Week 6: Start and continue a monthly or every 2 month counseling session. I know, I know…”I don’t need counseling…I am fully aware of myself.” This may be true but all too often I notice that even if we are aware of our problems and shortcomings, we don’t know how to truly AFFECT CHANGE. And don’t even think that counseling is a sign of weakness or ‘disease’. It’s not. It’s a way of enacting change where you otherwise have a hard time doing. Or just don’t know how. Counseling also acts as a necessary pressure relief valve if you are a person that keeps your feelings to yourself. Counseling has been invaluable for me, first to be very introspective of myself, my feelings and ‘what makes me truly happy.’ We need to focus on the daily events that will put us to sleep with a satisfying smile on our face. We want to go to sleep knowing that the day has been ‘lived to its fullest’ and not just living today to prepare for tomorrow, repeat, with little satisfaction. Second, counseling on a regular basis (monthly) will make sure we don’t fall into our old bad habits that we have tried hard to correct. Are there seemingly hopeless situations that make you generally unhappy, angry or depressed and drain all of your mental energies? Counseling will allow you to: Remove yourself from the situation, change it or accept it totally (Tolle). This sounds easy but from personal experience, it’s not. Once you can apply one of these three principles to an unhappy situation, then and only then you can be truly liberated. READING ASSIGNMENT: The Power of Now – Echart Tolle Read the first two chapters to get familiar with the concepts and how the author speaks, then start the book over again and it will be a lot easier reading. Try to read this book without any outside distractions. If you are a person that is dealing with undesirable situations that are mentally draining or that make you unhappy or angry, this book will be invaluable.