The Happiness Tree

193 Pages·2016·0.9 MB·English

by  Shane Eric Mathias

THE HAPPINESS TREE
by
Shane Eric Mathias

FORWARD
What is Happiness and How Can You Attain It?

About Your New Book and it's Author

What is the Happiness Tree?

How Your Happiness Tree is Organized

The 7 Key Roots

Like an Ancient Oak

Getting Acquainted with the Limbs of Your Happiness Tree

LOVE

1. Friendship

Trust
Empathy
Dependability
Respect
The Canopy of Friendship

2. Family

Connection
Heritage
Acceptance
The Family Canopy

3. Relationships
Understanding the Dual Nature of Self
Self Esteem
The Canopy of the Self
Intimacy
Touch
Boundaries
Integrity
The Question of Marriage
When Relationships End
The Relationship Canopy

HEALTH

1. Mind

Management
Balance
Recovery
What is Grief?
Is it Grief or Depression?
Expansion
The Canopy of Expansion
Fulfillment
The Canopy of Fulfillment

2. Body

Food, Water, Digestion / Elimination
Shelter, Safety & Security, Sleep,
Managing Stress
Exercise, Sex
The Exercise Canopy
The Body Canopy

FREEDOM
1. Truth

Solitude and Self Awareness
Freedom from Deception
The Truth Canopy

2. Resource Control and Personal Discipline

Building and Maximizing Income
What is Resource Control?
The Resource and Discipline Canopy

3. Connection to Nature

The Essential Source of Everything
World of Wisdom, Wonder and Mystery
The Nature Canopy (The Importance of Spirituality)

PURPOSE
1. Creativity

Expression
Contribution
Achievement and Recognition
The Creativity Canopy

2. Generosity

Forgiveness
Patience
Mentorship
The Generosity Canopy

3. Self Mastery

Learning and Growth
Adapting
The Self Mastery Canopy

Bringing it All Together

• How to Live Well and Find Happiness at Any Age
Adolescent
Adult
Senior
• Maintaining Health and Happiness in Our Rapidly Evolving Society

Copyright Statement
The Happiness Tree
By Shane Eric Mathias
Published by Shane Eric Mathias on Smashwords
Copyright 2016, Shane Eric Mathis
Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This
ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you
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your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your
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respecting the hard work of this author.

THE HAPPINESS TREE

FORWARD

WHAT IS HAPPINESS AND HOW CAN YOU ATTAIN IT?

Well, certainly one flawed concept we have all grown up with is that
someday "we will all find happiness". Happiness is not like found money,
that just fell out of someone's pocket, nor should it be. Because reaching
this all important destination in your personal journey is not something
that should be left to chance. It's a nice illusion to think that we can just
sit back and one day, the right person, the right job, indeed the perfect
life will just fall out of the sky and we'll live happily ever after. But as you
will learn, happiness requires action on your part. It is a state of mind that
is nurtured and cultivated. The good news is, it's not just a matter of luck:
YOU are actually in control. Therefore happiness is well within your
grasp, whatever your circumstances or age.
Happiness is perhaps most clearly defined by what it is not, rather than
what it is. Happiness differs from it's related emotions excitement, elation
and bliss, which though potentially more intense, are short-lived
emotional states. Also, it's a common mistake to associate one's
happiness with certain events, such as becoming wealthy, or taking a
cruise. But while these events may "make you happy" initially, they do not
necessarily create happiNESS, which is really a cultivated way of life,
rather than an emotion. It is a state of mind which ideally, we should
expect to return to when the clouds of adversity have begun to clear. Let
me say that again: Happiness is a cultivated way of life, rather than an
emotion. A state of mind which we should expect to return to when the
temporary clouds of adversity have begun to clear. That is a profound
statement, because like most of you, for many years, I found my level of
happiness ebbing and flowing with the changes in my life, changes over
which I seemed to have little control. This sense of one's life being
chaotic and out of control creates tremendous insecurity, because from
one minute to the next, one may experience joy and then sadness: with
emotions shifting like sands in the wind.

This lack of emotional continuity can drive us to make poor decisions in
an effort to address what we may feel is "missing" in our lives. Chasing
short term pleasures may placate our lack of fulfillment in the short term,
but usually the payback exceeds whatever may have been gained by the
action. And once the initial flush of excitement is over, you're usually right
back where you started from. Why is this? Because the fundamental
underpinnings of sustainable happiness were not in place. Meaning, if
we base our happiness on always being young, gorgeous, successful,
wealthy, busy or popular, we will be disappointed most of the time. So,
what is the key to living with the reality of our life as it is right now while
still experiencing true, sustainable happiness? Follow me as we explore
your Happiness Tree in detail and find the definitive answer to that
question, together.

About Your New Book and it's Author

Hello, I'm Shane Mathias. I am just a ordinary guy, who is attempting to
live my life in an extraordinary way. I am not a conventional academic,
but rather a keen observer of human nature. And what you have before
you is the result of my having lived my own life as a sort of ongoing
experiment, researching the evolution of my own happiness and then
extrapolating that to achieve a greater understanding as to why
happiness is at once so essential to the human experience and yet,
seemingly elusive

The Happiness Tree is a fresh, new look at the "anatomy of happiness".
It is not based on any religion, faith, cult, organization or unseen spiritual
force. It is a practical, step by step guide that defines happiness and
explains how you can create and sustain it. Rather than focusing on what
makes people emotionally sick and then trying to figure out how to fix
them, it seems to me it's more useful to discover what makes people
happy and keeps them that way. Can you imagine what might happen if
our nation, indeed our world, suddenly began experiencing an epidemic
of happiness? The murder rate would plummet, international conflict
would become relegated to the history books, spousal abuse, rape, theft
and crime in general would all but disappear. And the resources spent on
police forces and military budgets could be redirected to address the
many health, wealth and environmental issues that plague us today.

What I will never know is how my life might have been different had I
acquired this wisdom earlier. But now, at fifty-something, I do believe it
takes all of us a while to figure this life thing out. What I don't believe is
that everyone must struggle and sacrifice alone in the dark in an effort to
earn contentment and serenity, at the risk of possibly living without it. It is
possible to quickly shift your perspective on and your relationship to
yourself and the world around you and begin experiencing a sustainable
happiness today.

Yes, I now know that you can grow your own happiness, that you and
you alone are the tender of your happiness garden and to a large extent,
in control of the bounty it produces. So many of us learn by making
mistakes… sometimes repeatedly, but that is a costly game filled with
stress, fear, disappointment and wasted time. What if instead of taking a
leap of faith, you could proceed with confidence, towards a meaningful
life? Becoming a functional, healthy and happy person in weeks, rather
than years. Too lofty an aspiration? I say not!

What you have before you is a direct result of my having challenged the
preconceived notions, fears, biases and flawed approaches that for years
led me astray, negatively impacting my health, emotions and
relationships. Having reached an extremely low point in my midlife, I
knew I would have to throw out all the old patterns and coping strategies
to learn once and for all, how to find a deep, sustainable happiness: one
that would not depend on any one, or any thing, other than myself. And
what I discovered is truly remarkable: a formula for life satisfaction that I
believe anyone, man or woman, can follow, to improve any or all areas of
their life. And as you will learn, it depends on you tending your
"Happiness Tree" on a daily basis. And as you do, your tree will continue
to grow deeper roots and more branches, expanding it's canopy
throughout your life and beyond. And during that process, you and you
alone will be in control, empowered by the new habits and attitudes that
you learn and practice.

What is the Happiness Tree?

The Happiness Tree is a way of visualizing the anatomy of happiness as
one would view a family tree, to understand how each component is
related to the whole. Just as science has mapped the human genome to
understand the very code that supports life itself, it stands to reason that
Happiness (a condition so fundamental to the human experience that it is
synonymous with "quality of life") can also be broken down into it's
elemental parts and then reassembled into a system for understanding
and creating a successful life.

How Your Happiness Tree is Organized

Your Happiness Tree is comprised of the Trunk, Limbs, Branches,
Canopy and Roots. The descriptions of each are as follows:
The Trunk of your Happiness Tree represents You and Your life.

The Limbs, are the major supporting members, of which there are four:
Love; Health; Freedom and Purpose. These are the macro areas of
your life you must focus on and work to improve, in order to create and
sustain happiness.

The Major Branches emerge from and yet are supported by the four
Limbs. And the healthier each of these branches are, the stronger their
related limbs become.

Emerging from the Branches are the Subordinate Branches: in this case,
Self is shown as a form or experiences of Relationship.

As you can see, Subordinate Branches are the ways that one can
express or experience the quality of the Parent, or Major Branch. For an
example, the Subordinate Branch Self, emerges from the Major Branch,
Relationship The Self is an essential type or experience of Relationship.
Others would be:
Intimacy
Touch
Boundaries
Integrity

The Canopy embodies the highest Human aspiration, “Self Integration”.
It is from this Self Integration that qualities like Confidence, Skill, Humility,
Compassion, Understanding, Wisdom and Integrity will arise. These are
not qualities that you are necessarily born with, they must be learned,
developed, practiced and eventually expressed through your “Higher
Self” to the world around you.

Note: Almost all the fine branching systems of your Happiness Tree will
terminate in a Canopy. There is a dual goal of this section:

A. To review the foregoing information to ensure a complete
understanding.