By Barbara E. Lewis

I recently had the great pleasure of traveling to Peru on a self-guided spiritual journey. Among other places, I visited the ancient city of Machu Picchu that sits high in the Andes mountains. And later I flew to Lake Titicaca, the highest inhabited lake in the world.

I thought a lot about what makes people happy during this trip. Here are a few suggestions about ways to trigger happiness that came to mind while I sailed Lake Titicaca in a boat named, Cusi or “Happiness,” in the Quechua language…

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The Measure of Success

We are often told that money cannot buy happiness. So often in fact that the phrase has become an ‘old saying’ and, as then frequently happens, the words may be parroted but the meaning becomes blurred.

In today’s world ‘success’ is usually measured by money and power. Since money can’t buy happiness and power certainly doesn’t insure it, we seem to be at a place in our society where happiness is not very highly regarded and is certainly not seen as a measure of success.

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You must weed your mind as you would weed your garden. – Astrid Alauda

Weeds in a garden can be incredibly pesky, persistent and destructive to the plants you do want to cultivate. Any good gardener knows that frequent weeding is necessary if you want to keep a clear area for healthy plants to grow to their fullest potential.

How similar this process is to the role of positive thinking in living a happy life! Just like a garden, your mind can easily and quickly become overrun by “weeds” in the form of negativity, impatience, jealousy, anger or inflexibility.

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You may have heard the phrase, “count your blessings” before, but how often do you actually do it? Do you pause to feel grateful when something good happens? How about when you need an emotional boost? Counting your blessings is one sure way to develop a constant mind-set of gratitude, which can turn a mundane life into a miraculous life.

You may have tried keeping a “gratitude journal” by recording the things you are grateful for each evening before bed, and that is one effective method, but there are other ways of focusing on gratitude if that didn’t work well for you.

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