I Wish You Happiness

By Elise Bradfield

Your soul is on a journey. Happiness, peace, enlightenment, passion, purpose, inspirationthese are all within your reach, perhaps closer than you think.

The universe wants to reconfirm with you that you are a blessing. Release yourself, remember your gift, your purpose, and awaken from layers of protective forgetfulness. Feel the warmth inside you, and know that you are valuable to the overall progression of the species and the planet. You have a role to play; you are worthy of being heard and worthy of greatness. You know what you wish to leave as your legacy.

True happiness lies within the here and nownot in yesterdays memories or tomorrows plans, but in understanding that happiness comes from being at peace in the present moment. Embrace the sunshine and the rain, and draw lessons from all of those experiences, so you can sit comfortably in your natural state of happiness and bliss today.

I Wish You Happiness is an invitation to forgive yourself, heal old hurts, and remember who you truly are. It offers a journey of truth and awakening, helping you to realign with your path and wish everyone happiness on their journey home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Nov 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452512136

Elise Bradfield

Elise Bradfield lives in Sydney, Australia, where she writes, blogs, and speaks as part of the emerging Happiness Movement. Visit her online at www.elisebradfield.com.

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Copyright © 2013 Elise Bradfield.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-1206-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-1213-6 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 11/14/2013

Contents

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Acknowledgments

Foreword

Note to the Reader

Introduction

1 Reading between the Lines

2 The Shadows of Me

3 Empty Shell and Artificial Happiness

4 A Second Chance to Close the Door

5 Love to Pain to Love Again

6 From One Life to the Next

7 The Happiness Pilgrimage

8 Seeing Is Believing

9 Choosing Change

10 Being Present with Happy

11 All Roads Lead to Rome

12 Embracing the Journey

13 New Surroundings

14 The Universe Comes Full Circle

About The Author

Acknowledgments

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Thanks to my friends and family for all your love and support, especially my parents for your unconditional love and faith in all my endeavors. Thank you to Julia for your kind words in the Foreword—our friendship means a lot to me, and I appreciate all you are doing to shine light on this planet. Thank you to Laurel for your tireless efforts in editing my book and for really embracing the overall message in the book, much appreciated. Thank you to my love, for your patience, kindness, and endless love for me and our paths. You are all I was ever looking for, you healed me and made me the best I can be, and my journey is ever more fulfilling and exciting because I have found you. Finally to Red and Mr. Cowboy and all the spirits who have collaborated with me to be able to share this with others, your wisdom and knowledge will now shine forward for many to read, learn, and heal from—thank you from my soul. Let your difference be the difference.

Foreword

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I first met Elise when she came to me for an hour-long psychic session. Although she was smiley and jovial on the outside, I could see the troubling thoughts that were beneath the surface. At the closure of the session, Elise still seemed quite restless, and although I could see what she wanted out of life and what she could obtain but I felt as though Elise was being held back by limiting decisions and low self-worth. I suggested that she may find it beneficial to do some healing sessions and some time line therapy work with me. I am a trained therapist in Reconnective Therapy and have found it very helpful in healing old wounds and relationships, restoring peace, and projecting forward an abundant life full of wonderful events. Elise instantly breathed a deep sigh of relief, like she had been waiting on this sign or offer of help, and with this began Elise’s healing and our wonderful friendship.

Over many months of Saturday mornings, Elise would diligently come to my studio and we would work together to realign her back onto her ultimate path of fulfillment. Elise is a beautiful, lively woman, full of personality and zing for life, but had been living an unfulfilled life. She had already done a lot of work on herself and was on her path of gaining wisdom, and her success and progress came from her openness and willingness to improve her life and embrace this therapy. Reconnective Therapy requires honesty and trust, and although there were moments of frustration and pain, this also gave way to such beauty, light, forgiveness, and love within her. Elise really wanted to understand and forgive herself and others in her past so that she could move forward. She wanted to get back to happiness and to dream a life of abundance as is hers and everyone’s right to have.

Every week that I saw Elise, I noticed the light within her shine brighter and brighter. She just had this yearning to learn and understand and an openness that would allow such a change in her life. As I was to also discover, Elise has a wonderful talent for writing, and through her journey of life has narrated her unique understanding and discoveries of life in this new book. She has been brave in showing her real emotions and all the feelings of how low someone can become in a situation and how trapped one can get in a deep emotional state and some get stuck there forever. To Elise’s credit for asking questions, looking for help, and being proactive, she was able to get over the hurt and past that was holding her back and move on with her life. She is a true testament to the rewards of my work but also a strong, kind, and courageous soul who was determined to find her true purpose and everlasting love.

I know this book will help many people who feel like they are alone and don’t know how to turn their life around. I Wish You Happiness is a book where you will connect with Elise every step of the way. Her struggles and journey back to happiness will give hope to thousands of people who believe they will never feel again. This is a book chronicling Elise’s journey as she transcends pain and doubt and learns how to live life and how to love life, and I know you will thoroughly enjoy it.

Elise, I wish you all the best and I just want to say that I have been blessed to have met you and have you in my life. I have learned as much from you as you have from me.

—Julia Tritsaris

Note to the Reader

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You love, you hurt, you learn, you grow, you realize, you unfold, you blossom, you change, and you transform. This book isn’t a tragic love story, this isn’t just about choosing to be happy, and this isn’t just about me. This is a story about the unfolding journey of a soul that is awake in this body—a soul that loves, a soul that learns, a soul that fulfills its destiny. This story is mine and yours if you choose to be better than your moment, bigger than your path, and larger than the life of the body you’re in. Through struggle we learn, with knowledge we grow, and with love we are set free.

Introduction

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When I started doing the research for this book, it was envisioned to be about happiness and where it comes from, how to hold onto it for longer, and how to put you in the best position to receive it. While these findings will be shared within the book, I had no idea at the time that my gift for writing as the book developed was always (as I was to discover) intended for a much greater purpose. In this short intro, I would like to explain how I came across the insights to fill the pages, as they are not entirely my own. I was to be harnessed in a larger way as I personally dealt with issues in my own life where happiness was so desperately needed at the time. I was to learn what the true essence of happiness is and that it was and always has resided within me. With that finding and together with great assistance I set about writing of this discovery with the hope of assisting others back to that ultimate happiness.

Every idea for this book and the struggles and insights of my own personal journey were all to be utilized in the context of a much greater picture. This was always going to be about wishing happiness to others and how that frees you and heals you from whatever moment and place you may be at within your own life. I just wasn’t prepared for the shift that I would be assisted in making within my own journey. How in looking back at events and revelations in my past I was literally able to move forward and assist in the overall healing for me, you and the planet.

I write from the ending looking back and am now able to fill the spaces of time throughout the chapters from a good, balanced, and happy place. I write this in an unusual way, in a different style, that can only describe me and the way my journey has unfolded thus far. We all know hindsight is a wonderful thing and a third person’s perspective always allows for a rational view, so I give you every perspective of this important chapter of my life. I give you the trapped and horrible moments, and I give you the empowering moments, and where I am today. We are all just in some moment of time and great perspective comes usually at the ending, when you can appreciate it. But what if you could be fully aware and in tune in the present moment and get the perspective that is required sooner? This is what I offer you on the pages of this book, a chance to heal sooner and gain the knowledge you need faster and a start to becoming the ultimate you. I share with you this chapter of my life and the perspective it has given me, and I gladly share the knowledge that I have been asked to pass along to you.

1

Reading between the Lines

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I have always been someone who ponders how things happen. I like to observe the world and can stare at the sky for hours knowing that there is more to life than little old me. These observations and my vivid imagination, coupled with my somewhat aloof personality, made me a natural writer. It would allow me to capture on a page what I felt I couldn’t say or ask of others. So I carried this ability with me, and I would write sporadically, but eventually, life, people, and circumstances began to get in the way of my creative writing. It wouldn’t be until many, many years later that I was to find what a true gift my writing could be and how it would change my whole world.

We all grow trying to find our place in the world and decide what we want to accomplish within it. In my teens and early twenties, my life was about friends, going out, and catching any moment that gave me some sort of high or instant gratification. Then as the years pass, still in that mindset of craving constant happiness, you search for it in all the wrong places. You fill your life with material things and people that make you look good but don’t make you feel good and you’re somewhat consumed with life’s greedy demands. However, these highs are short lived and these friends turn out not to be real friends and you begin to feel that you have been searching for happiness and love in all the wrong places. Life becomes a series of questions, as you so desperately want to know the answers to your issues and struggles. These questions, however, are different and require more than a simple answer, which means you are forced to venture outside of your small world. This small world that now seems to inaccurately portray you, judge you, and somewhat trap you within it. I had so many questions that I needed answered, I thought I could literally fill a book, so that is what I decided to do. The burning questions that now consumed me were What is happiness? and How can I be happy? and What should I be doing with my life?

I began reading about various religions, attending mass, and asking people about what makes them happy. I saw psychics and went to faith seminars and began some volunteer work. I started to read about past lives and the concept of karma and I participated in some past life hypnosis sessions. I saw therapists, started taking herbal medicines, and began to go to regular yoga classes. I took the time to read biographies about great, courageous people who followed their destiny and changed their perceptions and views on life and the world. I talked to my friends and work colleagues about what made them happy and if this somehow was related to love and being in love. I would ask them to tell me about their spiritual or religious beliefs if they had any. In all of my searching and pondering about life, the world just seemed to open up and warmly embrace me. These insights, some seemingly small and others universally large, were amazing and informative. But alas, with more answers comes more questions.

True happiness is like the saying that it is an inside job, although with time and experience this is something that we learn. We can all relate to wanting the nice car, having the latest clothes, exotic holidays, marriage, dozens of friends, and a great career. Sometimes in this preparation for how we think our lives should look on the outside, we can feel very unstable and insecure trying to be a portrait of what you think your life should look like. It’s like searching for things on the outside to make you happy and in turn being trapped in an insatiable hollow shell. I was researching happiness and personal growth and finding out about spirituality and the way to nurture and value myself, but I wasn’t really putting it into practice directly. My view on happiness was still much like everyone else’s, and I was curious as well as apprehensive about the answers I was to uncover. I was not embracing this new part of me or rather thinking I could write about happiness and love but not actually make it an active part of my life.

While waiting for the other part of me to catch up with my newfound insights, I had absolutely no idea that a train full of all my past baggage, fears, and feelings of unworthiness was about to derail and cause complete chaos in my present life. I was about to become an example, a part in the larger picture, in all the theories and metaphors and understandings. The universe was about to be very willing to answer my questions and teach me about real happiness. The bigger picture was going to make sure I used my research, my writing, and my own experiences, and more importantly than all of this, ensure that I promise to share what I would learn with you.

The Beginning

I had struggled for a while now, which is why I had decided to begin researching all other avenues, perspectives, and ways of living, to be internally more often in a place of peace and happiness. I felt like I had a plan, I had intentions, which I never really lost sight of, but I had been easily distracted by seeking my fulfillment outside of myself. This is a common timewaster and can become a futile search for happiness in other people and things, leading to such large distracting hollow potholes within your life, holes that I managed to fall into, every single time. On the outside, you may appear balanced, have the husband and kids, great job, been travelling, enjoy your friends’ company, but for the life of you, you are unable to fill a hollowness in the pit of your stomach, or that unfulfilled feeling or aching pain in your heart.

I’m well aware of my shortfalls and I hadn’t been entirely happy with the person looking back at me in the mirror recently. I realized I had fallen off-course when I started to feel unhappiness and discontent frequently, which I was having difficulty covering up. I had never really felt uncomfortable like this and for such long periods of time before. I was desperate for a light, a paddle, or some guidance within this time in my life and within what would turn out to be a real period of despair. I had drifted off-course, and it had probably been happening for a while, and then one day when I thought about observing my surroundings to check where I was, I realized I had drifted a long, long way off-shore. I felt like the moments, the decisions, of my life up until this point, had all been made without sound judgment, almost subconsciously. I became overwhelmingly aware that I was lost in a sea of confusion and this was a direct result of not playing an active role in my own life. Perhaps I had been bored, naïve, impatient, egotistical, or just plain dumb, but I had created a monster that was about to be let loose and wreak havoc on me and my world. This tidal wave about to hit me could not have been prevented considering the way I was living my life at the time. Out there in the middle of the ocean with this flimsy, barely seaworthy boat I was hardly prepared for any real challenge or voyage. The simple elements required to sustain life, like water, food, and shelter, were nowhere to be found. This had to do with my self-worth, passion for life, and pledge to myself to live a courageous life as a kind and gracious person. All these traits and elements, which I wanted to share and become, were nowhere to be found.

This book began in an attempt to research happiness, but life was to make me the target audience and would immediately cause me to put thought into action. In my findings I noted a lot of different sources speak of a person’s actions and choices and how your decisions can lead you down several different paths. I started to understand while being stranded on my boat that all the choices I had made had created a ripple effect and I felt it converge to a larger than life problem, then hit me unawares. Maybe in my search for happiness I was coming to realize that I had been personally going about it all the wrong way, with a lot of my decisions being made from an overly outward perspective. It scared me to think I didn’t know the inner workings of me like I used to and that a lot of the elements of my life were superficial and very easily washed away. While searching and compiling my findings on happiness, my own life was giving me its own ironic wakeup call. It would not allow me to be distracted or delay its message any longer; it wanted to show me or teach me something. I was about to call upon an internal strength that I had never used before, and this process was to be written in the pages in front of me. I was to become an active part in understanding the happiness of me, with the culmination of all my choices and life’s consequences. This was to be that moment in life for me when I hurt so badly that it woke me from my unconsciousness. There were lessons that needed to be learned and a surge of energy within me as I was forced to be aware of where I was heading and the person I was becoming. The universe would force me to reevaluate what I was doing and show me in an abrupt yet fair manner why I was so lost, why I had so many questions, and how to be fulfilled and happy. I was offered meaning to the great madness that was consuming my life to that point.

My Low: Prior to Them

I was aware that I had been doing things that didn’t benefit me, making selfish choices and pretending that my actions weren’t hurting people, and deep down inside I was perhaps hurting the most. The universe was trying to let me know and it had been giving me subtle hints for a long time but to no avail. I had made some very selfish choices, searching for happiness outside of myself, and the result of these choices had created a murky, unstable environment that I was struggling just to exist in. I was spiraling out of control because I was ignoring the warnings and the universe’s guidance. On one particular day with heartbreak so deep from ending a yearlong affair, I had my light bulb moment!

I was dealing with a deep distaste for myself after my own acts of betrayal and deceit, ending the affair and lying to everyone about it. I had made the choice to end this relationship, and at the time even though I knew it was the right thing to do, I found myself drowning in heartache. I felt that I was deserving of this great pain as punishment for my actions, for being a bad friend, a selfish lover, a homewrecker, an absent sister and daughter, and an all round shitty human being. I literally had people asking me for months Are you OK? You don’t seem yourself. What has happened to you? I knew I had lost me in this selfish, self-sabotaging vortex, and there wasn’t a single person I could really tell about my troubles, and I felt too ashamed to ask someone to help clean up my mess. This was my low point and was, up to this date, one of the loneliest times of my life. On top of that I had received recent news that a dear young family friend was dying of cancer and only had a few short months to live. Life was reminding me of its fragile state, and it was slapping me in the face for being so hazardous with my own life. Here was someone who so clearly wanted to live and grow old with her loved ones. Her life was out of her hands and my life at present was just a disservice to her and me. I had grown void of a personality, I was avoiding people, and I was disgusted with myself. I was so sad in stopping all contact with someone that I loved and cared about. I was drowning in heartache, loneliness, loss, remorse, anxiety, and fear, having lost the authentic me altogether. I lost my zest for life, I had no ambition, and I had forgotten my importance in all of this mess that I surrounded myself in.

I had sunk to the depths of my despair. In my darkest hours, I drank alone to numb the pain, passing out on the floor for no reason, crying at being heartbroken for hours every night under the covers so no one could hear. I was unable to eat I was so completely disgusted with myself for lying to my family and friends, hurting someone else’s family, and ruining another household. Then there was the chain-smoking, dropping six pounds in a month due to stress, feeling bad for wasting a life, while my friend perished, and days blending into more days. I had gotten so far off-course, I was a weak, struggling shell of a person looking at something in the mirror that was unrecognizable to me and that scared me beyond belief.

I didn’t know what else to do, everything was foreign to me, but I knew I had to get it out, express these emotions and feelings. I did the only thing that I felt I could do to try and make sense of this, the only thing that is of great comfort to me, to release it—I started to write. With all that I had been reading and researching, surely I would be able to get some solace and guidance from somewhere. The words that night spilled out of my soul and filled the blank space