Yet it eludes us. All of our activities — our pursuit of fame and fortune, our quest for meaningful relationships, our drive to build or change things — are directed searches for this ephemeral state. We get there, but we can never heave a lasting sigh of relief because the feeling is gone almost immediately.

Can happiness be a permanent member of our household rather than an occasional and erratic visitor?

Think on this parable from psychotherapist and Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello:

“A group of tourists sits in a bus that is passing through gorgeously beautiful country; lakes and mountains and green fields and rivers. But the shades of the bus are pulled down. They do not have the slightest idea of what lies beyond the windows of the bus. And all the time of their journey is spent in squabbling over who will have the seat of honor in the bus, who will be applauded, who will be well considered. And so they remain till the journey’s end.”

Too many of us are like those tourists, engaged in petty power struggles while the true beauty of life lies all round us, unobserved and unappreciated.

I see this all the time in the seminars I conduct. I have the participants call out things that would make them happy, and I write them on a flip chart. The list grows to 50 or 100 items in minutes.

Wealth is a common desire. Not run-of-the-mill, garden-variety wealth but a fabulous fortune. A trophy spouse is also popular, though people rarely label it as such. Instead the ideal spouse is described as extraordinarily good-looking and, as a self-justifying afterthought, intelligent to boot.

Lots of other items come up, too, including travel, good health, great sex, friends, loving relatives, and interesting work.

The truth is, none of those things is necessary for happiness. None of them.

This is an extremely important point. Because all of those things are dependent on outside circumstances that will never be in your control. And doesn’t that make the quest for them an extremely frail reed to lean on?

Don’t confuse true happiness and soul-satisfying joy with the temporary satisfaction you get when you gratify your ego. Your happiness is not dependent on your wealth, your intelligence, or your abilities. Your happiness is not even contingent on your continued good health or having loving friends, relatives, or significant others.

In fact, happiness is already a part of your nature. There is nothing you have to get in order to be happy. All you have to do is allow your inner happiness to surface.

When I get to this point in my seminars, I generally have a revolution on my hands. How can people be happy if they live in extreme poverty? Or if they are afflicted with a painful disease? Or if they have no friends or loved ones? Or if they’re in any other hypothetical situation along those lines?

Yet the statement holds. There is nothing you have to get in order to be happy.

One question remains. If happiness is our nature, why do we not experience it more often? Why are our lives filled with angst and sorrow?

The answer is simple: We have constructed mental models for ourselves in which happiness comes as a result of getting something — money, power, fame, etc. In the reality that we have created and that we live in, our achievements define us. We are “better” if we are “successful.”

The media reinforces those beliefs, subtly painting pictures of what successful and happy people have and look like. Your parents reinforced them too, imprinting on your mind that what they found valuable was what you should value. In all probability, they got their beliefs from their parents and accepted them without question. Your friends, relatives, teachers, classmates, and coaches all played a role. So did the movies and TV programs you watched, the books and magazines you read, the music you listened to, and what you observed in the world around you.

They all contributed to your mental model. And they succeeded because you did not question the beliefs and values they presented to you. But now, in your quest for happiness and freedom, you must question them.

When you want something — and you get it — there is a brief moment when you are content, when you are not your habitual wanting self. And in that moment, you experience the happiness that is always a part of you. You are content. And full. But the very next moment, some other desire raises its ugly head and you are off on another fruitless quest for happiness. It is a never-ending cycle.

The problem is that you do not realize why you experience that moment of happiness. You do not recognize that it is because, at that moment, you are free from want. The happiness springs from an acceptance of the Universe as it is. It is your innate nature bubbling forth in the absence of the bonds you put on it with your incessant demands.

Instead, you attribute the happiness you briefly felt to the acquisition of whatever it was that you got. And so you try to get the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing.

If you go barreling through life, desperately doing things to make yourself “happy,” happiness will elude you. It is like a puppy that runs away when you try to entice it to come to you. But as soon as you ignore it and start reading your newspaper, you feel its cold nose in your hand.

It really does work that way. You are bound by the things you own as long as you need them emotionally. The moment you sever this psychological link, you will experience freedom, a marvelous sense of liberation that cannot be described.

Think back to your life 10 years ago. You had a list of wants at that time, things you thought would bring you lasting happiness. Odds are, you now have many of them. Have they made you happier than you were back then? Probably not.

Pick any item you currently desire. Now imagine yourself as a 95-year-old person about to leave this world. From that perspective, does having that item really matter? Again, probably not.

Enjoy, truly enjoy, what you have. Strive for what you do not have but want. But strive joyfully, knowing that the pleasure is in the doing, not in the getting. If you succeed, wonderful. If you do not, still wonderful.

P.S. Finding true happiness won’t happen overnight. With my Personal Mastery Success Program, you’ll get all the tools you need to make a break with negativity, sadness, and disappointment. Soon you’ll be living your life to its true potential.

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“If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, we’re about to make a hell of a lot of money!” - The multi-billion dollar “home shopping” industry got its start on cable access. It was a low-budget public access “operation” run by three guys in Clearwater, Florida. Before they had even made their first dollar their success was a sure thing. They had the “Billionaire Mindset”…

But staying tired — week after week — is a health problem, one you don’t have to live with and shouldn’t.

If you have been feeling tired for a while, answer these three questions:

• Are you getting seven to eight hours of quality sleep at night?
• Are you eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet?
• Are you getting enough B vitamins?

If you answered “yes” or “I don’t know” to any one of these questions, you need to know this: Most people understand the relationship between sleep and fatigue, but few realize the huge effect diet has on energy levels.

There is an easy fix.

Reduce or eliminate sugars and high-carb starches — bread, rice, pasta, etc. They strip your body of stored energy and turn it into a fat-storing machine. And eat lots of protein — eggs, fish, and meat.

That kind of diet will keep you lean, supercharged, and focused all day long. It works because it not only delivers quality proteins, it’s loaded with vitamins B12 and B6.

You need B vitamins to be able to fall asleep easily, wake up refreshed, and zip through the day. And as you age, your ability to absorb these nutrients from food decreases. So if you are over 40 — to be on the safe side — consider taking a good B complex supplement every day.

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The Relaxation Technique that Eases Stress in Seconds

You’re stuck in a boring meeting… a long line at the bank… or bumper-to-bumper traffic… Your blood pressure is rising. Your stress is through the roof…

But with one unconventional (and often misunderstood) technique, your frustration, anxiety, and stress simply slip away. You’ll feel peaceful, in control, and happy within seconds. Any time. Anywhere.

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They eat and drink like they have a free pass to longevity. But studies show that too much food and too little exercise — after years of intense activity — can quickly erase a history of perfect fitness.

Greek researchers, for example, found that overweight ex-athletes have no better protection against heart disease than anyone else. As their waistlines increased, two factors associated with heart disease — C-reactive protein and triglycerides — increased. And that means their risk also increased.

Here’s the deal. When it comes to your health today, your body doesn’t care how fit you used to be. If you want to stay healthy, stay active.

In fact, it’s a health problem for men too. And because most men don’t know they’re at risk, they’re far less likely to take action to prevent it.

Men get one-third of all osteoporosis-related bone fractures. But their chances of complications are dramatically higher than they are for women. Men with prostate cancer are especially vulnerable. Both the disease and a common treatment — androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) — contribute to bone loss.

Here’s how to lower your risk:

• Maintain adequate levels of vitamin D. All it takes is two or three hours per week of exposure to sunlight, say the folks at Total Health Breakthroughs. If you can’t spend that much time in the sun, take a vitamin D supplement or cod liver oil.

• Get at least 1,000 mg of calcium per day, preferably from your diet. A high-protein diet makes more calcium available for building bone density. Just one more reason to make healthy protein part of every meal.

Dr. Al Sears, my personal physician, has helped me lose more than 25 pounds of fat, reduce my blood pressure, and strengthen my heart with an amazingly easy “eating program” he has developed over several years. It’s based on relatively large quantities of high-quality protein (wild salmon, grass-fed beef, and organic eggs, cheese, milk, beans, and nuts).

How does it work? By exceeding your body’s daily protein requirement, you boost your metabolism. As a result, you stop storing fat and start burning it.

For an active person like me, Dr. Sears recommends 1 gram of protein per day per pound of lean body mass (LBM).

Lean body mass is the weight of your body minus the fat. (There are several simple ways you can measure your own LBM. I’ll explain how to do it in a future issue.). So a 180-pound man with 15 percent body fat would have an LBM of 153 pounds. And he should be eating 153 grams of protein a day. To give you an idea of what that means, an egg has 7 grams of protein, 6 ounces of fish has 42 grams, and a cup of cashew nuts has 21 grams.

I crave protein, so this is easy for me. I eat eggs every morning for breakfast and all sorts of high-quality protein throughout the day. My snacks are high-protein. And my dinners are a combination of proteins and organic vegetables.

One big benefit you will notice right away: By eating more protein and less starchy carbs, your appetite will decrease dramatically. Try it. Let me know how it works for you.

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Latest News

Have you signed up for our sister publication, Total Health Breakthroughs, yet? As an ETR reader, you’ll get it free for six months.

Check out Melanie Segala’s latest piece to see what THB is all about. She writes about the one supplement you should be taking right now to boost energy and immunity, protect your heart, and more.

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Turns out that statins, a $20 billion cash cow for the drug industry, have a serious side effect: They can cause a huge drop in the body’s level of CoQ10. And if you’re one of the 13 million people on statins, there’s a good chance your doctor is not aware of it.

CoQ10 lowers blood pressure and reduces cholesterol. It also boosts immunity and protects the brain. Most important, Total Health Breakthrough’s Melanie Segala points out, this essential nutrient facilitates the production of energy in every cell in your body.

If you take statins, read Melanie’s recent “Undercover” article. Then talk to your doctor about supplementing with CoQ10.

Dr. Al Sears calls CoQ10 “a miracle heart energizer.” He recommends 100 mg per day if you take statins or have high blood pressure, heart disease, or chronic fatigue.

It has already been shown that the phosphates in soft drinks and snack chips cause calcium to leach from the bones, linking them to osteoporosis and kidney stones. Now we can add cancer to that list.

Research conducted at Seoul National University has determined that inorganic phosphates have been associated with both the development and growth of lung cancer in laboratory rats. These effects were found at levels that mimicked our intake on a typical American/Westernized diet.

In a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers observed lung cancer tumors in mice fed with either a 0.5 percent or 1.0 percent phosphate diet. At the end of four weeks, the mice on the higher-phosphate diet had an increase in the formation of new lung tumors as well as an increase in the size of existing tumors. The researchers think it may be due to the role phosphates have in biochemical signaling pathways.

Although naturally occurring phosphates are necessary for human nutrition, the researchers noted that the consumption of phosphates in processed foods has more than doubled since the 1990s. Our hectic American lifestyle – which leaves little time or energy for home cooking – often forces us to rely on convenient pre-packaged foods and restaurant meals full of health-harming substances.

While food industry experts have downplayed this study, I would strongly recommend limiting your intake of inorganic phosphates. Doing so will help protect your bones, and could even lower your risk of lung cancer.

Stick to foods in their most natural state. Especially limit high-carb processed foods laden with cancer-causing phosphates. If you want to save on prep time for meals, choose precut veggies and salads and frozen vegetables. But always read the labels to make sure they have no additives.

[Ed. Note: Making wise choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle can have a dramatic effect on your health. James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN - founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute and a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies - can give you easy-to-understand directions for living the healthy life you've always wanted. Learn more here.]

So said John Wooden, the Hall of Fame basketball coach for UCLA who won a record 10 NCAA championships.

So many people do everything they can to avoid making mistakes – yet mistakes are the corrective feedback we need to help us reach our goals. Better to take action and correct mistakes while you’re in motion than to sit idle trying to figure out how not to make a wrong move.

It’s like driving a car. You must always have your hands on the wheel so you can make minor adjustments. You must continually modify and correct your course based upon ongoing feedback.

When you make a mistake and someone points it out to you, don’t say “I’m sorry.” The correct response is: “Thank you for telling me that. I’ll work on it.”

People who see feedback as helpful are grateful to learn what is steering them away from their goals. It may be tough to listen and be open to change – but it’s what the best of the best do.

Yes, you have the option to agree or disagree with the feedback – and you’ll become better at discerning what is helpful and what isn’t the more you practice listening to it. But you’ll never get anywhere if you view mistakes as negative and feedback as undesirable.

My best students LOVE getting my advice – even, as they would say, “raked over the coals.” They beg me to show them their mistakes.

Keep all of this in mind as you go through your day today. Mistakes are nothing to fear. Nor is the feedback that will help you improve.

[Ed. Note: Matt Furey is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of self-development, fitness, and martial arts, and is the president of the Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation, Inc. With Matt's 101 Ways to Magnetize Money, you can learn the REAL SECRETS of financial success known only to the most prosperous men and women who have ever lived. Find out more right here.]

Our local family hustled to create a 24-hour care program for her. After all, why should a 98-year-old have to stay in the hospital by herself when she has children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a great-great grandson?

I got the day shift – the scariest shift of all. Nine hours when I watched Mama Da struggle to breathe – and had to listen to the doctor explain the seriousness of her condition.

Mama Da told me that she wasn’t afraid to die, and she proceeded to tell me everything she wanted done – and not done – when her time came.

I was alone in the room with her, and I was scared. I needed some backup – some reinforcements – to help me cope with this situation. So I told her that I had notified our family, and they were trying to get there as soon as possible to see her. That didn’t seem to matter to her.

Then I said, “Mama Da, Moon and Pot are getting on a flight from Maryland as we speak to come to see you.” Then a funny thing happened:

Her eyes opened up and she said, “Really? Who else?”

So I went down the list, “Shorty and Sidney are driving through the night… Gigi is cutting her vacation short in Orlando… Daty and VaVa are flying in tomorrow from Philly… Carole, Kuky, and Marley are flying in from Miami… Bibi and MaMa will be here on Saturday… Joey and Angela got one-day round-trip tickets to come and spend a few hours with you… Ferg and Chrissy are hitting the road at 2:00 a.m. and will be here by noon… and the rest of the family are calling me non-stop to let me know when they’re planning to come.”

As I ran down the list, I saw a light in Mama Da’s eyes that I hadn’t seen in the past 24 hours. She was getting excited about seeing her family. And when the kids, grands, and great-grands came to her hospital room to kiss her and talk to her, I watched her draw energy from each one of them.

In fact, she started to look and feel so good that many of our family members jokingly said that Mama Da was making up the whole pneumonia thing as a way to create an impromptu family reunion!

For several days, Mama Da’s hospital room was so full of our loud family having fun that the nurses asked us to keep the noise down!

During the nights, we had more than enough willing aunts and cousins volunteering to sleep in the room with her and stand guard.

I was very glad for the extra help. But while I was waiting for the reinforcements to come, I re-learned two very important lessons:

For one thing, my family has some really crazy names! And, most important, specificity works!

When I told Mama Da that family was coming, it didn’t register with her. But when I told her exactly WHO was coming… WHEN they were arriving… WHAT they were doing to get to her… and WHERE they were coming from… man, it really boosted her curiosity – and possibly her will to live.

That got me thinking about writing sales copy – and the importance of reinforcing your copy with ultra-specifics so you can grab your prospect’s attention and keep it.

So I want to show you two quick and easy ways for you (or your copywriter) to reinforce your copy too:

#1. Name names.

As I said, specificity sells. So build credibility in your copy by using exact names and numbers. Here’s an example from my own copy…

BEFORE: “Numerous scientific studies have shown that this remarkable ‘brain food’ can help you restore memory loss and sharpen your thinking.”

“Numerous scientific studies” is pretty lame. That’s like when I told Mama Da “Family is coming.” It just didn’t get much of a rise out of her.

I needed some specific details to put MEAT on this baby! So here’s how I changed that line of my copy…

AFTER: “Scientific research from Stanford University… Vanderbilt University… the Memory Assessment Clinic’s facility in Bethesda, Maryland now prove this remarkable ‘brain food’ can help you restore up to 12 years of memory loss and sharpen your thinking.”

See the difference? Name names and give specifics. Referencing those prestigious institutions builds credibility in the prospect’s mind – and stating that the product can restore up to 12 years of memory loss is powerful.

#2. Don’t be afraid of long headlines.

One of the first copywriting “rules” I learned was that headlines should be no more than 7 words. That way they would POP and grab the prospect’s attention. Sure, I learned the rule – but, more important, I learned when to break the rule too.

The truth is, it’s a stupid rule. The goal of your headline is to stop your reader dead in his tracks. If you can do it with one or two words – GREAT! But I’ve had many successful promotions with 20… 30… or more words in the headline. Here’s an example of how one of my headlines “grew”…

BEFORE: “Why Your Vitamins Won’t Work”

When I was telling Mama Da about all the relatives who were coming to visit her, I had no idea which ones she really wanted to see. Was it the young grandkids who would bounce on her lap… the teenagers she’d helped raise… or her own children? So I decided not to take a chance. I’d just list them all and see which ones piqued her interest.

Which brings me to my headline. “Why Your Vitamins Won’t Work” wasn’t bad – but it was too general. I wanted the prospect to stop and say, “Hey, I’m taking that stuff – so I’d better read this!” – and the best way to achieve that was to give ‘em a long list. So here’s how I reinforced the copy – and the results went through the roof…

AFTER:

Why

CoQ10

Garlic

Lutein

Ginkgo

Calcium

Bilberry

Probiotics

Vitamin C

Magnesium

Chondroitin

Glucosamine

Low-fat diets

Omega 3 fish oil

Grape seed extract

Blood pressure drugs

Weight-loss supplements

Cholesterol-lowering drugs

Won’t Work

Yep! That was the actual headline! Well over the 7 word “limit,” but who the heck cares? It worked!

So don’t be afraid of long headlines. Just make sure every word you use counts.

The Lessons Go Both Ways

It’s all about communicating your message as clearly as possible. And this just goes to show how you can apply what you learn about that in your personal life to your work… and how you can apply what you learn through your work to your personal life.

PS: In case you’re wondering how Mama Da is doing, here’s an update. We brought her home from the hospital after a 6-day stay. The pneumonia damaged her heart and lungs – and she already had diminished kidney function. So with the help of hospice, we’re just going to keep enjoying her – and listening to her thousands of stories – for as long as she’s still with us.

Mama Da always told us that she doesn’t plan to leave us with a dime, but that we will be rich with her memories. She’s definitely lived up to that promise. I am so thankful to be blessed to have had her in my life for 48 years.

[Ed. Note: Carline Anglade-Cole has 20 years of direct-mail experience in mailing-list strategies, new-product development, and creating kick-butt controls. She is the author of How to Write Kick-Butt Copy: Straight Talk From a Million-Dollar Copywriter, Anatomy of a Kick-Butt Control: How to Create a Winning Promo From Start to Finish, and Which One Won? How to Write Kick-Butt Headlines and Boost Response! Contact Carline directly by visiting her website at www.CarlineCole.com.

For more moneymaking and sales secrets, check out ETR's comprehensive Internet Cash Generator program here.]

In 1997, the student body of Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin was out of control and getting worse. On a typical day, the faculty would cope with discipline problems, drug use, truancies, expulsions, dropouts, and weapons violations. A police officer was on staff to help maintain order.

That same year, Natural Ovens Inc. of Manitowac, Wisconsin began a 5-year study to find out if healthy nutritious foods could make a difference in reducing behavioral problems and improving academic performance at the school. The company took over providing meals and managing the cafeteria. Junk food was banished.

Gone was the typical cafeteria fare of pizza, burgers, tacos, and fries. In their place, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads, and entrees free of chemicals and additives. Natural Ovens had its own cooks prepare recipes the old-fashioned way. Students learned, maybe for the first time in their lives, how to eat properly. And the changes were dramatic.

Teachers reported that their students were calm and well-behaved. Dropouts and expulsions became almost nonexistent and students who were on a downward spiral turned their lives around. Academic achievement went up, while discipline problems went down. Students became more focused in class and had more concentration to study.

The old argument that administrators used to justify feeding children junk food – “We might as well, because they’re only going to eat it outside of school anyway” – proved to be unfounded. Once students made the connection between nutrition, learning, and behavior, the change stuck. They weren’t running to fast food joints after school for a junk-laden fix.

We can all learn a lesson from the young people in Appleton, Wisconsin. Bad food leads to bad behavior. And even worse – to a lifetime of failures and health problems.

Michael Masterson has observed that children all over this country have a metabolism that is off balance and burdened with toxins and chemicals from processed foods, too much sugar, and dangerous additives that affect neurochemistry. Our solution has been to mask the problem with even more dangerous chemicals in the form of prescription medications.

How can we call this a cure?

It’s time we paid attention to nutrition as the first and most important influence on health. If you have a child with ADHD or another learning or behavioral problem, take this article to your next PTA meeting. Join other concerned parents and lobby your school district to offer fresh nutritious meals that are free of additives and genetically modified ingredients.

Start making the same dietary changes at home. Stop buying junk food. Spend the money, instead, on organic produce and grass-fed meats. Your grocery bill may even go down! If you need some recipe tips, sign up for a free subscription to our natural health newsletter, Total Health Breakthroughs. Nutrition experts Kelley Herring and Laura LaValle offer great-tasting, easy-to-prepare meal ideas that feature fresh organic ingredients and the nutrients our bodies need.

You and your kids are worth it.

[Ed. Note: It truly is possible to improve your health just by making wise choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle.Find out how to live the healthy life you've always wanted.]

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