The first time I read a Vernon Howard book, I felt a load of bricks come off my back. I kept the book with me, and the moment I felt the slightest tugging of anxiety, I would refer to it and it never failed to set me on course in the right direction. I can’t express in words how his books can change a person’s life. Even though they were written 30 plus years ago, the content is timeless. The words are very much alive with Life! They come out of the pages and speak to the reader’s essence – something that is buried inside us; a part of our True nature that we recognize as home.
It was an honor and a privilege to know Vernon Howard and attend his class lectures for many years. He was a living example of everything he taught. As I use the principles daily, I can never forget how grateful I am!
Here are some passages from my favorite Vernon Howard book, “Pathways to Perfect Living”:
Enjoy!
Q. I know what will make me happy, but cannot attain it.
A. If you know what will make you happy, you don’t know. If you know, you will be unhappy when what you desire fails to appear or goes away. But if you don’t know what will make you happy, you are happy, because you have nothing to lose. To have no ideas whatsoever as to what will make you happy is happiness itself.
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Inner Life Exercise
Watch the things you do because you assume that you enjoy them. Watch closely and you may make a startling discovery: You don’t do them because you really want to, but because you fear not to do them. In other words, try to discern your inner compulsion for doing things which only seem pleasurable. Are you doing them from a false sense of duty, or from fear of missing out on something, or from nervous habit? Try to find out. Your very awareness melts the psychological chains.
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I have been working with this for many years now, that is, not seeking what I believe will make me happy in exchange for the objective experience of events in my life. I had never thought of this before encountering Vernon Howard’s writings, but I can emphatically say my life has gone from the duldrums to the sunny skies! It is amazing to find that I always get exactly what I need and that fighting this fact has been the sole source of my misery. Happy Days!!
Living right now is everything. If I live in the past or future, there’s no way I can be happy. If I live in the pure present, there’s no way I can be unhappy.
I just realised doing this exercise just once has saved me time and money. That’s not my primary aim but it’s worth mentioning. It’s a great feeling to do something for yourself, because you want to do it, and to not do something because you don’t want to do it. So simple.
We never need be at the mercy of compulsive desires or habitual behaviors we have learned to keep ‘safe’. It’s not safety at all, but will keep us from discovering the true and fresh life. I am so grateful to Vernon Howard for such helpful information. He makes it so easy to understand when we get tired of being glued to the ‘Thought self.’
If I have no idea what will make me happy then I will be truly happy. That is beautiful! In other words get out of the way and just let life happen.
Thank you Vernon Howard for making these truths available to anyone interested.
On the VH CD ” How to enjoy your life journey” VH says ” You are a roomful of anxiety relievers ” That is very true when a person examines their moment to moment thoughts, sometimes thoughts that lead to actions. Where does the energy get spent ? Vernon says it is not your energy . The next question might be is there pain in false , evil thoughts ? There is a distinct tightness within even mentioning evil spirits . The next question is ” Who is fearful ” that has yet to be revealed with more light shining where there is no light right now >