How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Personal Success

How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Personal Success

From the author of the phenomenal Mars & Venus bestsellers, a course in achieving personal, success--the realization of all one's dreams. As millions of readers of the Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus books can attest, John Gray is a genius therapist. In his personal success course presented in this title, he is combining Western therapeutic techniques with Eastern meditation to help people become happy, confident, trusting, content, at peace, loving, and powerful. His methods help people use their feelings to become more powerful, to know what they really want and need, Create The Life You Want John Gray, the author of the Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus relationship classic, now presents a brilliantly innovative program for achieving personal success. The wisdom and techniques in these pages will enable you to feel greater joy, love, confidence, and peace. Some Wise Words From How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have Your experience of the world reflects your inner state. Whenever you are not getting what you need, you are always looking in the wrong direction. Find your soul's desire, and start getting everything you want. Material success can only make you happy if you are already happy. The power to get what you want comes from confidence, positive feeling, and desire. You have the power to change. No one else can do it for you. John Gray, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading relationship experts, and an authority on improving communication styles for couples, companies, and communities. His many books have sold more than fifty million copies in fifty different languages worldwide. John lives with his wife and children in northern California. How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have By Gray, John Perennial Copyright © 2004 John Gray All right reserved. ISBN: 0060932155 Money Can't Buy Happiness Many people have achieved a lot in their lives, but they lack peace. The world is filled with unhappy millionaires who cannot sustain loving relationships. Yet they and those who emulate them continue to think that more money or more of "something" will finally help them feel good about themselves and their lives. As we all know, money does not buy happiness or love. Even though this maxim is familiar, it is still easy to get caught in the web of illusion that outer success can make us happy. The more we think that money is capable of making us happy, the more we give away our power to be happy without it. As you read this, some part of you is probably thinking, "Yeah, I know that money can't really make me happy, but it sure can help." Although this thought is reasonable, it is important to recognize that it is a misconception that robs you of your power. To reset your direction in life, to make sure you are moving in the direction of personal success, you must recognize that money can't make you happy. The experience that money makes you or others happy is an illusion. The Nature of Illusion Let's explore for a moment the nature of illusion. When you experience the sun moving across the sky each day, another part of you knows that the sun isn't really moving. Although your senses register the movement, your mind knows that the sun is not moving. Though you feel stationary, you know the earth is spinning on its axis. Your mind knows that movement of the sun is an illusion, and that in truth you are moving. Comprehension of this illusion requires abstract thinking. A young child cannot figure it out. Schoolteachers notice a shift from concrete thinking to abstract thinking in a child's development. In most cases, the shift happens practically overnight. One day, the student can't even begin to understand an algebra equation, and then suddenly, when the brain is ready, the student gets it. If the brain is not yet ready, no amount of instruction will help a student understand. To comprehend or recognize an illusion,the brain must reach a certain level of development. This shift in children from concrete thinking (the world is what you see) to abstract thinking (concepts are real as well) generally happens around puberty. As a child reaches twelve or thirteen, the brain has developed enough to comprehend concepts adults assume are obvious. Just as a child develops, the brain capacity of mankind develops over time as well. Ideas that challenged the greatest minds in history are now comprehended by fourteen-year-old science students. The Making of Common Sense Just five hundred years ago, everyone thought the earth was flat and the sun moved across the sky. They were not ready to comprehend this simple illusion. Their brains were not yet ready to comprehend the abstract thoughts necessary to recognize that the earth was moving and the sun was stationary. When Copernicus described the phenomenon in 1543, many could not accept the challenge to their beliefs. He was perceived as a threat by the church and imprisoned in his home for the rest of his life. A