Excerpt: Your Prescription Directions

This book is about finding happiness.  With years of research and digging around on this age-old question,  I uncovered some remarkable solutions.   

This is not a book to skim through.  Like any prescription or directions you want to understand all the details; otherwise it won’t work, and you will end up being lost and floundering around in the sea of unhappiness.

One should bear in mind regarding gaining happiness; the best answer is to take away the biggest cause of unhappiness. That would be the way you handle the stresses in life.  There will always be stresses in life; that is just how life is.  But how you handle them is the question.  Sometimes people develop a negative pattern or habit in handling stressful events.  These patterns or habits are sometimes  based on some past extremely negative event in their life.  Oftentimes these patterns or habits, that appeared to work at the time make absolutely no sense.  But being that the person feels that it worked at that point in time, they repeat it over and over, ignoring all the negative outcomes.  This can throw the person into a very negative spiral.  The goal of this book is to break you of those negative patterns and habits, and move to a better life of happiness.

Some of you may want to go directly to Chapter 6, “The Prescription”, where you will find  “The 10 ..and Happy Habits”. There you can also find what I call the “Power 4 technique”, which is used for handling stress which requires quick handling.  The bulk of this book is devoted to verifying why these 10 Habits work.  Best results occur when the reader has a full understanding of each Habit, and uses all 10 every day.  

So often books of this genre give you some formula for finding happiness. For example, one book I read gives you the “Happiness Formula” as follows: H=S+C+V.  The explanation given is that the level of happiness that you actually experience (H) is determined by your biologic set point (S) plus the conditions of your life (C) plus the voluntary activities (V) you do. I find this a bit strange; I personally think happiness is not some algebraic equation to solve.  

Yes, happiness is not an algebraic equation, and it’s also not some state you achieve as a reward that for doing everything correctly in life.  There are people out there that think something is wrong with them if they are not in some constant state of euphoria.  Those people are the ones that often end up addicted to some drug or alcohol.   The logo of the arrow that you see  on the cover and throughout the book I feel gives a good representation of the realities of life. You’re feeling good and then you are hit by something in life, and then you are feeling a bit challenged. If you have tools to handle these challenges, you start moving up again, and you start to appreciate and enjoy life more and the arrow goes way up.  The trend is constantly moving up.  You become more observant and appreciative and enjoy life and feel happy. Knowing that like attracts like; once you feel happy, you attract good things and happiness will find you.

One might liken what I am hoping to do for the reader is  to keep your mental energy tank full.  Using tools that fill that tank, and avoid situations which drain the tank. 

When I reached the age of sixty I came to a crossroad in my life and the net result was I felt unhappy. Although outwardly appearing successful, in my mind I was a failure. I was searching for something that would help me.  I had either read or listened to all of the major gurus out there including, Napoleon Hill, Deepak Chopra, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, and Wayne Dyer; and I was still looking for some kind of an answer. Although all helpful, something was still missing.    Then my wife gave me a copy of the book “The Master Key System” written by Charles Haanel in 1912.  What I found interesting after reading this book, was that I recognized many of Haanel’s quotes having read the above authors. In other words he is the original source for much of their material. 

After reading Haanel’s book several times, and applying many of his recommendations, I noticed how things were changing in my life for the better.  Haanel’s  book  lead me down a path of discovery that changed my life forever.  Over the course of about 10 years of working with Haanel’s comments, and applying to it what knowledge I had in Biologic Dentistry, I realized that I had developed a “Prescription for Happiness”.   I felt it was worthy of sharing with others; so that they too could gain from this data that was assembled, in a very organized and understandable format and develop their own personal prescription for happiness.  

In Chapter 1, “The Professional Crisis”, I go over many of his key quotes to help you understand better what Charles Haanel, is trying to get across to the reader.  Written in 1912, the vernacular can be tricky to interpret. I encourage readers to buy his book, but  it could get you bogged down.   In this chapter, I step by step extract the major points Haanel makes so the you the reader  can go , “O.K., now that makes sense. “   I try to help the reader avoid  what I went through; which was reading it over and over and over and finally saying “O.K. now I get it”. 

A major point I got from Haanel was this particular affirmation.  He recommends that you repeat this affirmation over and over each day.  Without telling anyone, I just started doing just that.  All I know is is that within about one year, things in my life began changing.  I realized that I needed to change my career path. I did and now every workday I am happy.  I’m no longer looking forward to the weekend or my next vacation for happiness.    

In chapter 2, I review a  personal crisis that put me on pretty bad state.  I then discuss  how I got myself out of it by using Haanel’s  principles which I laid out in Chapter 1.  I use personal stories in this section and throughout the book not to gain some kind of empathy or admiration but to hopefully make it real to the reader and to be somewhat entertaining.    All I can say is is that good things start happening.  Things that help you find happiness, or more accurately put you in situation in which happiness finds you.    

Chapters 3 and 4  discusses my Physical Crisis. Here I pass on what I gleaned from doctors I worked with to turn around my own health crisis.   Chapter 3 gives the basics of how you can improve your health. Chapter 4 gets into details of health improvement, with many references by respected doctors, like Dr. Mercola, Dr. Weil, Dr. Sinatra, and Dr. Oz.  Although the physical crisis is listed last of the three types of crisis, if you don’t feel well everything else is moot.  It is difficult to handle your professional crisis or your personal crisis if you don’t feel well.  

Chapter 5 is called “Out to In”.  Out is a term I use to describe not doing well.  In, means doing well.  This is a very important chapter, for filling your “Prescription for Happiness”.   

Chapter 6, “The Prescription”, Gives you “The 10..and Happy Daily Habits”.   Just follow the prescribed steps  and you can fill your prescription for happiness.  Plus you will find what I call the Power 4; which helps you snap out of an immediate  crisis situation.

Chapter 7 is “The Bottom Line”.  Quick little suggestions to reinforce the benefits, of applying the information brought forth in the book.

I realize there are many books out there of this genre.  However I know that this is the only book out there that is set up to give you an organized simple method of customizing your own path to happiness.  By filling “Your Prescription” you will get there.   

Throughout the book, you will find links to websites or YouTube videos. If you are reading on an iPad or similar  device, you may be able to click directly onto the particular website. Otherwise, you can go to my website www.Rx4happiness.com  where you will find the books, products, YouTube videos and links most frequently referred to throughout the book; i.e., Dr. Mercola, Dr. Weil, and Dr. Oz.  Note that some of the YouTube videos are there just to put a smile on your face.  Remember, this book is about finding happiness.

This is not a long book. It is not a mystery novel, where you find yourself anxiously turning the pages to find out “who done it!”  I encourage you to take your time reading it. The answers you are looking for could be in the beginning or at the end of the book. Make sure you understand each word and concept. Reread or look words up that do not make sense to you. Because there are over 100 references to websites and YouTube videos throughout the book, you may want to save the references that are of less interest to you for a second review.  Any one of these references could be just the pearl you are looking for: the one that makes you go, “Oh my God, this is me! This is what I’ve been looking for.” I hope my book will serve as a reference guide – something you can refer back to when needed.

Instead of having life be something you fear, the methods in “…and happy.” will help you make every day of your life something you look forward to.  Rather than shrinking in life, you will find the ability to pursue life with joy and passion and reap the benefits.  

Genius and mystical prowess are not required to create the life and health you desire. It only requires the application of some logic and awareness. Borrowing from the words and axioms formed by Haanel and combining these with personal research and my own life’s lessons, I present these tools, and concepts, in a way that you can easily reference and utilize to create a path forward to your ideal life. My hope is that after reading my book you will be left with a smile on your face …and happy!