is being limited to us. If we want to experience the full embrace of Love we need to embrace Love completely within ourselves. We could Love without end, we could Love without conditions and exceptions. We could Love any and all. We could Love everything and everyone. We could Love infinitely. If there is anything or anyone that we determine is undeserving of Love, we are suppressing the Love from within and hiding from it, we are allowing our fear to be in control. Follow Love, allow Love to be, and flow in Love and Love will be shown to you. You will feel Love flowing out of your heart in a never-ending fountain. You will see Love flowing out of the hearts of all beings in a never-ending fountain. You will see everything flowing from Love. Everything flows from Love and Love flows from everything. Love and Peace! 

Violence

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

What has violence ever done for anyone? What good has ever come from violence? Has anything ever been solved through violence? Has any significant change resulted from violence? Violence never results in peace. Violence never results in harmony. Violence never resolves anything. Violence only leads to more violence.

Where does violence come from? Anger, hatred, wrath, unforgiveness, bitterness, judgement, condemnation, and a need to control others. Deep down violence comes from a place of pain. We humans want to hurt others when we are hurting ourselves. None of us want to feel alone. We are a social species. When we feel alone and feel pain within ourselves, we unconsciously want to inflict pain onto others so we can know that we are not alone in our own pain. That is one way we feel like we are part of the group is by experiencing emotions and experiences with others. We join support groups, so we know we aren't alone in our pain. We go to addiction meetings, so we know we aren't alone in our struggles. We go to our religions to know we aren't alone in our faith.

There are some of us who only know violence. There are some of us who choose violence. There are some of us who are always looking for a fight. There are some of us who can't go anywhere without having some sort of confrontation. There are some of us who don't think they want violence but always seem to find it. There are some of us who are in a lot of pain and just want the pain to stop in any way possible, even if it means hurting others to feel a little less alone. How do I know this? Because I used to be a violent person. I didn't believe that I was choosing violence, but violence always seemed to find me or so I thought. 

I grew up in a home where there was nothing but violence. Violence was all I knew. I was almost murdered multiple times by the time I was a teenager. I had cracked ribs, broken arms and legs, fractures, sprains, contusions, and a concussion all before I was even a teenager. I hated violence and I didn't think that I was out looking for it, but I also believed that was just how the world was. I do not tell you this to pity me or feel sorry for me, I'm ok, I made it out, I am safe now and I now live a life of non-violence. It has taken me many years to break that cycle and my old habits and learned behaviors, but I have learned through personal experience that violence is not the way to go and only results in more misery. 

I used to lash out at every one all the time, I was the person who would scream and curse at complete strangers just because they got in my way or looked at me wrong. I have been in physical altercations from time to time. Violence was all I knew; I had never known peace. Peace was something I had to learn for myself, peace wasn't something that was ever taught to me. I have been on the side of violence, and I have been on the side of peace, and I can say with all certainty that peace is far better. For those of us who haven't experienced peace or were never taught peace and have only ever known violence, we didn't choose the path of violence, it was forced upon us and taught to us. Deep down none of actually want violence, deep down we all want peace. Some of us just weren't lucky enough to ever be shown peace by anyone, or at least very little of it.

If we don't have any peace as a child and only know violence as child, we grow up into adults without peace. Once we are adults, everyone believes that we should just know better and if we are violent, it's due to our own selfishness and lack of empathy. As adults we lash out because it is all we have ever known and then everyone condemns our actions and we become outcasts which only increases the pain which in turn increases the violence. Anytime I yelled at a stranger, it wasn't actually the stranger I was mad at, I was simply in a shit ton of emotional pain and had no idea what to do about it, so I yelled. I was never taught how to process or handle my emotions by anyone. The truth is I just wanted someone to care, I just wanted someone to give a shit about me, I just didn't want to feel so fucking alone all the time. Obviously anytime I would yell at people, it would only cause them to yell back at me and insult me the same way I had insulted them.

I always felt like if someone had just asked me if I was ok while I was yelling and screaming and actually showed some compassion towards me, I would probably stop unleashing my rage onto them. Sadly, I never had stranger ask me if I was ok, so I never found out how I would react, but I did try this technique on someone else. I was out in public one day, and I had a woman come up to me and start screaming at me. Normally I would scream and yell right back but, on this day, so caught me completely off guard because I had no idea what I had done to make her so mad, she just appeared out of nowhere and started screaming at me. It was the fact that I was so confused about the confrontation that It was impossible for me to get mad. Then the strangest thing happened, out of nowhere as if coming from somewhere unexplainable I just said "are you ok?" but I said it sincerely, I didn't say it in a sarcastic or condescending way, just a genuine "are you ok?"

If it had not happened to me, I wouldn't have believed what happened next. This angry woman who was foaming at the mouth so to speak and was screaming at the top of her lungs just stopped dead in her tracks. She immediately stopped screaming and just stood there a moment as if trying to make sense of what just happened. After a couple minutes so very slowly and quietly said "no, I'm not ok". I didn't know what to do, I had no idea how to respond, I was not expecting this result. I said the only thing I could think of saying which was "would you like to talk about it?" She immediately broke down into tears. She then told me that she had just been diagnosed with cancer and she didn't know how she was going to tell her family. There was nothing I could say or do so I just listened. After she was done talking, I told her I was sorry to hear that, and we went our separate ways. 

This happened several years ago and to this day this memory is one of my most vivid memories and is seared into my mind. If I hadn't been caught off guard, I definitely would've yelled right back at her and probably called her a myriad of names which would have only resulted in causing her even more pain. By simply remaining calm and genuinely asking her how she was doing, she was able to calm down for a few moments and take a breath. I have no idea, what kind of impact I had on her if any. I have no idea what ever happened to her. I never saw her again. All I do know with all certainty is she was in pain, and I did not make it worse. Maybe I helped, maybe I didn't but I do know I did not contribute to her pain. 

Some of us have never known peace and have only know violence. Some of us are just having the worst day of our lives. Some of us are in severe pain. Some of us are all alone. Some of us don't even know what Love feels like. Some of us just want to be accepted. The next time you have an encounter with someone who is angry or violent make the decision to see them as someone who is in pain and have some empathy for them, ask them if they are ok. You would be amazed on how just three little words can change someone's day or even their life. Simply ask "Are you ok?"

For those of you who don't know peace and have possibly never known peace. You are not alone in your pain. For those of you who have only known violence. You don't deserve violence. You deserve peace. You deserve Love. I'm sorry that you have had to live your life never knowing peace. I'm sorry that you were shown violence and cruelty, you never deserved that from anyone. You deserve so much better. You are Loved. Feel free to reach out to me, just go to my contact page here and send me a message. You can use a fake name if you'd like, it's not important. If you just want someone to listen to you without feeling judged, I'm here. I won't even respond unless you ask me to, but I will read your message. I care, that's why I am here, I made this site for you to have a place where you can be safe even when you have nowhere else. This is a safe place. You are not alone. Love and Peace my friend!