IT'S STORY TIME...

I was en route to a comedy show when I saw a man on the busy street corner asking for money. On a bus bench next to him was a woman with a baby in her arms, and a two-year-old sitting quietly at her side. I passed by them and entered the lobby of the theater in eager anticipation of the performance ahead. For the next three hours, I was absorbed in the humor of the moment.

It was a little past eleven when the show ended. I was tired. It was late. Outside, the man on the street corner was still asking for money. By now the two year old was asleep on the cold, hard bench with his head resting in his mother’s lap. The baby was asleep in her arms.

It tugged at my heart to realize this family had no place to go that night. I stopped to talk with them for a while, then gave them the few bucks I had. All that night and the next day, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Wasn’t there something I could do? They were good people. They didn’t deserve to be on the street. Although I knew I couldn’t solve their situation, perhaps I could offer something to show that I cared.

I decided to bring them dinner. I baked a large chicken smothered with salsa, added ten baked potatoes, wrapped everything in foil, then drove the twenty-five minutes into the city.

I asked God to guide me back to that family. For the next forty-five minutes I circled the busy, bustling downtown area where I had last seen them. God must have been off playing golf somewhere because I couldn’t find them.

I felt bad. But I still had this wonderful dinner in my car, and knowing the city was filled with hungry people, I decided I’d find somebody else to give it to.

Eventually I came to an empty lot where three or four homeless men were lying on the ground. They looked grubby and unshaven. At first I felt afraid. Were they too drunk to stand up? Maybe they were crazy. Having no idea what to expect, I rolled down my car window and said, "Excuse me, would you all care for a nice, hot, home-cooked dinner?"

They looked up in astonishment and were unbelievably grateful for the offer. One of them even volunteered, "We’ll be sure to throw the paper plates and forks in the garbage when we’re through. We won’t throw them on the ground."

As I got back into my car, another said, "God’s going to bless you for this."

And I replied, "And God will bless you too," then drove away.

My heart was soaring. I realized that when I had something to give, all fear dissolved. It felt so good to give. I could not be in my heart and be in fear at the same time. As soon as I was giving, the fear simply vanished.

A few days later, after attending a community function where there was a large supply of leftovers, I asked the event sponsors if I could take the food and find some people to feed. They agreed.

"Goody," I thought, "I get to go give some more!"

The next day I drove back to San Francisco and over to a park by the City Hall. A man sat stone-still on a bench, with a vacant look on his face. I could smell him from a distance. He smelled like cooked green peas, which smells great on peas, but not on people. At first, I was a little frightened to offer him food because again, I didn’t know what to expect. Approaching him cautiously, I asked if he’d care for a sandwich.

His reply was so eloquent, I thought I was talking to an English gentleman.

"Why, yes, that would be lovely. What kind do you have?"

I opened the bag. He preferred tuna to egg salad and politely helped himself to a sandwich and some chips. As a parting gesture, he said to me in a way that felt both protective and caring, "You’ll find that most people in the park are genuinely appreciative of such offers."

Next, I approached two men on another bench, and a woman who was lying face down in the grass next to them. The woman looked up bleary-eyed, her long black hair a mass of tangles. They took a bag of sandwiches, some chips and condiments, and said, "Thanks."

Next I saw an elderly woman sitting alone. When I offered her some sandwiches, she pointed a bony finger at me and emphatically stated, "Honey, the food is for the pigeons!"

"Oooookey-dokey," I said to myself, and moved on.

Giving out the last of the food, I headed back across the park to my car. As I was about to drive away, I saw something that brought tears to my eyes–the woman I had given food to earlier, the one who had been lying face down on the ground, was now going around to other people lying face down on the ground. She was waking them and offering them some of the food she had taken.

My giving had enabled someone else to give. And that touched me the most of all.

Love is the common denominator on this planet.

Steps to Happiness NOW!

145) Measure the success of your day by the love you’ve given away

I once met a woman named Gail Roberts who said, "As I go into this day, I ask, ‘Where can I love?’ Then I go and do a little love ‘fluffing’ here and there." The love in the Universe is as endless as the ways we have to express it. You never know what people are experiencing in their lives, so look at others through kind eyes. Smile. You might make the biggest difference in somebody’s day.

146) The greatest safety lies within a loving heart

One cannot be in a loving heart and feel fear at the same time. It’s impossible. When we give unconditionally, we truly feel good about ourselves. Whether it’s through our work or a kindness of the moment, giving fills our hearts with wonderful twinkles. And there’s nothing more fulfilling than a twinkle in your heart.

147) Angels are equal opportunity employers–so sign up

There’s plenty of need for angels on this planet. So why not be one? Gather some close friends together and create an Angel Team. Decide how you’re all going to be angels and just go do it. If you start from a place of joy, only more joy will come to you. And as you give of yourself, your heart will dance and your wings will begin to unfold.

148) God doesn’t care about your ability or inability. God cares about your availability

So, how available are you? I don’t know if we can change the whole world. I do know we can change the moment. Creating a positive change begins with one person–YOU–having one idea, setting one goal, and taking one action. You can make a significant difference if you open yourself to the possibility of doing so.

Wherever I Turn, Love Touches Me

IT'S STORY TIME...

Over the last ten years, as I made my annual pilgrimage to a synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there was one man who always recognized me from the year before. He would greet me with a friendly hello and a smile of recognition. In a sea of strangers, I always felt welcomed by him.

At this year’s service, I learned that over the past year he had died of AIDS. I didn’t know he had been sick. In fact, I knew nothing about this man except that for the past ten years he had been friendly and kind to me in a setting where I often felt unseen and alone.

I thought about how this person, whom I’d hardly known, had touched my life. I wished I could have told him how much his welcoming eyes and smile had meant to me.

Back home, I sat down on my living room carpet and thought about his gentle and loving presence. As I saw this man in my mind’s eye, I looked straight into his eyes. I didn’t remember their color. However, I remembered they were beautiful and full of life. I felt his love coming to me. I kept looking at his face and the pure essence of his love continued to fill me.

I reached for my guitar and played some chords. I started hearing words. The song repeated itself over and over:"And I look in the faces of the ones I love."

I looked in this man’s sweet face. I stayed there a long time, singing and feeling the continual outpouring and inpouring of love as I let the tears fall.

"And I look in the faces of the ones I love." I started looking directly into the eyes of my friends. I felt their love flowing back into me. As I felt how much they loved me, more tears fell.

"And I look in the faces of the ones I love." I looked into the eyes of everyone who had ever left me. They all looked back at me. I felt their love. In that second I learned that anyone who had ever left me, had loved me. Their truth was, they needed to go.

"And I look in the faces of the ones I love." I looked into the eyes of everyone in my family and felt how much I was loved by each of them.

"And I look in the faces of the ones I love." I looked into the eyes of everyone who had ever hurt me. All I saw was love. I saw the precious innocence of each soul.

I let the faces appear in my mind. There were so many. I realized how much I love people and how much I am loved. I realized I have always been loved. My heart felt cleansed as I released the flow of tears, just staying in the love.

"And I look in the faces of the ones I love." I challenged myself to look into the eyes of people I hate, including despicable characters in history. All I saw was love.

How was this possible? I didn’t know why, and I didn’t know how. All I experienced, though, was love. It felt as though I had gone beyond the human element, beyond the play of drama, of history, of cycles of abuse. My heart had gone so deep and was so open that all I could see and feel was love. Nothing outside of love could enter me. The facade of the personality, of all personalities, was stripped away. Everything had returned to its core, everything had returned to Love.

Recently I played the song again.

"And I look in the faces of the ones I love." Sitting alone on my living room floor, I imagined everyone I knew was sitting around me in a circle sending me love. I looked into their eyes. I sang the song, and they sang it back to me. They all had their hands up in front of them, sending me loving energy. I cried and cried. I felt so much love coming in.

I did that for a long time, and then I asked God, "Is there anyone else I need to see?" And the answer came back, "You."

I got out the floor mirror, picked up my guitar, cried some more and through the tears sang, "And I look in the face of the one I love." That was a biggie.

Sometimes when I’m in a grocery store or just see people walking down the street or whizzing by in a car, I sing this song to them. I don’t sing it out loud. I sing it in my mind. It still counts.

I feel connected with everyone when I do this. Want to try it?

Look in the mirror. Send love to yourself. If you don’t like what you see, change mirrors. Now look into the eyes of Love. They are your own.

Love is eternal; pain is not.

Steps to Happiness NOW!

149) Don’t wait until you need surgery to open your heart

A woman with a reputation for treating her employees poorly recently underwent open-heart surgery. Upon hearing news of the surgery, one of her berated ex-employees proclaimed, "Looks like the only way they could open her heart was to do it manually." What does it take to open your heart?

150) Make the most of This day

When I was seven years old, I remember looking at a clock as the minute hand went around and realizing, "This minute will never come again. It’s gone. And this minute will never come again...and this minute…" Each moment is precious. Time moves on, so make the best of your Now now.

151) Really get your priorities straight

I met a man whose wife was dying. Their lives had become an endless series of frustrating doctor’s appointments and useless tests. One day toward the end, they played hookey on the doctors and drove to the ocean. Leaving her wheelchair in the car, he picked up his wife and carried her far down the beach. Nothing else mattered, except their time together and that beautiful day. It was a perfect farewell and a memory he treasures.

152) Wherever you go, the hearts will find you

If you are the kind of person who gives your best to others, the hearts will find you. You can go through the worst trials of life, but if you have a heart, the hearts will find you. Someone will come into your life. God will send him or her to you. The hearts will find you. You are never alone, so reach out. Talk to people. Talk to God and your angels. Speak your truth. The hearts will find you.

Final Thoughts

If you want to be happy:

Invite happiness to reside in your being. By welcoming happiness, you make way for magic and grace. In the place where magic and grace intersect, the creation of anything we want is possible.

Make joy your standard. Never settle for less.

Let go of the victim stance. God will not support us in being victims or in our whining, moping, or complaining about how hard, or unfair, or stressful, life is. Choosing to be a victim, or to whine, mope, or complain will only attract more opportunities for greater victimization. It’s that simple.

Be as present in the moment as possible. If we can feel love in this moment, without judging ourselves or anyone else, or worrying about any other moment, our Now is going to be a lot happier.

Don’t be attached to outcomes. We can block our good by thinking something needs to look a certain way. It doesn’t.

Follow whatever positive flow is leading you forward. If nothing seems to be happening in spite of your best efforts, just be. Breathe. Observe. Grieve. Cry. Walk in nature. Meditate. Get clear.

Put your energy into that which sustains you. If you aren’t feeling sustained at a financial level after you have done everything you can possibly do to find a job or create some form of alternative income, find something in your life that sustains you at a spiritual or creative level and ride that wave. We need to go with the flow and stay in our highest self possible, while believing that the other aspects of our lives will change in due course.

Take the next small step that’s in front of you. If we think we should be further along, don’t worry. We are just where we need to be in order to take the very next step.

Let go of that which you know is not for your highest good. We can never compromise the deepest parts of ourselves and create happiness.

Never withhold the truth from anyone for any length of time. If we speak our truth gently and with compassion, we will feel at peace. If we are afraid we’ll hurt someone by telling the truth, we are supporting that person in living a lie until we speak up.

Push yourself to know the truth as well. There’s a calmness in knowing the truth. Not knowing the truth always feels scarier than knowing the truth. When the unknown becomes the knowable, our fear often subsides.

If you want to be happy around your family, know your "PSP"–your "Parent Saturation Point"–and lovingly make your exit before you’ve reached it.

Disarm the "resentment monster." Any time we find ourselves being envious of others, we will make ourselves miserable.

Concentrate on something in your life for which you feel grateful. If you can’t find one thing in life to be grateful for, grieve until you can feel gratitude again.

Develop "Chicken Consciousness," that is, keep your agreements with "im-PECK-ability." When you begin a sentence with the word, "I’ll," that "I’ll" stands for "I WILL." I WILL is a command. It is a statement of power. When we use this phrase, we are calling something into manifestation, so we need to make sure we really mean it. If we don’t keep our agreements, the Universe will not take our requests seriously. After all, how can the Universe trust us to handle something bigger if we’re not keeping our agreements at a smaller level?

Be open and willing to receive good. If someone offers you something positive, you need to say "yes" and accept it. If we do not accept the good offered to us in one area of our lives, we will block the flow of happiness in other areas. As we consider ourselves worthy of having happiness, the Universe will, too.

Maintain an unswerving commitment to create your dreams. We must not let anyone or anything deter us from achieving our heart’s desires. If we feel discouraged along the way, we need to turn inward and listen to make sure that the pursuit of our dream is still what we want.

Allow yourself to feel all of your feelings.

Explore ways to express happiness. Pray. Love. Relax. Open to beauty. Sing. Dance. Give thanks. Praise. Rejoice.

Give up the notion of having perfect hair or the perfect body. There are only five people on the planet at any given time with perfect hair or the perfect body, and chances are, you and I are not among them.

Reach out to others. Each of us is called in our own unique way to serve a Greater Good. We might feel called to make a difference in the life of one other being, to serve at the level of our community, or to impact the lives of everyone on the planet. We are all here to be each other’s angels. Give what it is that you want most to receive. After giving your best, let God do the rest.

Lastly, have patience and allow for God’s divine right timing in order for your happiness to unfold. When doubt sets in, hold steadfast and believe that your prayers have been heard and that they will be answered. We must have compassion for ourselves. Things take time, but in the end, life always works out. Trust and have faith.

© 2002 Randy Peyser

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randy Peyser is the former editor-in-chief of Catalyst, a national new age magazine. In her first book, Crappy to Happy, Randy provides 152 steps to happiness. She has a one-woman show in San Francisco called Crappy to Happy, during which she finds herself arrested by the "Thought Police" for being a prisoner of her own thoughts, spins "The Wheel of Faulting," and dances the "Chakra-Chanting-Cha-Cha." Visit Randy at www.crappytohappy.com.

Purchase her book by clicking here.