REGRET is pain RE-LIVED instead of pain RELIEVED!

CONFESSION: There have been many times in my life that I’ve felt like an honorary member of the WHAT WAS I THINKING CLUB.

But instead of spending time regretting, regretting, regretting mistakes… I've always consciously decided to make sure I am getting, getting, getting lucky lessons to be learned.

Basically, I convince myself to view every "failure" as "fullure" - FULL of helpful new insights to be learned.

How about you?

When you feel like you've made a WHAT WAS I THINKING blunder, how much do you torture yourself thereafter?

I'm here today to remind you: Yo! Regret is pain RELIVED, instead of pain RELIEVED. You gotta learn your lesson, then move on!

Which brings me to an Inspiring Quickie Buddhist Tale...

A man was wandering in the desert and got bitten by a poisonous snake. Immediately, he started to regret taking this trip into the desert. He regretted not taking a different route. He regretted not looking down at the ground more as he walked.Meanwhile the helpful antidote formula to cure him of snake- poison bites remained in his knapsack …unused. He became so caught up in his regret that he didn’t have the clear-headedness to take positive action to remedy his problem. Indeed, he was so caught up in his regret, that yet another snake came along -- and so he got bitten twice – doubling the poison in his system. He died. End of story.

THE LESSON TO BE LEARNED: If you’ve recently been bitten by a Big Life Problem, your locus of focus should be 20% thinking about your problem, 80% thinking about your solution.

You must make the choice to become positively proactive, not negatively reactive.

Peacefulness of mind is a bigtime power.

Thinking thoughts about regret, blame, anger, and resentment will only create chaotic static in your head that will stop you from seeing clearly how to move forward productively.

So...today, right now, take inventory of all the events you regret and the people you resent…and consciously decide to forgive and forget -- both yourself and others.

BONUS BENEFIT: When you train your brain to consistently be more loving in its "thought-content," you not only become more focused and productive, you'll find you also wind up attracting more positive people and positive circumstances towards you!

Want more lessons to lessen pain and increase joy? Clickeroo here!

Shut up and meditate!

Did you know Roseanne Barr won The Eleanor Roosevelt Award and The Peabody Award -- and all kinds of humanitarian awards?

I met Roseanne Barr last week when she came on my daily drivetime Sirius radio show,BE HAPPY DAMMIT -- and she warmly shared some interesting happiness tips.

Firstly, Roseanne feels the world creates too many divides between different groups of people -- men vs. women -- white vs. black -- gay vs. straight -- which only creates a sense of further separation from each other as people on this planet.

She also candidly talked about how meditation has personally helped her to stay more focused, calm, happy- and in touch with her core self.

I'm a big believer in meditation -- and so are researchers at U of Penn who found that after assigning folks 1 month of 30 minutes worth of meditation a day, participants had greater improvement in problem-solving and their ability to quickly and accurately move and focus attention.

I often recommend meditation to stressed-out clients. However, many folks claim they're not very good at meditating... and trying to do something they're not good at ironically makes them even more stressed-out.

So here's an easy exercise that will give you the same benefits of meditation: blow up a balloon. It taps into the same breathing and concentration methods as meditation. Simply blow into a balloon with 3 breaths, for a total of 3 seconds. Hold the balloon's little tail, so it doesn't leak out the air. Then, catch your breath in 3 breaths, for a total of about 3 seconds. Return to the balloon, and blow again for three seconds. Repeat until you've blown up the entire balloon. Then go do your work -- and blow away your competition.
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You can hear the full/fun Sirius interview for FREE by clicking here.

Is that green grass...or astroturf?

Do you suffer from WHAT-YOU-SEE-SICKNESS?

Are you always comparing your outsides to other people's outsides – and thereby getting jealous that others might have more than you?

If so, keep in mind:

1. The grass is always greener on the other side – until you get there and find out it's astroturf. Symbols are not reality. Someone might have amassed material success, but this doesn't mean that they are truly happy. And happiness is the holy grail – not material success. So, don't go judging a person's book of their life by their cover. You must read at least 127 pages of "THE BOOK OF WHO SOMEONE REALLY REALLY IS" to know where that person is truly at. (Remember: there are many successful people – aka Marilyn Monroe – who seemed to have had it made, but were coming undone.)

2. You can't have everything in this world. You just have to make sure you have the right something for you. Each of us has our own unique gift – and your gift is not a one-size-fits-all. No one of us is on the same path.

3. Feeling competitive can sidetrack you – as a unique individual – with your own personalized monogrammed long-term goals – from pursuing what you must pursue.

4. Don't compete with others. Compete with yourself. Ask yourself: "How can you improve your skillsets and thereby improve your cockiness – so you can shhhhhusssh your near-sighted-not-very-clear-sighted jealous mind?" Remember: Anything you can do you can do better!

5. Overnight success never happens overnight. But the universe's delays are not the universe's denials. Envision what you want as being stuck on a delivery truck – just a wee bit stuck in traffic – but coming towards you right now - maybe even a week from next Tuesday!

GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY, DAMMIT!

Wow. What a week. It's been the launch of my SIRIUS show...and I've been having the most fun and interesting conversations.

Today I talked with Dr. Mark Goulston, best selling author of GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY...about how to stop self sabotaging your life. One tip: self responsibility! You have to own your problems, if you want to disown your problems. You have to stop blaming your past for all you don't have in your life -- and start blaming your present! What are you doing RIGHT NOW to have the life you WANT NOW?!

After Mark, Peg Samuel of Social Diva and one of her divine divas Brooke Emory of Attractionboutique.com came on to talk about the laws of attraction. Racecar drivers know that wherever they aim their car, that's where it will go. Same with our lives. If we're looking at all the obstacles and walls -- we will crash our life into them. If we're looking at our goals and dreams -- that's where we will direct ourselves.