Carl Massy - The Guidebook to Happiness: Learn the Specific DOs and DONTs to Raise Your Default Level of Happiness

The Guidebook toHappiness

Learn the Specific DOsand DONTs to Raise Your Default Level of Happiness

by Carl Massy

Toall of the amazing teachers I have had the great fortune to learn from and shareexperiences with thank you for continuing to share your wisdom with me.

And tomy amazing partner, Ferry.

TheGuidebook to Happiness Copyright 2012 Carl W. Massy

Allrights reserved.

When I look backover my life so far, there is an intriguing grand design to it all. Although Icould have done without a few of the bumps and bruises along the way, I knowthey were all part of the sculpting process and have played a role in who I amtoday. I have been an Australian Army Major, an international security consultantto the Olympic Games and, after fulfilling a long-standing desire, inspired bythe big-headed, big-hearted Tony Robbins, I am now a Neuro Linguistics LifeCoach and the proud owner of WorldsBIGGESTGym, which is based on the idea thatthe greatest workout we do every day is actually going on in our minds. Butmore on that later.

Not only once upona time but numerous times in my late teens and well into my twenties, I actedlike an absolute dill. Americans might translate dill as pain in the butt; inthe Queens English you might say I was a confused and misunderstood young gentleman.Whichever way you choose to phrase it, I was not a model human being and I wasnot doing myself any favors. Granted there were times when it was veryentertaining for others to watch me in a drunken state doing backwardsomersaults off the bar; but the experience of crawling to the hospital afterwardsbecause I had almost fractured both my heels was much less enjoyable, not tomention excruciatingly painful and somewhat embarrassing.

After aparticularly boozy night with me and my 29-year-old drinking buddies (thatwould be me, myself and I), I found myself watching an infomercial at about 2amon a Sunday when this guy with an enormous head and a frame to match and a grinfrom ear to ear was talking about transformation. He was big enough, boldenough and loud enough to penetrate my mental haze and I ended up ordering aprogram from the American Success Coach Tony Robbins. This was my wake-up call.It was the right person, saying the right thing, in the right way, and at theright time.

That was Easter1999. From then on, the journey to my new life began in earnest. I dove into learningabout the integration of body and mind with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP),hypnosis, Reiki and physical training and devoted my time to reading andresearching and made plenty of discoveries along the way. I figured outsomething that had been staring me in the face all along: I only knew what Iknew. Revelation number one!

Have you evertried to fix the engine on a car when you did not have a Users Manual, hadnever been shown how, had no one there to help you, and really didnt know whatit was supposed to sound like in the end? I was working with the best resourcesI had at the time, but those resources were sorely lacking. When I talk aboutresources I am talking about role models (past and present), teachers (pastand present) and the beliefs and behaviors I had adopted in my formative years,which formed the software programs in my mind and were effectively running theshow. Dont worry about understanding all of this now. I will be talking alot more about the programs that are playing in our mind and whether they areserving us or sentencing us. There was a very good chance that if Icontinued to live this way I would never get the engine of my life performingat its maximum capability.

As I merged 20years of strategic planning expertise with my study of happiness, I came torealize that there are plenty of things we choose to do, or not do, that make ahuge impact on the quality of our life experience.

That wasrevelation number two! I had thought I was just unlucky. In fact, that was whatI had chosen to believe. I was an expert at blaming my bad luck: for being arrestedfor disorderly behavior in my early twenties; or for being paraded before myCommanding Officer and told that if I did not drastically improve myperformance over the next few months I would be asked to justify why I shouldbe kept in the unit; plus plenty of other bad luck incidents.

It wasnt that Ihad been unlucky I had just been making really bad choices noone had forced me to get into the situations I was in. Revelation number twotaught me that I lacked the good sense, self-belief and courage to make betterchoices. I needed to build up trust in myself and gain the courage to say no if I knew that something was likely to end in a whole lots oftears, bruises, or embarrassment.

So from thatturning point of Easter 1999 I moved forward with an incredible new insightinto getting the most out of life. I needed to make better choices and in orderto do that I needed to learn what better options were available to me, and thenhow I could go about making those new options a part of my life. And that iswhen my life took a completely new course for the better. I had the boat, witha newly refurbished motor attached to the back, filled with the best equipmentand essentials I would need along the way, a map and guidebooks to help menavigate the paths ahead, and a new destination. It was called living a life bydesign. Choosing happiness. Adding more of what worked and getting rid of theexcess baggage that no longer served me. Then sharing all that I learned alongthe way, so that someone following along behind me could get all the benefit ofthe mistakes I had made and insights I had gained along the way.

The wayward journeyfrom that point in 1999 has seen me visit, travel through and sometimes work inover 50 countries now. I have seen many parts of the globe and met people fromnumerous cultures that had very little in a material sense, but radiatedhappiness, vitality and appreciation, and I have met others that seemingly havethe good life but lack any real joy and wonder in their lives. I had alwaysbeen a curious kid and wanted to know why things were the way they were. Whysome people where happy and others werent? Why some people had great healthand others struggled through a day. Why some people achieved the goals they setout to achieve and why some dont even know what they want. It is said that curiositykilled the cat. But I say that curiosity adds wonder, excitement and insight toour lives. Curiosity causes our brains to light up at the prospect of learningsomething new. So I ask you to be curious as you read this book. Every chapteris an opportunity to learn something new. This book is not called TheRulebook to Happiness; it is called The Guidebook to Happiness. Iwant to guide you to view your internal world and your external world with anew set of eyes, stimulated by that curious and limitless mind of yours.

This book is foranyone who has dreamed of stepping up to a new level, who wants more from thisjourney called life and themselves, and like me, realizes that we only knowwhat we know. It is time to get the tools, techniques and strategies that willactually cause you to think in a new way, form new empowering habits andtherefore cause you to create a new life experience. A leopard may not be ableto change its spots, but any person that has the right tools, techniques andstrategies, and the desire to use them, is only one step away from an entirelynew experience. That new experience could be a whole new life. A life filledwith more certainty, with a lightness of spirit, with more excitement and anextra boost of passion. If you are ready for that sort of journey then you havedefinitely ended up at the right place. Thank you for allowing me to be yourguide as you enjoy more than ever before this amazing journey on the way to aremarkable destination of your choosing.