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Robert Holden (1) (1965–)

Author of Happiness Now!: Timeless Wisdom for Feeling Good FAST

For other authors named Robert Holden, see the disambiguation page.

13 Works 390 Members 8 Reviews

About the Author

Robert Holden, Ph.D., is the creator of the Loveability program. His work on psychology and spirituality has been featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, and a PBS special called "Shift Happens." He was also featured in two major BBC-TV documentaries, The Happiness Formula and How to Be Happy. His show more corporate clients include Dove and its Campaign for Real Beauty. He is author of Holy Shift!, Happiness NOW!, Shift Happens!, Authentic Success (formerly titled Success Intelligence), and Be Happy. Robert hosts a weekly show on hay House Radio called Shift Happens! He also contributes daily to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/drrobertholden. For information, visit www.robertholden.org. show less

Works by Robert Holden

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Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1965
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Nairobi, Kenya
Places of residence
Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, UK
Occupations
psychologist
author
broadcaster
Organizations
The Happiness Project

Members

Reviews

This is another book by one of my new favourite authors.

He tells us the book is about “personal alchemy and inner transformation”.

It’s about “staying open all hours for miracles”,

He tells us about “the Unconditioned Self”. It is the “real you”, your original potential.

He gives us an affirmation - “I am what I seek”.

We’re told that the fear that there’s something wrong with us is our greatest block to joy – there is no other block.’

It will look as though life is against us, as though others reject us.

There is nothing wrong with us, though our perception can be “sick”, or our thinking be off.

Shift happens whenever we practice unconditional self—acceptance, choose kindness instead of judgement, and forgiveness instead of self-attack.

The final and only act of healing is to accept that there is nothing wrong with us.

Try this exercise today. Make a point of looking for the good in everyone you meet. “Mentally bow to the light in everyone you meet today.” As you offer this light to others, so will you strengthen it in yourself.

The author’s father drank himself to death; he lived homeless on the street for ten years. His mother suffered deep depression and tried to kill herself twice.’

We all know what it is to suffer, But this is not our identity, who or what we are,

There is a difference between “I experienced failure” and “I am a failure”.

We are not our suffering.

When Robert graduated, he made a vow to treat people, not ilnesses. He will not define people as their illnesses.

Whatever we identify with, we attract more of. When we identify with suffering, we attract more suffering.

Shift happens when you let go of attachment to suffering.

Take time today to honour all your experiences. Smile, and let each one go. They are not us. Above all, you are not an illness, you are not made of pain, and you are not your mistakes,

Separation is the great illusion. The truth is, you are not separate from anything, ever. “There is no time and space between you and God. The same is true between you and your Unconditional Self.”

“Separation is the great disease of mankind.” It is because you are separate from the rest of life that you experience lack, struggle, conflicts, illness, and pain.’

Begin each new day with this prayer. “Dear God, Today I give up the thought of separation. Amen.”

Affirm to yourself daily.

“In me is all of Heaven.

In Heaven is all of me.”

The ego is not real: it is just an idea.

The ego is the sum total of all your small ideas about yourself, It sees you as separate, isolate, and cut off from the whole.

The more you love, the more you get what you really want. Love and egos cannot co-exist. Love is wholeness. Love detoxifies the ego!

Independence is inspired not by love, but fear, and not by wholeness but aloneness. “Independence is the ego’s attempt to be its own God.”

We are provided with some telltale signs of our being dysfunctionally independent.

We are exhausted.

We never ask for help.

We never let anyone give to us.

Intimacy is unfamiliar and scary.

You think being single is being free.

You try to heal on your own.

Atheism is your revenge on God.

Imagine, maybe all of the universe is here to support you.

God is a God of unconditional love. When you reach for God, you are simply reaching for the highest in yourself,

We’re told that the first law of personal alchemy states “The world changes when you do”.

Imagine for a moment that the world is not a physical place that is separate from you, but rather a projection of your state of mind.

Robert quotes Shakespeare: “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

What you believe will be what you perceive. A belief has no power othe than what you give it.

Shift happens when you change your beliefs.

These are few of the precepts introduced to us by the author. But the book contains much more. I strongly recommend that you read it.
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IonaS | 3 other reviews | Jan 27, 2024 |
Holden's entire premise for his happiness program is that all of us have within us the capacity to be 100% happy with our lives, but we squander that by 'chasing' after happiness. We look for external validation and we mistake pleasure for true happiness, when in fact real happiness is a spiritual joy that's always within us.

I enjoyed his take on what makes us happy, as well as his suggestions for being present in your life so that you make the most of what you have, right here, right now. We can all benefit from living in the moment and enjoying the lives we have as opposed to constantly wishing for things to change, so that we can be happy 'someday'.

Although the book gets a bit repetitive at times, it's filled with solid concepts and helpful exercises.
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Elizabeth_Cooper | Oct 27, 2023 |
The title snagged my attention since I use "Shift Happens" as a tagline for my new website. Happily, the material Holden presents is upbeat and somewhat similar to the book I'm working on, but not so similar as to dissuade me from my project.

Occasionally, finding ideas with which I'm already familiar dampens my enthusiasm for a book. In this case however, I felt as if another teacher spoke into my life to encourage and remind me of wise principles I'm choosing to embrace more and more.

"Defenses are made of fear. When you defend yourself, you become a fugitive on the run from fear. ...This is true of every defense mechanism, be it cynicism, avoidance, hiding or denial. .. It is a myth that defenses make you strong. You cannot be defensive and be free. You cannot suppress feelings and feel whole. You cannot hide wounds and fell safe. You cannot shut down and shine. You cannot be cynical and inspired. You cannot side with fear and also be open to love."
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rebwaring | 3 other reviews | Aug 14, 2023 |
This one was hard for me to read - at first.

Usually books that contain too many references to God or sound preachy are a DNF for me. But this one wasn't like that.
First, it's not preachy at all.
Second, it does have many references to God, but you can substitute "Higher Power", "Spirit", or the name of the God you worship, and the meditation for that day immediately applies to any faith.

This is one that I want to buy in paper format and use for my daily meditation practice. It's a beautiful book.… (more)
 
Flagged
katsmiao | 2 other reviews | Oct 23, 2015 |

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Statistics

Works
13
Members
390
Popularity
#62,076
Rating
4.0
Reviews
8
ISBNs
117
Languages
5

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