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According to a 2016 study conducted by The Harris poll, which was titled "How happy are americans?" it revealed that American happiness in 2016 was calculated at the Happiness Index number of 31/100. That number, which was at 34 in 2015, has hovered in the low- to mid-30s since Harris began calculating it in 2008. According to the folks at The Harris Poll; breakdowns, show that women are happier than men, coming in at 33/100 (women) to their 29/100(men)

People whose annual income is between $50,000 and $74,999 are happier than people who earn between $75,000 and $99,999 (32 vs. 30). And people with a college degree are happier (33) than those without (30). The South is the happiest region (32), 65+ is the happiest age group (an alarming 37 lol) and married people are happier (34) than unmarried (28). Having a child under the age of 18 in one’s household makes no difference at all. People who are registered to vote are happier than average (32), and so are people who live in the suburbs (also 32). Click HERE to view questions of this survey on The Harris Poll website.

But Wait does that mean my happiness is based on status, opinions and material possessions?

Well, in America yes it would seem that it is very dependent on what you have in your possession. NOw isn't it interesting that in this day and age we tend to focus more on the outer mask that is presented to the world, and discount the inner masks and walls we create in our mindset and subconscious?! NOw obviously, other countries have this issue with a similar mindset as well, however this study focused on the U.S.A, so here is where I will shine some light, but with a broader brush and scope in mind.

The first problem I have would be with the term happiness, and its recognition as a mood, feeling, or even as a goal to be attained. According to dictionary.com mood is currently defined in the following ways:

a state or quality of feeling at a particular time: What's the boss' mood today?
a distinctive emotional quality or character: The mood of the music was almost deathly
a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude: ie; the country's mood.
a frame of mind disposed or receptive, as to some activity or thing: I'm not in the mood to see a movie.
a state of sullenness, gloom, or bad temper.

It also defines feeling as:

the function or the power of perceiving by touch.
physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste, or smell.
the general state of consciousness considered independently of particular sensations, thoughts, etc.
a consciousness or vague awareness:
an emotion or emotional perception or attitude:
capacity for emotion, especially compassion:

Given these definitions, it is easy to fit happiness into both the feeling and mood categories. However I would like to illuminate what happens each time we refer to happiness in this way.

As we recognize happiness as a feeling or mood, we subconsciously categorize it as fleeting, and in a constant elusive state of flux. When this becomes the accepted belief, it soon begins to play out in our everyday physical reality/movie, with a title of "The Never-ending Quest for Happiness." What do I mean by that? The moment you identify your happiness as stemming from a material item or life circumstance, the brain and emotional heart create an invisible anchor (aka heart string) to that particular item, situation or event. As soon as the initial appeal of the item wears off, or the emotion of the event fades, or we lose out completely on these things, then our happiness is also gone by the wayside.

Every time we receive a present, a compliment, kind word or moment of clarity we end up on cloud nine (9). Every time we receive a piece of disappointing news, a bad deal (aka shafted), cut off on the highway, etc we immediately feel pain, and must desperately search to end this pain as quickly as possible, and get that feeling of being happy back as quickly as possible. After all, isn't it is entirely too difficult to sit with any sort of emotion that isn't happiness for too long! I mean, come on, who wants to be sad or uncomfortable...especially right right?! WOW, honestly that is a very exhausting way to live daily life! Constantly chasing the next fleeting moment of happiness, and all the while trying to escape the feelings of boredom, sadness, loneliness, etc. No wonder we tend to be so mentally exhausted by Tues afternoon, just waiting for the weekend and dragging ourselves across the proverbial friday finish line, only to arrive at Sunday morning, already upset the weekend is coming to a close. Followed by Sunday afternoon's session of "Let's be frustrated that it's almost Sunday night pity party." Only to arrive at the "Ugh, I can't believe it is sunday night, and I have to face MOnday morning yet again!" buffet line of negativity and depression!

Now you may be amongst those like myself who do not view or live the week with that mindset, which is awesome, nut do not think you are unaffected by the collective unconscious of millions of people who do in fact indulge in that mindset on a weekly basis. (That only works out to anywhere between 224 million to 256 million people, no big deal!)

Even if the number of people was only about 30%, that would still be an astronomical number to deal with.

To have the perception that your happiness is determined by things and situations is very dangerous, because the inherent, and intrinsic characteristic of all feelings and moods, as well as physical material items, are that they are temporary in existence and will without a doubt be lost in any given moment. Thus meaning that any feeling of happiness that was produced in that moment will then be lost just as quickly as it came. Easy come, Easy go as they say, which actually works to our benefit in this instance.

I would like for you to consider for that notion that we all have been under a common misconception, when it comes to Happiness! Instead of perceiving happiness as an emotion of feeling that stems from the attainment or enjoyment of external circumstances, Let's begin to recognize Happiness as a state of being, that emanates from deep within our subconscious, and permeates through each dimension of our being, and that feeling is what allows us the unconscious to then conscious ability to manifest that state of being on this physical plane, in the form of money, cars, food, friends etc.

Now I understand that may seem a bit foreign to a lot of people, but stay with me here for a little while, and it will either illuminate a new paradigm, or reinforce your current thinking. Again I understand how easy it is to categorize happiness as a feeling or a mood since we can easily point to that funny cat video on youtube that makes us laugh each time, the friend who helps bring a smile to our face , the christmas or birthday present that was the exact thing we always wanted and lit up our world. I also understand how easy it is for violent images, offensive language, and callousness to invoke the feelings of sadness and even depression, and how deep that rabbit hole can lead us at times. However, consider for a moment just how temporary and fleeting these situations and circumstance can be. Oh sure, there are times when the uncomfortable situation or circumstance may seem like it is dragging on forever, and the pleasant times seem to fade quicker and quicker, yet no matter how overwhelming, these things pass from our lives like the day passes into the night.

That being said if we continue to treat happiness in the same manner as these fleeting life circumstances, we will find ourselves continually chasing the ever elusive feeling. Each day will start to be a grand quest to find and obtain the elusive happy emotion,, all while avoiding the persistent emotions of sadness and depression. That is a losing quest each day, because as you happen to obtain that small golden nugget of happiness and celebrate the reaching of your goal, there are the moments of negativity, sadness, and pain just around the corner ready to push their way into your life.

Now I am in no way saying that you should avoid all manner of things that cause the invocation of pain, sadness and depression, since that would be almost impossible. What i am suggesting, is that we begin to recognize the true source of our happiness, and where the source of is located in relation to our lives here on Earth.

When you come to the realization that happiness indeed permeates from the spark of your soul/the force within, you then become attuned to those things that cause your energy/emotional levels to be in a state of flux, and confuse your state of being with a state of trying. Within this realization also comes liberation from the ebb and flow of life and the repetitive cycle of mundane life events.

OK so wait, how can I just BE happy?!

Well my friends you simply focus on the truest YoU, that you are able to connect with. If you close your eyes for a moment, and focus on the inhale and exhale of your breath, you quickly realize that all manner of matter has faded away. You can no longer see the walls around you, the people have vanished and the floor you are standing or sitting on have disappeared as well. (Try it for a brief minute) Now you may have still be haring sounds around you, but recognize these are only frequencies and vibrations you are picking up through your inner ear and your mind is translating those vibrations into a known language or form of communication. You may have also felt the floor underneath you, and this is also frequency and vibration being translated by the body as a solid floor. However keep in mind that the "solid" floor is comprised of atoms that are always vibrating, because everything is always in a constant state of vibration. These atoms however are so densely compacted together that it causes the vibration of these atoms to move at slow enough rate, so as to be perceived by the mind as something solid. We have been taught that we should refer to this solid form as a floor or in the case of the outdoors, the ground. So the mind begins to learn to perceive this wavelength of endless 4th & 5th dimension information and focus it to a point of singularity in the 3rd dimension which our minds can then translate as the floor. So this 'solid' floor is but a mere perception of the mind, and perhaps it is not quite as 'solid' as we have taught to believe.

Now go back and close your eyes, and given this new information, see if you can recognize how/if that alters your experience. You should now be able to recognize that your conscious awareness of the breath that is entering and leaving your body, has in fact been there all along and is the TRUE YOU! It is not the job title you have, the number you see on the scale, the number you see in your bank account, the friends you have acquired, the personal, professional or academic achievements, your children, parents, or anything of this world even. These things are just the manifestations of the True YoU, they are creations which permeated from the subconscious mind, then into thought form and the conscious mind, finally manifesting as a creation or creative idea, etc. Everything in man made existence, is only in existence because someone had a spark of an idea and ran with it, until completion.

Picture the small baby who is newly taking all the information of the world, as this is the perfect example of a constant state of being. The baby is; for all intent and purposes, unaware of cars, money, clothes, preconceived ideas, and even a concept of modern civilization. It knows nothing of 50 hour work weeks, Gucci and Prada handbags & sunglasses, Winter getaways to the caribbean, bills, education etc.. you get my point. Yet, even though it has not yet had any of those life experiences, this tiny baby is all smiles, laughs, and pure joy. And what is that, if not but a pure state of being! Did the baby need the pacifier, the blanket, the clothes, or the absurd amount of toys in order to enter that state of being?..... NO of course not! Does that mean babies don't get upset when things upset them, or cry when they need a change or attention? Again no, but the difference here, is the baby is merely adjusting to the flow of energy that it is experiencing. If I just experienced the pang of hunger in my tiny little tummy for one of the first times, it is reasonable to understand how that may cause discomfort, and make me wanna seek the ease of that comfort so i can return to what?! That's right my original state of being!

This is where the baby offers a valuable lesson. At what point in life did we start to buy into the fact that our happiness, can no longer just come from a state of being, but must come from the verbal validation of others, the achievements, the goods and wares. At what point did we forget who we truly are! That we are all unique individual expressions of the ONEness that is ALL of us!

The comfortable houses, nice car, steady income, financial security are man-made and agreed upon as a collective experiences. However none of these, let me repeat NONE of these are what we can call main ingredients for your soul to be in existence and in a state of happiness.

Your state of being happy or joyful, does not mean you walk around with a fake smile all day, or live a delusional life where nothing is ever challenging. What it does mean however, is that no matter the circumstances, no matter what emotions, feelings, or thoughts come up as a byproduct of your experiences past or present; YoU make the subconscious and then conscious choice to make sure your decisions and actions come from your permanent state of being happy/peaceful/bold etc.. and not the temporary emotional feeling that may arise in any given moment. It also means that you become unshakeable in you inner spirit, and are not easily moved by the energies or forces that previously would be cause for you to lose your sense of balance. Now when you are next faced with a seemingly impossible, difficult situation with co-workers, children child or spouse, instead of losing our sense of balance and engaging in a destructive manner, you will readily recognize the difference in the energy that you are bringing to the situation and what emotions, feelings, and thought are just being projected onto you. From here you are able to recognize what best course of action you need to take in order to protect you most vital resource, which is your energy and vitality. This may mean walking away from an argument in order to keep your sanity, or saying NO to a project or person in order to have time for yourself, and perhaps most importantly, recognizing that you are the MOST important person in your life! And in order for the other important aspects of your life, whether that be kids, a partner, career, and even life passion to flourish and thrive, you must be in a state, which allows you to consistently bring the best version of yourself into every situation.

How friendly and loving, are the energies within the interactions with your children, partner/spouse, co workers,strangers, friends, and family members when you are in a piss poor mood, feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, over stressed, under appreciated. How many regrettable moments, and things that we wish we left unsaid or wish we could take back, or even wish we could have said, happen in the times when we are drained of our energy and vitality. How easy is it to recognize fruitful opportunities, miracles, inspiration, or even insight?

So wouldn't it make sense that if the core source of my happiness and joy in within my inner self, that I would spend the most amount of time and energy on getting to know myself, my inner workings, what makes me tick and turns me off, what passions I really have, and what kind of life I truly want to live. If I spend all of my time working a job that isn't my true passion, or getting me to a point where I can fully embrace my talents or cultivate new ones, then what is the purpose of it all. We are not here on this earth just to file paper work or spend 40 hours a week working to build other people's dreams at the expense of our best years of health and vitality! Yes, we should help each other build and get along in this world, but again it should not take a minimum of 40 hours of week plus commute time, and prep time to work for someone else's best interest in order to achieve , the hope that one day you may have the opportunity to live your dream life.

Now it is not solely the exhausting work schedules, or even the busy extra curricular activities that end up draining our energy/vitality. It is also the near obscene amount of lack of sleep, moderate exercise, clean nutritious foods, or even positive and creative outlets, that contribute heavily to the overall DIS-EASE of the spirit and psyche that near 250 million Americans at least (many more when we consider worldwide) suffer from worldwide.

SO in summation wouldn't be in my best interest if I took personal accountability for where I am currently in this journey, and make the necessary adjustments to make sure I make the Rest of my life the BEST of my life!! It would behoove all of us, to take stock of our own lives and decide to own our personal power of CHOICE and use it for our benefit.

It may seem difficult to leave that mundane job, take that online course, start your own company, blog, or even embark on that new relationship, but this I tell you brothers and sisters!! The hardest thing to do is arrive at the end of your life, whenever that may be , full of regrets of a life unlived, decisions unmade, love unexpressed. That cost is almost unberable, and just as costly is the daily lesson you leave others in your life, most notably children about the way they should try and model their lives.

NOw there is nothing bad in working a 40 hour a week job for 30-50 years, having steady income, 2.5 kids, 2 cars, mortgage or rent, and a pretty "normal" lifetsyle, and you can definitely, have that life for yourself and dream it for your kids. In fact there is nothing bad about it at all, and there is also NOthing GREAT about it either. There is nothing inspiring about average or routine! Most of us have role models we look up to or heroes and mentors we wish to emulate; and why? Most likely because at some point, they decided that no matter what their current life circumstance, or what kind of childhood they had growing up, they were going to strive for, and reach their highest dreams, and best versions of themselves! It is in undertaking this great endeavor that they drew the attention of each of us. It is liberating to watch other achieve higher levels of success and spiritual understanding because it allows us to live vicariously through them, and also hold the belief, that if it is possible for one, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR ME!!

This is why introspection is so vital, and rapidly becoming not only a rare art form, but also a superpower in this day and age that will allow us to use the LIGHT within to illuminate and emit LOVE to the world in desperate need of it. Imagine what you could accomplish and create if instead spending 40 - 56 hours hours a week resting and recovering from working 40-60 hours, routinely doing the same inefficient work, we had 40 -56 hours to rest from working 15-20 hours, and using the remaining time to explore our interests in music, art, philosophy. Imagine instead of spending 16 hours a week binging netflix dramas and grey's anatomy (can't believe it still on in 2018 sheesh! Isn't everyone written off the show...anyway I digress) we spent 16 hours a week connecting with our neighbors in conversation, planting our own gardens, spending time hiking in nature! How much more alive and rejuvenated would we feel in our spirits?!

No, I am not knocking the ideal of work or even netflix or entertainment. However what I am saying is that we are currently very out of balance, spending too much time working jobs we don't enjoy everyday, buying those clothes and toys we don't need or even want deep down, doing things we don;t like to impress people we don't like to be around! and for what?! just to say we were good little citizens who did their civic duty, paid their taxes, worked 40-50 years, had a few vacations, and ultimately have little to show for it. At least in comparison to the high level of energy you output in the glorification of someone else's dream, and the deferred hope, that you can reach senior age with some sort of meager retirement, and lots of arthritis and pills, UMM NO THANK YOU ! I believe you ought to have more than a barely paid off house, and a few kids who could barely afford to scrape together the funds to get through college, even with 2 jobs on and off campus, and a monthly or quarterly visit to the dr to up the pill intake from 6-12 pills daily. I believe that you have EVERY right to invest the best years and energy of your life growing and exploring , this wonderful experience called life. It is almost as if we were born into this wonderfully giant playland with animals, mountains, beauty, passion, and everything imaginable that a spirit would need to have a great life journey, and YET we choose to spend the bulk of our best years breaking down our bodies, and minds in hopes that we get that elusive grand pat on the back for a job well done. Yea that is not happening, sorry!

If we are going to buy clothes, it should be because they make us feel fantastic, and we have SOMEWHERE to wear them for the most part. Don't buy that cute dress so it can sit in your closet, because you work too much and never have time to go out anywhere.

If you want explore something, you should be able to explore that avenue of interest fully, and not be held back for 10+ years because... "well they need me on the job, they give me a decent paycheck, so I owe them my life." I am all for loyalty, however how fast would most of these corporations have you replaced if you died or were maimed and could no longer work. I am pretty sure the mourning period would be really brief.

All I am saying is, that maybe since each of us have no idea how long our lifespan actually is, or when the moment will be when we draw the final breath in this life.... Perhaps we should all begin to take a closer look at this one life we are living right now, and find the best ways to experience everything our hearts desire. Because I tell you this, of all the people I have helped in the final moments of their life, NO ONE has ever said they wised to have spent more time at the office, or chasing the next dollar! IT has always 100% every time been, Tell so and so I LOVE THEM.... and the hardest moments being when you spend final moments with soeone in regret. It is heart breaking to watch someone come to the realization they could have done so much more and said so much more, but it is too late.

People often tell me thank you for my military service, well I would like to say this.. AS much as I truly appreciate the recognition. The BEST way for you to thank me and all the other men and women for whatever service was rendered to this country, would be to LIVE THE BEST VERSION OF YOUR LIFE POSSIBLE! Many of us fought and sacrificed heavily to defend this country, so each person here could have the freedom and opportunity to strive to thrive in this life, and live out their best lives!!

You are AWESOME, UNIQUE, BEAUTIFUL, FIERCE, INTELLIGENT, BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED, YOU deserve to live a beautiful life.

YOU ARE WORTHWHILE!! Not because of your attributes, titles, or possession, but SIMPLY because you are a beautiful soul, here with a beautiful gift for the world! Do your BEST to find that passion and power deep within you and unleash the unbridled potential deep within. The world is waiting for you! The world needs your gift, so please share it with us ALL!!