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Introduction
    True happiness,
lasting happiness can be achieved through a process known as
Self-Actualisation, or Self-Realisation. This is a natural state
and within the reach of all human beings. It comes from having
satisfied all of one’s human needs.
    This is the kind
of happiness that cannot be obtained through the acquisition of
things. The fleeting gratification in receiving goods or services
is not true happiness. That is an illusion created by our global
consumer society. I am not suggesting that you should avoid having
nice things, just that they are not a source of true happiness.
    Truly happy people
are Self-Actualised (SA) people, so called because they are a much
fuller expression of their unique human potential than non SA
people. The state has been given many labels, enlightened or awakened being two of them. In Zen, it is described Satori .
    While you cannot
order happiness on demand, you can create the right conditions in
yourself for Self-Actualisation to occur. This eBook describes what
these conditions are, and how you might go about creating them. The
rest is up to you.
     
Maslow
    The humanistic
psychologist Abraham Maslow is well-known for his ideas on a
hierarchy of human needs. Basic needs must be satisfied before
higher order needs are felt. The hierarchy is represented as a
pyramid, with the basic needs at the pyramids broad base, and with
self-actualisation at the apex. A Self-Actualised person has found
a way to satisfy all of his or her lower needs and has cultivated
the conscious awareness of their highest self. They allow this
awareness to express itself more fully in their lives.
    The achievement of
Self-Actualisation is recognised by Maslow as a human need, so in a
sense it is everyone’s birthright to be happy.
    The need for
Self-Actualisation asserts itself once we have satisfied the
lowest-order needs for food, shelter, sex, then middle-order needs
for safety and security, then the higher middle-order needs for
love and belonging. Above these is the higher-order need for
self-esteem. The highest need of all, sitting like the capstone of
a pyramid is the need for Self-Actualisation.
    The annals of
various religions tell us that a person can achieve enlightenment
with only some or none of the higher and middle order needs being
met, and with only the barest of lower-order needs like food and
shelter being satisfied. This is more difficult, requiring you to
become an ascetic recluse and engage in mortification of the flesh
in order to free yourself of these normal human needs. This eBook
is not recommending this course of action. Our body is not an
impediment to happiness. Quite the opposite, it is a great ally. We
owe it to ourselves to take the best care of our body that we can
by eating well, getting enough exercise and rest, and avoiding
toxic and/or addictive substances.
    Self-Actualised
(SA) people, whoever they are and whatever the circumstances of
their lives, tend to approach life in the ways described below:
     
Experience things fully, vividly,
selflessly
    Self-Actualised
(SA) people throw themselves into the experiencing of something;
concentrating on it fully, allowing it to totally absorb
them .
    The only way this
can be done is to be (a) mindful , that is fully awake in the
present moment and (b) fully accepting of the circumstances
of that moment.
    This is easier
said than done because most of the time we impose judgment on
situations and in the process of doing so, we alienate ourselves
from it. Soon we are thinking we would like to be somewhere
else.
    In terms of
achieving your full potential as a human being, mindfulness is
about using an evolved part of your brain that many people do not
use. It lies dormant, waiting for the command to awaken.
    You can awaken
this part of your brain simply by deciding (and following through
on the decision) to observe the on-going activity in your own mind.
Using a computer metaphor, you activate a monitoring program that
watches what