Matthews - How Life Works: Why Happy People are More Successful. How You Can Be Like Them!

written and illustrated by
Andrew Matthews

Watkins Publishing
Sharing Wisdom Since 1893

This edition first published in the USA 2019 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

19 Cecil Court

London WC2N 4EZ

Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2018

Text copyright Andrew Matthews 2014

Andrew Matthews has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78678-183-3

www.watkinspublishing.com

Originally published by Seashell Publishers,
PO Box 325, Trinity Beach,
Queensland, Australia, 4879

First published May 2014

Also by the same author:
Being Happy!
Making Friends
Follow Your Heart
Happiness In a Nutshell
Being a Happy Teen
Happiness Now
Happiness in Hard Times
Stop the Bullying!

DEDICATED

To Jock and Angus

THANK YOU

To Julie, my wife.

You are amazing.

Thank you for your love and guidance.

Thank you for all you have done over twenty years to take our books to the world. Nobody knows how hard you have worked or the sacrifices you have made.

I am in awe of your vision, your courage, your persistence and your generosity. I am blessed daily by your beautiful spirit.

To Ian Ward

Thank you for publishing my first book, Being Happy!
When no other publisher wanted my raw manuscript, you and Norma gave me the chance of a lifetime. I am so grateful to you for your foresight, your generosity and your relentless commitment. You changed my life.

To Caroline Dey

Thank you for your interest in this book from the beginning and for your many helpful suggestions. Thank you for being my friend for thirty years and for always making me laugh.

To Dr George Blair-West

For your friendship, for the all-night chats on your sailboat,
for our countless sessions on Skype and your good advice
thank you, buddy!

To Juergen Schmidt
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and thank
you for your encouragement.

Late one night Trent was cruising down the highway when a stray cow decided to cross the road. Trent swerved but hit the cow head-on. His car rolled. The cow died.

Trent survived. Trent fixed his car. But his troubles werent over ...

Trent needed to relax. He went fishing and cut his foot on a rock. It was a small cut but it wouldnt heal. To be safe, Trent saw a doctor. The doc said, Forget it! It is only an inflamed tendon. But when his right foot became the size of a watermelon, Trent sought a second opinion. The surgeon told him, You have a massive infection. You might lose your leg.

Trent spent the next ten days in hospital. They saved his leg.

Back at work, Trent was driving down a country road and rounded a corner to discover an out-of-control Toyota Corolla on the wrong side of the road coming straight at him. Trent hit the brakes and the Corolla.

Trent survived, but his troubles werent over

Trent had gotten some financial advice. He invested all his money with a company called Storm Financial. Everything was perfect until the Global Financial Crisis, when Storm Financial hit the perfect storm. Trent survived, but Storm Financial didnt.

Trent lost his life savings.

Trents story is your story and my story. Why do bills and bad drivers come in bunches?

Do we have control over seemingly random events, or is life a lottery of stray cows and rampant bacteria? Well get to this shortly

Jane is thirtyish and single. All her girlfriends have boyfriends or husbands. Jane wanted one, too. She wondered, What is wrong with me?

Finding a man became her obsession. Whenever she walked into a supermarket or an elevator or onto a plane, she would ask herself, Will he be here?

He never was.

Whenever she did have a date, it evaporated. The guy got pneumonia and cancelled. The guys Italian grandmother had a heart attack and he left the country. Jane tried internet dating and hated it. Finally, she had had enough. She told herself, I dont need a man. Ill do some study. Ill get a dog!

She joined an online Chinese language class. She reconnected with old girlfriends. She went to the theatre. She started enjoying life. She bought a puppy.

And you can guess the rest. The day she ditched the idea of a boyfriend, men began showing up by the truckload.

• A handsome neighbour rescued her puppy from the stairwell and took her out for coffee
• A friend from high school complete with the Im just divorced and you are the only girl I ever loved routine tracked her down on Facebook
• Her landlords brother came to change a light bulb and stayed for breakfast.

She wasnt looking; she wasnt even trying. She never spent one minute in a seedy bar. It just happened.

Why is it that when good things happen, more good things happen?

Does this ever happen to you?

• You are about to phone someone you havent called in a month when suddenly she calls you
• You hear about an interesting book and decide you want to read it. Next day you walk into a friends house, or a junk shop, or you step onto a train, and there it is
• You start humming an old song and then turn on the radio, and its playing.

Or this?

• You are out on a date, and you have the thought, I would really hate to meet my ex-husband! You walk into the restaurant, and there he is with his new fiance
• You buy a new car and tell yourself, I hope I dont scratch it. Within twenty-four hours some kid demolishes your tail light with a runaway shopping cart
• You spend a year planning a skiing vacation. You tell yourself, I hope I dont get sick! You catch the flu on the flight out and spend the week in your hotel room.

We may explain these things away as coincidence. Its more than that.

Quantum physics has now proven what spiritual masters have taught for three thousand years: thought affects matter, and everybody and everything is connected.

Thoughts are real things. Your thoughts create your circumstances. But that is only half the story. What matters most is how you FEEL.

This book is about why GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE ARE FEELING GOOD, why BAD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE ARE FEELING BAD and how to feel better so that more good things happen.

In the process you may get some insight into:

• why bad things sometimes happen to good people