What do you think, does the rate of ended relationships prove that the promise of “forever love” is a dead-end road? The media clearly favors stories of celebrity breakups and cheating politicians, and we all know our share of divorced couples. Question time: Does all of this PROVE a failed system, or does it simply prove that monogamous relationships require a lot of knowledge and skills to succeed that few of us ever seek to learn? 

If you have a long history of picking the wrong person, allow me to offer your "picker" a tune up. Let's begin with a strong foundation.

3-part meditation instruction

Most of our parents already taught us how to meditate, whether they intended to or not; the instruction is the mostly the same:

** This is a guest post from David Haas with the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance, and I dedicate it to the loving memory of my father who passed away in September from cancer.
When your body becomes extremely stressed, it goes into what is known as "the fight or flight" syndrome. In this syndrome, you will do anything to survive. For example, a person who is trapped underwater may feel an enormous amount of energy surge through their body, allowing them to fight anything that keeps them from reaching air. The adrenaline rush allows you to accomplish incredible things.

It is hard to explain what it's like to have your father take his final breath right in your arms and collapse into lifelessness. Death for my father came fiercely and unexpectedly, yet in the embrace of his family with words like "I've got you, I've got you, you're not alone in this," there was and always will be tremendous and powerful grace. For me, this shocking event took place September 18th, 2011 around 1:15pm in the home of my father who had terminal lung cancer. With open arms he was embraced by his family, just as he embraced life itself.

As a counselor and coach, I have the humble fortune of getting to know the deep recesses of a person's mind, the emotional longings of the human heart, and our ideal dreams for the future. In that rawness, I get to see that at our core none of us really wish to suffer, and all of us just want to be at peace, and be happy; and I don't think that's too much to ask. 

But what is this peace we seek? What does it even feel like? How will we know when we've found it? Will we begin to glow or something? Will cosmic rays rain in from the heavens? No, but that would certainly be interesting. ;)

I'll give you a hint, peace is wherever war and the struggle with life is at an end. Truly it's not find-able, purchase-able, attainable, or conquer-able. It's always (and all-ways) right where you are standing, right here in this moment, in every breath.  Here are a few concepts that might help "awaken" peace in your life. I hope this serves you. 

Adventures in Reverse Psychology

(begin sarcasm) The way I see it, there is so much obnoxious positivity out there in the world, and all these life coaches, counselors, and self-help gurus are all trying to make people happy, successful, and healthy. Bah! I say, let's bottle up our emotions, set the bar really low, and dodge progress like the plague. ;)

Here's what I'm wondering: "Is there some sort of users manual, or book on how to live a miserable life?" You'd be surprised to learn that there isn't a lot of info out there, only this insufferable positive thought. So when I couldn't find a how-to guide to suffering, I had to write it myself. Enjoy.