MIKE DOOLEY - BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE : uncommon ideas for living an unusually happy life.

Copyright 2019 by Mike Dooley Published in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in Cover design: Kathleen Lynch Interior design: Bryn Starr Best Images used under license from Shutterstock.com Photograph: All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher. The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dooley, Mike, 1961- author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dooley, Mike, 1961- author.

Title: A beginners guide to the universe : uncommon ideas for living an unusually happy life / Mike Dooley. Description: 1st Edition. | Carlsbad : Hay House, Inc., 2019. Identifiers: LCCN 2018049677 | ISBN 9781401955021 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Life--Miscellanea. | Wisdom--Miscellanea.

Classification: LCC BF1999 .D6152 2019 | DDC 158--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018049677 Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-5502-1 e-book ISBN: 978-1-4019-5503-8 Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-4019-5591-5 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1st edition, March 2019 Printed in the United States of America To Rebecca Solecito DooleyBefore this odyssey ever began,
there was you, your best friends,
and wide-eyed curiosity among you about who would be
the first to leap,
the first to forget, the first to kiss, the first to tell,
the first to fall, the first to get back up,
and the first to remember
that living in the illusions of time and space
all began with a dare...... to LOVE in spite of it all. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book
will be donated to charity: water. contents Dearest Rebecca, The phone call Ill never forget came late afternoon at home. It was the weekend, I was sitting at the desk in my office, your mother across from me. A nurse began, You want to know the sex? What? You and your wife are having a baby, she explained patiently, and you want to know the sex? Yes! Right! Without a hint of emotion, she continued, Youre going to have a girl. It was as if God had just spoken.

This reality check of our firstborn about to arrive, when I was 52 years of age (soon to be 53), seemed more authentic than the modestly increased curvature of your mothers belly. A GIRL! My entire life, while outwardly nonchalant about having kids at all, Id sometimes allow myself to imagine having a daughter. Of course, by my age, it seemed this boat had already sailed. And then you arrived, six weeks early. Evading the 25 percent chance you had, based on your moms and my genetics, of having full-blown cystic fibrosis. Your five and a half pounds turning our family of two into three.

Your mothers existence, and mine, about to be transformed in ways unimaginable, never mind that wed been warned of this by every parent whos ever lived. Even today, my greatest surprise over your presence in our lives is how surprised Ive been by everything. As I held you the first time, your searching eyes belied a depth not apparent in your extremely small, frail body. This window to your soul gave no hint of where youve been, the plans youve made, or who you might become. Your tiny limbs and quivering voice were angelic. I was mesmerized. Which had less to do with odds beaten and digits counted, and more with your very embodiment of lifes greatest mystery: How could any of thisLIFE, YOU, our new familybe remotely possible?! As these first years have rolled by and your fifth birthday now approaches, more than anything else, Im awed as I witness you taking your place in the world: vessel of spirit, spark of the Divine.

Not as my childyou are not truly minebut as a child of the Universe. Still confounded that your mother and I somehow caused a biological chain of events, far beyond our ability to grasp, that would deliver you, as if from heaven, into our lives. That we are charged as caregivers and light bearers seems so contrarily absurd. Who are we to deserve so much? And who are we to be given so great a task? I fumble in my own darkness enoughtheres not much light to spare. Yet, that this madness is so, parents in the dark bringing forth children of light, in a world of meticulous order, means there must be a plan and reason for our relationship. And so I will endeavor, as all parents must, to fulfill my role and not take more from you than Im able to give.

Since your arrival Ive adored you for every reason and for none at all. And, as if things could be even better, to my wild astonishment, you seem to be just as crazy about me. To the point of embarrassment as you shun others who crave your attention as much as I do, and when you reach for me in spite of their outstretched arms and open, vulnerable hearts. Has there been some cosmic mistake that I, rather than a misplaced saint, am the one so privileged to enjoy the extreme proximity of your existence and these mutual currents of adoration, punctuated with giggles and tears? If onlymy heart sometimes achesI could be the man you think I am when you urgently and repeatedly call out, Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! hundreds of times in a single day, wanting to share with me your every observation, idea, or whim. Or when you cry over my absence, want to ride upon my shoulders, or sit beside me for a meal. How could I be so important to such perfection as you? This importance is what I now strive to earn.

To one day become the man you see in methe man you think I amand to always be a light in your darkness, hope in your despair, and the best father in the world to any degree I may. When your mom was still pregnant I was told by a friend that your impending birth would mark the day my life would begin. And so it seemsso much so, that I sometimes feel my time on earth prior to your arrival was merely preparation for what were now experiencing and all that lies ahead. Speaking of which, while I have every expectation of loving and guiding you for decades more, Im not so nave to think youll hear all I say, to assume what I offer will actually be helpful, or, to even be sure Ill live that long. Yet, as an author and speaker, whose Notes from the Universe have almost made me famous, and whose ideas have at least improved my own life, there are some things I hope to impart before this gig is up... or before we find out there really was some cosmic mistake.

As if, a beginners guide to the universea handbook for rocking these hallowed jungles of time and space as a budding master, with uncommon ideas for living an unusually happy life. Not that Im a master, but my work the past two decades has been to help people live deliberately and create consciously among lifes infinite possibilities la