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"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Key #1 - Live in the present This is truly the only moment we have. Stay focused on what is happening here and now. Look for the joy and fullness in every moment rather than thinking about or worrying about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future. We waste so much energy worrying needlessly about what has happened rather than focusing on the joyfulness of the present moment. We drive ourselves crazy judging what we should have done and what we should do in the future. When you feel yourself going down that path recognize that your ego is trying to take you on a trip that will bring you nothing but heartache rather than joy. Stop and connect with your Higher Self and ask her/him to support you in living in the moment and enjoying what you are currently experiencing. Accept what comes to you totally and completely knowing that all that is occurring is an opportunity to learn and to grow spiritually. Don't struggle against what is occurring in your life, know that you have created all that you are experiencing, be at one with it and be in gratitude. Key #2 - Take time to be silent Meditate and connect with your Higher Self asking to quiet the internal dialogue. During this time of silence know that you are reconnecting with your source of pure awareness. Pay attention to your inner Self so you may be guided by intuition rather than your ego. Remember that your ego likes to make you wrong to make you right to make you wrong to make you right. It loves taking us down the unstable, fearful path. Our Higher Self wants us to feel safe and loved and to experience unlimited love, joy and peace. ey #3 - Relinquish your need for external approval Remember that all the answers are within us - not outside of ourselves. You alone are the judge of your worth and your goal is to discover and recognize the infinite worth within yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. Remember that they are a mirror for you communicating back to you what you actually think about yourself. No one participates in your life unless you have invited them. There is great freedom in recognizing that all we experience we create. When you find yourself reacting with anger or opposition to any person or circumstance, realize that you are only struggling with yourself. Putting up resistance is the response of defenses created by old hurts. When you relinquish this anger, you will be healing yourself and cooperating with your Higher Self. Know that the world "out there" reflects your reality "in here." The people you react to most strongly, whether with love or hate, are projections of your inner world. What you most hate is what you most deny in yourself. What you most love is what you most wish for in yourself. The goal is total self-knowledge. When you achieve that, what you most want will automatically be there, and what you most dislike will disappear. Key #4 - Shed the heavy garment of judgment You will feel much lighter, more peaceful and more joyful. The first place to begin is to stop judging yourself. Be in love with yourself and know that you are perfect. When you judge, you cut off understanding and shut down the process of learning to love. In judging others, you reflect your lack of self-acceptance. Is there something that a friend, child, spouse or partner does that drives you nuts and you think is silly or stupid? Welcome to the club. When we judge people we are saying that they have faults and in doing so we are claiming that we have faults as well. What are faults anyway? Faults are what other people do, think, feel, or believe that are different from how we perceive things, so we pass judgment that they should think or act this way or that way. What we judge as faults from the other person's perspective are not viewed as faults at all, but just who they are. What can we do? Learn to accept others as being on their own path to growing, learning what they need to learn, when they need to learn it according to life's overall plan, and not your plan. We all act the way we do, think the way we think and feel the way we feel because it is right for us. Many of us think that if so and so would just think the way I think, or feel the way I feel about certain things, they would be much happier. It is not our job to judge what we think is best for someone else. What we can do is connect with our Higher Self and continue to assess what is best for ourselves. As we do that we change and all our experiences with others change for the better. Key #5 - Count your blessings We are sure you have heard this phrase many times. It may sound like a silly thing to do; but, we invite you to give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised to see how many things you are grateful for. Choose a way that will work for you to record your blessings; make tick marks during the day every time you experience something you are grateful for and count them up at the end of the day or sit in meditation at the end of your day and be in the energy of total joy as you recapture all your blessings for that day. We are sure there are many other ways that you can 'count your blessings'. The decision and choice is yours. There are literally thousands of possible things to be grateful for during the course of your day. You just have to be willing to see them. Key #6 - Let go of old baggage Some of us have heavy overnight bags we are carrying and some of us have trunks. No matter the size, the weight of this baggage can be debilitating and prevent us from truly experiencing happiness. What baggage are you carrying? Is it something a friend did 20 years ago? Or something a sibling, colleague or boss did a week ago? Do you really want to continue to carry this emotional 'stuff' with you for the next 5, 10, 15.... years? This baggage is usually old hurts, resentments, anger or some kind of pain inflicted by another person. Our old baggage can also consist of old guilt - things we should have done or shouldn't have done. Why do we hold on to all these old feelings anyway? For many of us we just see it as part of life and part of our journey and for many of us it actually feels normal and natural. If you feel drained emotionally and can't understand why, sit and reflect on what old baggage you may be carrying. Are there things you are still holding on to that create needless stress? Take the time to journal experiences you have had that you want to let go of. Make a conscience decision in 2010 to lighten your load and carry only what you need for the present moment. Doing so will allow you to experience more and more moments of joy and happiness. Key #7 - Stay in gratitude Staying in a state of gratitude is one of the most effective things you can do to be happy. And, the wonderful thing is it's free and easy. Simply give thanks for something. It can be as simple as giving gratitude to your eyes for being able to read this article or to the email system that allowed you to access this article. Give gratitude to your home or to the hotel room you stayed in on your last business trip or vacation. Get in the habit of giving gratitude to all your experiences, even the ones we deem as 'bad'. Knowing that there are no 'bad' experiences, only opportunities for us to grow and get better. Give gratitude to the person who delivers your mail or to the people who pick up your trash. Give gratitude to your pet(s) that bring you great joy. Giving gratitude opens the dam that has been holding back the natural flow of love and joy. We recognize that there are more than seven keys to happiness and trust that this ezine will inspire you to think of other ways of bringing more happiness into your life. One key point to remember is that happiness comes from deep within. It is a practice in which you have to be actively involved in. Things may happen in your life that knock you down and take you off course. When this happens remember to tap into your Higher Self/Spirit and ask for guidance. To Your Happiness!