The author calls the method MPS, or meaning, pleasure, strength, which can lead us to more happiness and success. So naturally I did the exercise and found it very useful and insightful. The point of MPS is to find the overlap in three lists: your strengths, things that give you pleasure, and things that bring meaning to your life.
Just reflecting and writing down these three lists can open inner truths. For example, when was the last time you reviewed your own positive strengths? When you list your own true strengths you are looking at your positive can do path, the one where you are good at things. Good at things makes a person feel great, especially when there is meaning attached, such as helping myself move forward or helping others. It's also very revealing to write down as many strengths as possible and to rank them when you are done. And we're not talking about just work stuff, strengths can be anything from being good with children, to meditating deeply, to appreciating nature, to being positive and and loving, etc.
Even if you have trouble listing your strengths, you learn something valuable, such as the need to get past outside programming and negative looping to find abilities which you and you alone are great at. Each one of us is great at something(s) and if we affirm this to ourselves we get even better and better at it. As we add things to our strength list, something cool and wonderful happens, a positive loop called the Law of Attraction (like attracts like) which opens the door to better and better possibilities. Our minds work like Google search so if you search for negative you get more negative and if you search for strengths, unique strengths, then you get a list of thousands of strengths. And since we become what we repeatably think about, consciously and unconsciously, that list of strengths becomes a road map for happy life creations. So list your strengths, its great for you!
After strengths come pleasure. For happiness is pleasurable. Pleasures can be small such as eating our favorite snack food, smelling flowers, holding hands, etc. But the thing with pleasure is balance, since too much of a good thing can actually decrease pleasure. How do you know when pleasure is too much? With trial and error. For instance, I love movies. If I sit down and watch a good 2 hour movie, I feel pleasure. But how will I feel if I watch four 2 hr movies in a row? Will I feel the same pleasure? It's the difference between a taste of one really great appetizer and visiting the buffet line 16 times to overeat. Every one of us has a balance of pleasure, of knowing how much and how many times is good for us. We know because it if its enough we still feel pleasure. And if its too much, well then we don't feel good, same as too little. Balance is a big thing in energy work and of course its a big thing in the practice of happiness. Learning what that balance point is for me is what makes me aware of the truth in myself.
So when we list what gives us pleasure we begin to see all the small things in life that make us happy. Since happiness is a practice, practice receiving balanced pleasure from the small things in life can make the difference between an ok day and a happy great day. I know which one I'd rather have!
After we list strengths and pleasures we get to that which makes happiness long lasting for us. Meaningful work, relationships, creations, activities really touch something deep, spiritual and loving within each of us. Meaning in what we do adds depth, feeling and enthusiasm. After all, what is the difference between a task that you have to do versus an activity that you like to do? The difference is what that action means to you. A have to do task means action for some outside reason - paycheck, favor, obligation, etc. The meaning is not very deep and there is probably little or no fulfillment. But something you like or love to do - well that has meaning - you love it, you want to do it, it means something personal to you, something deeper. Meaning is the key to happiness, for if there is meaning in all that we do, be it love, appreciation, compassion, joy, then that action becomes more positive, easier to do, and flowing. So a list of what is meaningful to me is very useful.
In writing these three lists we need to be aware of what's going on inside, what is true for me, and what thoughts and feelings come up or are triggered. Are we resistant, do we feel positive or negative emotion, does it make us feel better or worse, and how truthful are the answers? For me, just writing these three lists caused me to reflect for hours. I started to ask is this really true, is this my story, what else is inside me? It brought me to another awareness level. Parts of me answered with mind, which took long because I had to think about it, and some answers came from the heart, fast and true. My advice is that the meaning list comes from the heart, because when the heart feels happy we feel happy.
As a side comment from all the energy work I do - the fastest answers are usually truth, especially when they come from the heart. Analysis always takes longer than a feeling, and that delay usually means the answer comes from mind. If I were to ask you if you loved your child or your lover, your answer would be instantaneous since it comes from the heart. But if I were to ask if you loved a stranger, you would think about it and that answer would take longer since it came from mind. On a deeper level, if I were to ask you if you love yourself, how long does it take you to truthfully answer and where is the source of that answer - in the mind (delay) or heart (instant). The heart always answers before the mind, that's how you know its a true feeling!
In using this MPS method, it's the overlap of the answers on the three lists that lead to work that we love to do and can bring happiness to our lives. For example, my strengths list is writing, photography, spirituality, teaching, cooking, and energy sensitivity; my pleasure list is good movies, tasty food, sharing happy things, hugs, and massages; and my meaning list is helping others, expressing true self, compassion, and connection to source. So my overlap would be activities that are on all three lists. So I could facilitate an energy workshop, which would use my strengths ( teaching, spirituality, energy sensitivity), give me pleasure (sharing happy things, hugs), and provide meaning (helping others, connecting to source). This would then be work that I love and in real life, this is true, I love to facilitate energy workshops and they make me feel happy when I do so!
For those that are not sure of what they want to do or those that are stuck with work that does not make them happy, then this MPS exercise is very useful. Even for those that already are happy at work, doing the exercise may give you new insights and direction on making your current work even happier. So try it, and may it lead you to a Happier Life!
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