Happiness is a State of...ah, whatever.

Yesterday the black dog was looking for a sit again. As someone who was practicing The Secret before The Secret ever came out and knows it to be true and effective, I started thinking about what I needed in my life to be happy, really and truly Happy. But I kept circling back to the fact that happiness is just a state of mind blah blah blah. It's not a thing or person or job or accomplishment or reputation or dessert or body image. No amount of getting back in shape will bring me peace. No amount of work will do it. No amount of success. Or pie. So what will, exactly? What's it going to take?

I decided to re-focus those reality-warping dream-manifesting powers of actualization on something else this time. In the past I've used visualization quite successfully to bring in work, relationships, even my cat. For example I once realized, sitting at a cafe, that I needed an income again. So I focused on it, did my thing (I have techniques), and literally 30 minutes later got a call from a total stranger, a referral, who wanted to throw money my way for an easy tech job. After that came another job, and another, and another. So it goes.

But what to focus on this time? At some point in the day I realized I needed to take a step back, or out, and look at the issue from a broader perspective. What are the causes of Happiness? What are its roots? Why do some people have it while others, in equally bearable or unbearable circumstances, become overwhelmed by the dark cloud? I need to understand this thing a little better. Then I can go about identifying action items and putting a plan into place. So yesterday I shifted my focus from Things to Concepts. I focused on: "What do I need to learn? Help me understand this. Bring me the experiences that will help me understand the nature of Happiness." I broadcast that out to the ethers and let it go.

Last night I got home and checked the mail. I found one and only one thing - a flyer, not addressed to me, for a conference titled "Happiness and its Causes."

So there you go.