Now we trust that you are all very comfortable and we thank you for your consideration. This evening we would enjoy bringing a previous discussion on magic into the presentation, and in particular, we would specifically like to discuss map-making, but in a very particular way, in a manner unique to our modus operandi. And we would call this „The Happiness Map.“
Now, in standard terms, a map is a representation, hopefully in clear detail, of a particular geographical area, or a country, or even the entire world and certain branches of science, such as astronomy, each attempting to create a map of the cosmos, certain metaphysical studies such as astrology attempt to create a psychological and psychic map with the various houses and planets and so on. And it is, to a certain degree, worth investigating what it is that you map out during the course of your daily adventures and ultimately, during the course of your existence.
And of course, some of the subject matter will be familiar to you as it necessitates recognizing some of the various highlights, or even low points during the course of a day or week or month. And this requires a recognition of what you normally focus upon or pay attention to which includes what you worry about, what you stress yourself about, and even what you deny to your own self during the course of those adventures.
So this entails the creation of your own personal, psychological map and we hope to assist you in laying down a specific type of map that may even be akin to an old-fashioned treasure map, the treasure being “Happiness” and we can show you there are no pirates out to get the X that marks the spot, but most definitely this small exercise can also bring about a very real, conscious, undeniable representation of what you experience during the course of a day or week or more.
And we mention it in this way because we are well aware of the very human tendency to hide things from oneself, to censor and block out that which you do not want to deal with in one way or another, but this small happiness map will render the process much easier and assist you in transforming what you would normally deny or not want to deal with into a transformative process, leading to a treasure hunt for happiness. Not that happiness is found elsewhere, halfway around the globe, but rather right where you are to be found.
The process itself is relatively simple: On a sheet of paper you can draw a large circle and on and within the circle itself you can fill the space with a variety of smaller circles. The smaller circles can vary in size, as you please, or they can be of even sizes, the point is not to get all of the circles absolutely perfect. Once you have filled the large circle with a variety of smaller circles, you can begin to write or even abbreviate different portions or segments of your day with various activities that you engage in.
And this should be as true as possible, even if you think an activity should never appear on paper, we trust that by now you have a sufficient understanding to accept even those parts, aspects and activities of your own that otherwise you might still perhaps consider simple or otherwise. And if such are still carrying that stigma, then we highly recommend more Triple ‚A‘ or even the very recent energy point exercise. With this out of the way, try and write something in each of the circles.
And once all of the circles have been filled with a description or abbreviation, whether one of the activities or some of the activities involve struggle, worrying, stress, and so on, take inventory of the numbers of activities that you might even consider perhaps unpleasant, unfulfilling, frustrating; in short, activities you consider might not make you as happy as you would have wished for that day or that week. And write perhaps beside, outside of that circle, the major circle, the number or percentage of activities that lead to unhappiness as well as the number of activities that actually are fulfilling and bring happiness.
Now we do understand the very real and practical necessity to often accomplish tasks that are absolutely necessary for human survival and so on and so forth, perhaps some of those are tasks you would perhaps not have to do that are necessary, but there are also many other tasks that you do that are fulfilling and fill you with happiness. And once you have finished writing the numbers and compared each one, take another sheet of paper, re-do the major circle and fill that with varieties of smaller circles. (Pause)
{josquote}Write down in each of the smaller circles as many activities as you would like to engage that do bring you genuine happiness!{/josquote}And in this, write down in each of the smaller circles as many activities as you would like to engage that do bring you genuine happiness, regardless of what it is, even if you think it is beyond your reach, Perhaps you would enjoy being one of the first people to go into outer space on a commercial vehicle, even if you think such an activity could not possibly be within your reach, write it down. And perhaps each time you write such an activity that fills you with happiness, even joy, take a moment to delve in that action. Imagine what it would be like if….
And after a moment, write something else in another circle, until you fill the page. You do not have to merely and strictly stay within the realm of fantasy. There are many, many things that can make each and every one of you happy in real and three dimensional terms. Feel free to delve into any of these as well. (Pause) Once you have filled all of the smaller circles we suggest adding up those happy activities that you consider fanciful in one way or another, and those that are, according to you, within your reach and add the numbers, and compare.
For example, you may have twenty different smaller circles, nine of them would be filled with activities you might consider flights of fancy, and the balance with those that are practical, so you would write those two different numbers. And once you are done, take a third sheet of paper, again make a large circle, again fill it with smaller various sized circles or evenly sized, as you wish. And this time you will divide the large circle, starting from outside its periphery, from one end to the other, north, south, east, west, creating four segments.
This is merely for practical purposes and you may name each of the four segments on the outside of the large circle, perhaps something along the lines of the upper left segment as „early morning“, the upper right as „early afternoon,“ the lower left: „late afternoon,“ the lower right: „evening.“ These are merely suggestions, you may play with those things as you see fit.
Now within the first segment and you can also name segments one, two, three, four, however you like, segment number one: you can begin to fill it with activities, even if they are mental activities or actual physical activities that give you happiness, that make you happy. They would be activities that you DO engage in, that you would encounter in the day, or that part of the day, or that you will deliberately create within that part of the day to provide you with happiness. And you would do the same with each other segment. The idea being that you would hold this as a guideline to follow for those various parts of the day.
{josquote}You may even invite unexpected moments of happiness to become part of your map of happiness.{/josquote}And you may even include, as does occasionally happen in real life, for the unexpected events that pop up in your reality and that even such unexpected events can be incorporated into your happiness map. You may even invite such unexpected moments of happiness to become part of your map of happiness. With a small amount of practice, such a process can take but a few minutes of anyone’s day. However, the happiness map model is sufficiently open-ended for anyone to modify it to whatever adventure they wish to incorporate within it and especially to periodically, say every few weeks, if you carry this proposal to any length, compare your first map with your most recent map and gauge the differences, the changes, that make themselves known to you as you create them, utilizing such a map-making process as a guideline.
There is no hard and fast rule for such a process and as this development unfolds, you may even incorporate goals of happiness as a foundation for unfolding days ahead. We believe it is simple enough, but its impact can be very deep if you make such allowances, considering that the map is not the happiness, the happiness is what you create, the map being merely an assistance that can help you dig up treasures from deep within you, and help bring it up to the light of day and conscious experience. Does this make sense?
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