Joy., Bliss, Peace, Happiness are the most valued of all possessions. You cannot be given these things, and you cannot take them from others. So how do we attain this bliss and tranquillity in out lives? The secret is, that you have always had them, and only your thoughts block you from accessing them. To gain this bliss, you do not need to meditate in a cave in India, nor achieve great physical feats. You simply need a slight change in consciousness and lifestyle. When we consume media all day, television, radio, newspapers, etc we are bombarded with an endless stream of negativity. Rather than turning on the television, turn on a meditation CD and take the time to reflect inwards on your beauty. The mind likes to keep busy, that is the job of the mind. The mind can also be stilled, with quiet meditation that allows us to access our inner world. Our thoughts govern our inner world, which we then project into the outer world. If you have negative and destructive thoughts, the outer world will take on a negative and destructive tone. Thoughts can be mastered, and you can decide which thoughts serve you and which do not. This does not come over night, and when you do achieve mastery of your thoughts, you will no longer be a victim of them. The demands upon our time can be great, with work and family. These are commitments that we need to attend to. Then, we pile on extra life clutter. We fill our remaining time with television, extra work, more commitments and soon find our life is full of responsibilities that do not serve us. Soon, the barriers to a happy life, is life itself. De-cluttering your life is a great method of achieving calmness and serenity. For those who work an eight hour day, the day is actually much longer. Wake up, show, breakfast, transport to work, eight hours, or more, at work, then transport home, show, dinner, bed. This can easily be a twelve hour day. Regardless of how much money this process earns you, no amount of money is going to buy inner peace. By taking just fifteen minutes per day for meditation, a shift in your quality of life is assured, as stress levels drop and you are able to better access your inner bliss and happiness. In meditation, we are able to attain a state of consciousness where inner bliss is at the centre, and thoughts are able to be stilled. Effectively, we transcend the mind, and enter into our inner world of love, peace and joy. When you allow on opinions of other other people to build your happiness, there is no path to inner happiness. Criticism and praises are both judgements, which feed the ego. When we value and accept ourselves just the way we are, flattery and criticism fail to affect us because we KNOW we are beautiful just the way we are. Similarly, criticising others blocks the path to inner happiness by not taking into consideration the feelings of others, Karma will catch you out here :) When we criticise somebody, we are judging them. Judgement is ego driven and a reflection of what we deny in ourselves. When we learn to love ourselves, just for who we are, we accept ourselves, and therefore others as they are. In this space there is no room for judgements. The road to inner bliss and joy gives us the opportunity to serve others, and so lose the ego. When we lose the ego, we see how expansive we truly are, and that inner bliss has always been ours.