Bernstein - Add more ~ing to your life: a hip guide to happiness

Copyright 2010 by Gabrielle Bernstein

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Random House LLC.

Originally published in paperback in the United States by QNY, an imprint of the Hammond World Atlas Corporation, part of the Langenscheidt Publishing Group, Long Island City, New York, in 2010. Subsequently published in paperback by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, in 2011.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-307-95155-7
eISBN 978-0-307-95156-4

Text photography by Sam Bassett

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T O L AUREN Z USSMAN ,
I WILL CONTINUE TO CARRY YOUR MESSAGE .
T HANK YOU FOR SHINING YOUR LIGHT
ON THIS WORLD .

First and foremost, I thank my family. Mom, you are my soul mate and my best friend. Thank you for teaching me the true meaning of love and inner guidance. Dad, you are my teacher and my biggest fan. Thank you for your faith in my vision and your dedication to the light. My brother, Max, there is no one cooler than you, bro. Aunt Hattie, thank you for your endless edits, coaching and inspiration. Grammy, thank you for reminding me that light can shine even through a simple paint stroke. My stepbrother, Scott, and my sister-in-law, Emily, I feel blessed to have you in my life. To my stepfather, Michael, thank you for your endless encouragement and support. Grampy, Poppy and Grandma, thank you for guiding me from above.

To Joe Watson, you are my mentor and one of my dearest friends. Im a lucky girl to have a guide like you! To my mentor, Rha Goddess, thank you for helping me manifest my dreams.

To my power posse of miracle workers on herfuture.com, thank you for powerfully holding space for love. You have inspired every lesson, every story and every word in this book. You are my teachers and my sisters.

To my dear friend Micaela Ezra, the light in you ignites the light in me.

To my ~ing buddy Zach Rocklin, you have taught me more than you can imagine. Most importantly, you have taught me the true meaning of holy love.

To those who have helped create this book. I thank Michele Martin and Nel Yomtov. Thank you for believing in the importance of this message and being my partners on this mission. With immense gratitude, I thank my dear friend Sam Basset for your incredible photographs. I thank Haleh Roubeni for styling me with love. To Bevin Reilly, thank you for the hours you spent in my kitchen reviewing every word and exercise in this book. I thank every ~ing Expert who contributed to this book. With endless amounts of love and gratitude, I thank Bonnie Bauman, my editor, word coach, teacher, ~ing buddy and friend. Thank you for holding my hand through this process. Keep on bouncing.

To PS 50, 7:30 AM , you are my family. I thank Bill and all his friends for being my bridge back to life. I thank Elaine Abromovitch, Dr. Rick Barnett and Deborah Miller for helping me grow into the woman I am today.

I thank Heather Cumming and Medium Joao for opening my heart, spirit and soul to the light. My life is forever changed thanks to you. I thank my guides, Sol, Lisa, Merlin, Joan, Anne and Jthank you for holding my hand as I walk over the bridge; I know you have my back. I have endless gratitude and thanks for those who have inspired me most: Marianne Williamson, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Shakti Gawain and Louise Hay. I hope to carry your messages in true ~ing girl style. Thank you for lighting my path.

Finally, I thank Helen Schucman and William Thetford for the willingness and dedication to give birth to A Course in Miracles. Thank you for being a channel for the light.

For daily ~ing tips and correspondence, feel free to visit me at www.gabbyb.tv.

Hello, my new friend. Im super-psyched that you dug the cover of my book enough to pick it up! Right now I bet youre thinking, Who the heck is that angel-winged girl on a skateboard in the middle of a busy New York City street, and whats that big grin on her face all about? Well, in case it isnt obvious, she is me; Gabrielle Bernstein, and the reason for the grin is that I am happy. I am complete, I am whole and I live for my life! I choose to perceive the world with love. My life feels like a happy dream that Im psyched to wake up for daily.

I was not always this enthusiastic about life. In fact, five years ago I was trapped in darkness and felt my only recourse was to scream my way out. At the time, I was twenty-five and running my own public relations firm in Manhattan. I was your stereotypical middle-class, young New Yorker. On the outside I had all the trappings necessary for happiness: a great family, a great job, great friends. But on the inside, I wasnt happy. Back then, all my focus was on validating the outside worlds perceptions of me: What do you do for a living? Who are you dating? What clubs can you get into? These were the things that mattered.

I was full of insecurities, booze and Subway sandwiches. My perception of happiness was a pill, a boyfriend or a new notch on the belt of lifes necessary accomplishments. My mantra was: The harder I push and the louder I scream, the further I will get. I was obsessed with the when I haves. When I have a new boyfriend When I have more money When I sign that client then I will be happy. When my when I haves became I haves, I still felt unsatisfied, and I turned to drugs and alcohol to fill the void. I spent an entire year chasing fleeting highs only to end up with a nasty drug addiction.

I remember the exact date that I hit rock bottom. It was October 2, 2005. I woke up hungover, strung out and ashamed of what Id done the night before. I heard the clashing sounds of a garbage truck in the street outside my apartment and a steady stream of voices from people headed to work or to the gym. I was headed nowhere. It was then, over my pounding headache, I heard my intuition say, Stop searching for happiness on the outside. Clean up, and you will find it on the inside. That day I chose a life of sobriety and decided to seek my source of happiness from within.

It was then that I put the brakes on my fast-paced New York lifestyle and developed a new, healthy addiction. I became a metaphysics junkie! And just as the Buddhist proverb promises that When the student is ready, the master appears, my master, or masters, appeared in the form of a group of happiness gurusMarianne Williamson, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay and Shakti Gawain. I followed their guidance, took their suggestions and shifted my perceptions. Things got way better, fast.

Once I was sober, I found Id cleared spacementally, spiritually, and in my schedulefor new activities. I felt healthy and wanted to explore that positive feeling, so I started doing a lot of physical activities. I laced up my Nikes and went for runs in the park; I put on music and danced alone in my apartment. On a trip to Hawaii, I had an incredible surfing adventure and felt totally connected to myself and the universe. Physical activities were igniting my spirit. I was mov