Understanding De Mello Part 1: From Asleep To Awake

Hello and welcome to the Happiness Podcast which is based on the awareness centered approach of Anthony D'Mello.

I am Don Joseph Gohe,

The director of the D'Mello Spirituality Center.

In the next three podcasts,

I'd like to present Anthony D'Mello to you in a kind of nutshell presentation.

D'Mello's message is about how to liberate your life from a rat race existence and to live every day in the light of peace and happiness,

Succeeding at life at every level that matters.

Who doesn't want that?

Well it's the opposite of the stressful existence most of us are living.

So the first thing D'Mello wants us to understand is that stress is fear.

If you're stressed,

You're afraid of something.

In business it might be the fear of failing.

In relationships it's usually the fear of rejection.

Within yourself it's often the fear of not being good enough.

Well biologically stress is a fear reaction,

Meaning it's happening in us far more than to us.

And that means that the greater part of stress is the result of worried,

Angry,

Pessimistic thoughts going on in our heads that has us perceiving a threatening world and believing it's real and it's out to get us.

When this kind of thinking is habitual,

It eventually bottoms out as depression,

Making the peace and happiness that makes life beautiful feel hopeless,

As if happiness were a million miles away.

There was an ancient Greek philosopher named Diogenes who wandered around carrying a lantern in search of an honest human being and he rarely found one.

But if he'd gone searching for a happy human being,

He'd have gotten the same dismal result.

Ask yourself,

When was the last time you genuinely felt joy?

When you genuinely felt happy and at peace?

Most people can't remember the last time.

It's been too long.

Stress has become our brain's autopilot,

Making us react to life fearfully.

As a result we think of stress as normal,

Which means we're basically asleep to joy,

Asleep to peace and happiness.

And it's so automatic that we don't even notice it.