Happy Father's Day: Becoming a Dad

Becoming a Dad

A conscious intention to enjoy being a parent is one of the most loving gifts you can give your child.

Parenting is a spiritual path: everyday, another lesson in what is real; everyday, another teaching about love; everyday, a chance to become who you really are.

With that in mind, I offer you a poem I wrote called "Becoming a Dad."


You don’t just become a dad
once.

It happens many times over with
the same child.

When your child is born, you
become a dad.

And when you take your child home
for the first time, you really
become a dad.

When you rock your baby to sleep
in the early a.m. hours, you
become a dad.

When there is no one else to clean
up the sick, you really
become a dad.

And when she smiles at you,
not just with her lips, but with her
eyes and her heart, you are
anointed and blessed and you
become a dad.

Across the years, in every moment
that passes, you become a dad,
and you are given a chance to be
who you really are.

One day, as you sit there, waiting
for a business meeting to begin,
or something, it hits you. Really
hits you. Between the eyes. “I
am a dad.”

A real dad.

And as you smile to yourself, your
heart takes off, like a big balloon,
floating high into the sky.

Relationships - The Heart of Success

Today the Success Intelligence team is hosting a half-day master- class on Success Intelligence in the heart of London. Ben Renshaw and I are co-presenting. This event also coincides with a celebration for the launch of our S.I. website this year. One of the themes we will explore today is relationships are the heart of success.

So many of us have grown up with parents who sacrificed themselves for the family, and who sacrificed their relationships with family, friends, and partners for their work. Our challenge is to make sure we do not repeat the same mistakes. Success does require sacrifice. Specifically, it requires sacrificing what is not important for what is. With that in mind, I invite you to read the following inventory, taken from my book Success Intelligence.

In the name of success,
how many bedtime stories am I prepared to miss?

In the name of success,
how many family dinners am I happy to give up?

In the name of success,
how many dates with my partner can I afford to lose?

In the name of success,
how many friendships am I willing to discard?

In the name of success,
how many weekends have I resigned to throw away?

In the name of success,
how many school plays am I prepared to miss?

In the name of success,
how many kisses good bye will I not make time for?

In the name of success,
how many beautiful sunsets together will I sacrifice?

Hay House Radio broadcasts my talk at the Toussaint Academy in San Diego

I am delighted to say that Hay House Radio are broadcasting the talk I gave recently in San Diego to the young people at the Toussaint Academy. This talk was part of the "Authors in Action" initiative set up by Melanie Lococo, Director of Giving, at Hay House.

It was such a highlight and an honour for me to give this talk at the Toussaint Academy.

Click here to listen to the broadcast, and find out how to get the show "On Demand" after it's original air time. There is also a link on this page to the transcript of an interview I gave during my time in San Diego for the I Can Do It! conference.

P.S. Imagine this: one day every organization in the world will have a Director of Giving!

Celebrate Your LIfe: I Choose Love

Today I am giving the closing keynote at the Celebrate Your Life conference in Chicago. My keynote will feature a guest appearance by the outstanding musician and songwriter, Shawn Gallaway.

I first came across Shawn’s music about 8 week ago. I was sent a copy of his video for his song “I Choose Love.” I liked it so much I immediately bought his album on ITunes. The song “I Choose Love” is so beautiful, I found myself playing it over and over. In fact, one day I put it on my Ipod, hit “Repeat,” and went running to the song for about an hour around Central Park, New York. I also started listening to the song as part of my preparation for delivering my keynote talks and workshops.

Two weeks after first hearing “I Choose Love,” I travelled to San Diego to participate in the I CAN DO IT Conference. Who should I meet there? Shawn Gallaway! There he was, just sitting in the crowd. I recognized him immediately. We have been in conversation ever since. AND, today, Shawn Gallaway will be singing “I Choose Love” as part of my keynote for “Celebrate Your Life.” Do you believe in synchronicity, or is it all random for you?!

Do check out Shawn Gallaway’s website. His mission is empowering people to create a reality based on love not fear. He is a multi-talented artist, a genuinely good fellow, and his star is rising. Please watch his fantastic video to “I Choose Love.” It is a blessing.

Ending the Search for Happiness

Today I am doing a 1-day workshop on Be Happy at the NY Open Center down at Spring Street. It is an honour to be teaching at a place that has offered such consistent, visionary service to so many people over the years.

One of the goals of my work with The Happiness Project is to help people end the search for happiness and be happy now. The whole point of focusing on “happiness now” is to be able to stop searching and to start seeing. I believe that the purpose of our life is not to search for happiness; it is to follow our joy. Today, we will be exploring this idea in depth. In light of this, I offer you a poem entitled “In Search of happiness.”

In search of happiness,
I abandon myself.
The searching is a blindness.
I cannot see.

But I do not realize that
I cannot see.
And I cannot see, just yet,
what I am doing to
myself.

In search of happiness,
I lose myself.
I cannot find what I am
looking for because I
do not know what I am
looking for.

There is no search and find.
It is only search and
search and
search.


In search of happiness,
I call out to myself.
I want help. I want help.
Help is what I want.

I am tired. I am tired.
I am too tired to be happy.
I am too tired to be helped.
At first.

In search of happiness,
I find myself.
I am what I have been
looking for.

I come home again to a
place in me where All
is well.

I come home again to
a part of me that is All
of me.

I am no longer searching,
and I can see.
I can see.

Good Morning America! - 5 Ways to Be Happy NOW

I have just come home after being interviewed by THE Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America in New York. The interview was a JOY to do and they have already uploaded it on the GMA website: BE HAPPY - RELEASE THE POWER OF HAPPINESS IN YOU

The great thing was that my wife, Hollie and our daughter, Bo, got to be in the studio while I was on air! And so too was Ian Lynch, the Happiness Project Office Manager, whose birthday it is today! Happy Birth day Ian!