BEING HAPPY!

A Handbook to Greater Confidence and Security

Author: Andrew Matthews

Publisher: Media Masters
Date of Publication: 2000
ISBN: 9810006640
No. Of Pages: 136 pages

About the Authors Wisdom in a Nutshell

Andrew Matthews
An international speaker, best-
selling author and award winning
cartoonist, Andrew Matthews
makes complex issues simple.
The author of Being Happy!, Follow
Your Heart and Being a Happy
Teenager, Andrew Matthews is
published in 29 languages in 60
countries and has Andrew has
appeared on over 3000 radio and
television programmes on 4
continents.
Every person's ultimate quest in life is to be happy. But more often than
not, people struggle finding contentment, peace and happiness in life.
This highly motivational book by Andrew Matthews is written to help both
young and old to find the path to bliss.
This book entitled Being Happy is about the daily experiences in life and
how you can change your attitude towards these to become happy. This
book talks about forgiveness, confidence, goals, success, humor, and
many more. This teaches you how to deal with the daily problems that you
face and how you can address them without spoiling the rest of your day.
More importantly, Being Happy will help you embrace yourself with respect
and love that you deserve. This will help you understand yourself better.
And eventually helps you live life to the fullest.

Andrew Matthews has presented

seminars and keynote speeches
across Australia, Asia, Europe and
North America to over 1,000,000
people. He clients include Shell,
Coca-Cola, McDonalds, the
S i n g a p o r e Po l i c e A c a d e m y,
Johnson & Johnson, the Royal
Australian Navy, Toshiba, Kodak
and Goodyear.

Drawing lighting-fast cartoons as

he speaks, Andrew’s humorous and
entertaining presentations on
"attitude" and "being happy"
provide audiences with the tools Published by BestSummaries.com, 3001-91, 11010 NW 30th St., Suite 104 Miami, Florida 33166
and inspiration to live happier lives. © 2006 BestSummaries.com. All rights reserved. No part of this summary may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior notice of
BestSummaries.com.
 BEING HAPPY By Andrew Matthews
Chapter 1: Patterns
Patterns
The human mind can be compared to an iceberg.
The tip that is visible is the conscious part of the brain,
while the bigger part that you don't actually see is the
subconscious. The subconscious is the quiet part of
the brain that records most of your thoughts and also
influences your actions. More often than not, the
things that you experience in life, specially the
behavior that keeps on coming back, are caused by
the subconscious mind.
Your self-image is the blueprint
of your success.
The habits that you form, be it positive or negative,
are patterns in life that you got accustomed to doing
or experiencing. Some of these patterns that people
get hooked with are:
! Drama Pattern. This is the it-is-not-right-to-
be-okay pattern. When things go smoothly, the
subconscious tells you that this is not right then
something dramatic emerges.
! Accident Pattern. Some people simply have
a way of getting into any form of accident
whenever there is a chance.
! Sickness Pattern. There are people who
have unintentionally scheduled sickness, like
monthly flu or Monday headaches.
! Mess Patterns. Some people just can't keep
anything in order, they are inclined to being
messy all the time.
! Broke Patterns. No matter how much
someone makes, there are those who are just
always out of money.
! Job Change Patterns. There are those who
just can't stay in a single job for a long time.
Life patterns are influenced by the environment that
you have been introduced to. From birth, you already
form behavioral patterns– these are persistent and
tenacious. Your childhood experiences, the
relationships that you form with your parents and the
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situations in your respective families that you were
exposed to are factors that have influenced and
determined the patterns that you have acquired.
Changing patterns may be difficult. This will always
be challenged by resistance. But it is not impossible.
The first step is to recognize this recurring behavior
that you wish to change. Accept it and believe that
you are not stuck with it forever. Simply start talking
positively about yourself. Always reassure yourself
that you can do better and can change your ways.
Sooner enough, you will see yourself creating the
new happiness pattern.
Self-Image
Your self-image is the blueprint of your success. It
determines how you will mix with the world and how
much you will accomplish in life. You are what you
believe you are. You become what you see yourself
becoming.
If you want to see vast favorable results happening in
your life, you better change the way you perceive and
talk about yourself. Though changing your self
image is totally difficult, the following are things that
you can do to help yourself start over:
! Accept compliments. Always say thank you
or words to that effect.
! Give compliments. One of the easiest ways
to feel good about yourself is to recognize the
Talk positively to others and
to yourself.
beauty in others.
! Always speak well of yourself. If you have
nothing good to say about yourself, keep your
mouth shut.
! Praise yourself. When you do something
right, give yourself a pat in the back.
Acknowledge your value.
! Separate your behavior from yourself.
Realize that your behavior is not connected to
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your self worth.
! Treat your body well. It is the only one you
got. Exercise and nourish it well.
! Let people know how you expect to be
treated. Don't allow negative behavior.
! Get around good people. Choose the
people who can influence you positively.
! Work at having pleasure without guilt.
Learn to sincerely enjoy everything that you do.
! Use affirmations. Talk positively to others
and to yourself.
! Nourish your soul. Read books which give
you ideas and inspiration.
! Always picture your mind how you want to
be and not who you are. You will then
necessarily gravitate toward your dominant
thoughts.
“Your mind is the architect of your body
and your body is the reflection of thoughts.”
Health
It is definitely fascinating how your subconscious
mind shapes your health. Every single thought you
have affects your body chemistry in seconds. Some
of the belief systems or your expectations can make
you sick. Every repressed feeling or emotion can
definitely affect how well your bodily function.
As Matthews states it, “Your mind is the architect of
your body and your body is the reflection of
thoughts.” So better think of happy thoughts and
start living a healthy and wonderful life.
Pain
While health is something that you can work on
about yourself, pain is something that you cannot
avoid--it is inevitable. You will experience pain--
whether you like it or not. It is not something that you
can just run away from or assign to yourself or
others.
When you experience pain, learn to approach it
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positively. Pain is simply a hint for you to take a
different direction, change your approach to things
and start to see things differently. Don't keep doing
things that keep you getting hurt. More importantly,
don't allow this experience to destroy the way you see
yourself.
Chapter 2: Living in the Now
Live, Now!
Now is what determines your happiness. The
measure of your peace of mind is determined by how
well you can focus and able to live at the present
moment. Regardless of what happened yesterday or
what will happen tomorrow, now is where you are,
learn to live it and be content with it. This is the key to
your happiness.
Learning to live in your “now” helps you ward your
mind of fear, for fear is the concern of what might
happen next. Always remember, the present
moment is the only time you have so don't waste it.
Live your life at the present moment and let go of the
concerns of the future.
If you are waiting for things, try to do something else.
Don't waste your time just sitting around and missing
the great opportunities just because you are too
hooked up with some results that you are not even
certain of. Detach yourself from the end result.
Remember, letting go of the situation accelerates
results.
Pain is simply a hint for you to
take a different direction.
Happiness
Being happy is a choice you make. It is a decision
that yourself makes. As Abaraham Lincoln once said,
“Most people are about as happy as they make up
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their mind to be.”
Some people try to change the world, the
environment or the situation that they are in just to
be happy and content. But the key to happiness is
on how you see things, how well you accept them,
and how you learn to see the beauty in them.
Sometimes it is not the things around you that you
need to change in order to be happy. Sometimes
you just need to change yourself.
Live your life at the present moment
and let go of the concerns of the future.
Humor
People have said for years that “laughter is the best
medicine.” This timeless adage is biologically and
psychology true. When you laugh, your brain
releases endorphins which give you a natural high
giving your respiratory system a workout the same
as jogging. Laughter, therefore, relieves pain.
Learn to laugh at difficulties as soon as they happen.
As Matthews puts it, “Happy people choose to avoid
waiting too long to see the funny side of their
disappointments.” Try to put humor in your life and
start to take it seriously.
Chapter 3: Your Mind
Toward the Direction of your Dominant
Thoughts
Whether you like to accept it or not, the truth about
your thinking is that you gravitate towards the
direction of your dominant thoughts. You move
toward what you think. You become what you think
you are. Even if you are thinking of something that
you don't want, you will most likely move towards
getting it. Your mind does not work and will not work
Copyright 2006 BestSummaries
on the reverse of an idea.
Therefore, watch what you think. Think positively
and implant in your subconscious only the things that
you like and the things that make you happy.
Visualize yourself already achieving your goals. You
will definitely move towards achieving them.
The Law of Attraction
Your mind is like a magnet. It attracts whatever you
think about, whether positive or negative. As one of
the authors of creative thinking once put it, “We
always attract in our lives whatever we think about the
most, believe in most strongly, expect on the deepest
levels, and/or imagine most vividly.”
The same is true with fear. You will certainly attract
that fear that usually occupies your mind. When you
fear of losing something, you already put yourself in
the position of actually losing it.
This same law applies to relationships. When you
fear of losing that someone you love, you actually put
yourself in jeopardy of losing the one you love. So the
rule is: concentrate and enjoy what you have and
don't dwell on the possibility of losing what you have.
Being happy is a choice you make.
The Power of Words
As your thoughts affect your circumstances, so do the
words that you say. Simply, what you say is what you
get. Therefore it is important that you practice
positive affirmations about yourself, your goals, and
the things you love to have.
For better understanding, Matthews illustrates the
vicious triangle: Our words affect how we think and
how we feel. What we think affects what we say and
how we feel. How we feel influences what we say and
how we think.
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Chapter 4: Goals
Goals
Goals are what keep you going in life. They give you
direction, hope and deeper meaning of existence.
Goals are what make you see how well you
progress, or how badly you are behind.
Learn to laugh at difficulties
as soon as they happen.
Goals keep you guided in life, thus it is important to
have at least one. It does not matter how big or
simple your goal is, what matters most is that you
have one. It will definitely not hurt if you keep many
goals in life. Just be sure to write them down. This
helps you keep on track.
Risk
Naturally, people always take risks. Be it in daily
living, careers or relationships, there are always
risks involved. You also risk something even in
achieving goals.
There is always a risk involved in your every attempt
to achieve your goal. Nature simply puts it that in
order for you to gain something, you need to risk
something. So don't be afraid to take risks. Let
down your guard sometimes and be ready to
welcome new things.
Persistence
In achieving your goals, the name of the game is
always persistence. Persistence is what defines a
mediocre from an excellent person. This defines
also the difference between failure and success.
Persistence is the secret to success. Successful
people believe it as the main ingredient to achieving
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anything. Thus, it is important to learn the art of
persistence. This will take you a long way. Don't
simply quit. Work hard until you achieve your goals.
Chapter 5: Learning From Nature
The Law of Nature
There are laws and principles that govern the
universe which consequently affect people's lives.
Take for example the law of gravity. When you let go
of a bag of potatoes in your hand, it will naturally drop.
There are also the laws that govern the stars, moons
and planets that affect the cycle, tides and change of
seasons.
We are bound by the same laws that govern the
universe. We are all part of the natural cycle and the
changes of the seasons. Thus it is important that we
keep balance as the rest of nature do. We need to
take time to grow and heal, to rest and recuperate just
like all the other living things.
Your mind is like a magnet. It attracts
whatever you think about,
whether positive or negative.
! Taking Time. Just as the acorn tree takes its
time to be a full grown tree, so does your
confidence building. Things just don't happen
overnight.
! Cycles. As sure as the winter flows to spring,
so must your life flow from bad times to easy
times. Just always remember, the tide always
turn.
! Rest. Don't think of yourself as indispensable.
You need rest just as much as soils do.
Relax and Let go (go with the flow)
One character that truly defines living in the moment
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is Winnie the Pooh. He has this easy, accepting and people come and go. Be open to new things. This is
uncomplicated philosophy in life. He doesn't try that how nature does it. Always be ready for change.
hard, he just is.

Hoof writes in his book the “Tao of Pooh”: “When we

learn to work with our own Inner Nature, and with the
natural laws operating around us, we reach the level
of Wu Wei. Then we work in the natural order of
things and operate on the principle of minimal effort.
Since the natural world follows that principle, it does
not make mistakes. Mistakes are made--or
imagined--by Man, the creature with the overloaded
Brain who separates himself from the supporting
network of manual laws by interfering and trying too
hard.”
If you let go of the results, you free
yourself of the burdens and worries
of what will be.
Chapter 6: Today is Important
What you are today is the product of what you have
done years ago. And what you do today will influence
what you will experience in the next twenty years or
so. Life just doesn't happen overnight. It is a building
process. Your effort today will create your tomorrow's
results.
You may go on with being casual and careless for a
while today, but this will surely catch up with you in the
future. The decisions that you make today, the
practices that you do, the way you spend your money,
and every little thing will soon affect yourself and the
way you live.
The wisdom here: now is always the time to start--
regardless of wherever you are or what you have
already done in life. Remember that the effort that
you expend today does make the difference.

Learning to let go is your ultimate key to happiness.

If you let go of the results, you free yourself of the
burdens and worries of what will be. You then
ultimately learn to savor the “now” and live in your
present moment.

Once you learn to let go, you put yourself in a

position to greater power. People who work
unattached to the concern of how much they will
make but are just driven by their love for their work
turn out to earn bigger than others. People who are
least concerned about making an impression are
usually free of depression.

Once you have done the work, take time to relax and
let nature takes its course. Simply learn to let go and
go with the flow. Take time out.

In the same way, it is important to learn the art of

releasing. Let go of the things that you don't want or
the things that do not make you happy. Don't hold
on tight to the people around you. Accept that

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