The Karma of Success Blog

Everyone seems to be hitching themselves to the “how to be happy” bandwagon. There are books, CDs, videos, web sites, t-shirts, laugh out loud clubs, support groups, and a host of other products and services to fill the happiness niche. We all know why being happy is important, but is happiness really possible for everyone? I mean, what if you were born grumpy?

Let’s start with the genetics of being happy. I read a report on twins that showed 50% of happiness is based on genetics. This study was conducted using 4,000 sets of twins so the numbers are a good statistical sample. The other 50%, then, is up to you and me. So let’s starting cracking; let’s start working on being happy.

–> Wait a minute. Should being happy take so much work? <–

It shouldn’t according to Dr. Deepak Chopra, who wrote “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.” In the book Dr. Chopra wrote that success is not the result of hard work, having detailed plans, or grand ambition, but comprehending our basic nature as a human being and abiding by the seven natural laws of success. These are the seven laws of success:

1. The law of pure potential or being true to what we are capable of.
2. The law of giving. If you want happiness, give happiness.
3. The law of karma. This relates to law number 2. When you take action, any action, there will be an equal consequence. Simply put, if you sow happiness and success, you will get happiness and success in return. Have you read my book, “The Karma of Success” yet? I talk about the law of karma a lot in the book.
4. The law of least effort. “Stop chasing,” I say. If we try too hard to get money, success, lose weight, a date, or whatever, we expend too much energy and that energy often gets dissipated into the universe. Instead, Chopra advises that we take the path of least resistance, which is to give love, make others happy, make others laugh, make others smile, and so on.
5. The law of intention and desire. This law is closely related to the law of attraction. If we project our intention and desire into the world, the world will organize in such a way as to help us realize our potential. Heady stuff, but you can read more about the law of attraction by going to this part of my site.
6. The law of detachment. This should be an easy one for people to practice, but it is not. It’s hard for many of us to detach ourselves from our cars, our houses, our jewelry, our jobs. I see this as part of the great marketing machine, which is to create a world of pseudo hedonism. Sad, but true.
7. The law of Dharma. What is our purpose in life? This is an extremely difficult question for most of us. For me, I find that it can take years to peel away the masks that we have built up over time — the mask of being a parent, an employee, a friend, a sibling, a child, and son. If we can peel away these masks, we get to our true self, the core of who we are. Then we can discover our talents. And lastly, we can ask, “How can I serve?”

So there you have it, the 7 spiritual laws of success with my comments. What’s the 8th spiritual aid, you ask?

The 8th spiritual law of success is to become less virtual. Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, Blackberry, Gmail, Yahoo IM, and the thousands of other electronic worlds have sucked us into virtual reality. If you can find friends, happiness and fulfillment in the virtual world, you’ll also find that it is not real. I call that virtual happiness. Nothing virtual ever lasts. This is because virtual is based on technology; and law of technology is based on obsolescence. It will become bested by the next great invention.

Spiritual happiness, on the other hand, is timeless. What lives inside of you, stays with you for at least a lifetime. If you give what’s inside of you to others, the karma spreads; and this is how spiritual happiness becomes timeless.