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BANISH FEAR, ENCOUNTER LOVE!
Inspired, lively, and fun, Maria Felipe’s real-world approach to living based on A Course in Miracles will guide you toward a life released from fear and doubt, and filled with joy and power. In nine crystal-clear chapters, Maria shows you how to banish the “cuckoo voice of the ego” and connect with your internal teacher, accessing unlimited love and strength. Her stories, shared from her own life and from her students’ experiences, demonstrate that with a willing attitude and an open heart, true happiness isn’t just possible — it’s inevitable!
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“A brief and lively guide to overcoming fear, living authentically, and finding inner happiness regardless of outer circumstances. Reading Maria Felipe’s crisp, down-to-earth prose is less like reading a self-help book and more like having a conversation with a trusted friend.” — Marci Shimoff, New York Times best-selling author of Happy for No Reason
“Live Your Happy will make you more aware of your true nature and help you live your life in a way that will remove the barriers that prevent you from experiencing it. I highly recommend this important entertaining book.” — Gary Renard, best-selling author of The Disappearance of the Universe trilogy
“The best thing about Live Your Happy is the practical examples that Maria Felipe shares about putting the ideas from A Course in Miracles into practice. Happiness is our natural essence, and Maria shows this in her transparency and her willingness to trust in Spirit.” — David Hoffmeister, author of Quantum Forgiveness: Physics, Meet Jesus
“A must-read for everyone. Gracias, Maria, for sharing your very personal story and putting the light of hope in all our lives.” — Angélica Vale, Foreword author and acclaimed Mexican actress, singer, and comedian
2nd Edition published by the author in association with Fearless Literary
122 pages, trade paperback • $14.95 • ISBN 978-1-7321850-6-7
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MARIA FELIPE is an author, motivational speaker and teacher of A Course in Miracles. She uses humor, fun, and practical insights to make her message relatable and engaging. In her classes, coaching, and speaking engagements, Maria inspires her audience to wake up to the love they are. Her infectious energy provides a catalyst for personal growth and self-discovery. Maria lives in Naples, Florida with her husband Christian and young son Ari.
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INTRODUCTION
Here is the truth about you: You’re strong, you’re powerful, you’re enough — and you are not alone.
In fact, that’s true for each one of us. But if that’s so, why don’t we feel this way all the time? Why do we still have ups and downs, feeling really good one day and crying our eyes out the next? Why do we read dozens, if not hundreds, of self-help books and attend numerous seminars, and yet still feel unhappy and unfulfilled? We try one job after another, one romance after another, even one religion after another, and yet we still often don’t know our life’s purpose — or why our “happy” often feels so far away.
I’ve been there and felt the same, and what I’ve learned about real happiness is the reason this book has come to life. You can repeat affirmations all day long, or walk on hot coals, but you will not live your happy until you understand the way your mind works and recognize your own divinity. I am not saying this lightly, and I am not saying that getting there will be easy. But you can do it — and if you’re reading this book, the time has come to get started.
We’re in this together. As you wake up to your truth, I wake up to mine. I will share with you spiritual tools that really work, but you must put them to use. If you do, you will be helping everyone live the happiness they deserve.
Where I’m Coming From
Before I became a minister and teacher of A Course in Miracles, I was an actress, a model, and a TV host. I was in magazines, runway shows, TV shows, and national commercials. I was the first Latina boxing announcer. I can still hear myself announcing: “In the red corner, from Los Mochis, Mexico, weighing 139½ pounds, Humberto Soto! And in the blue corner, from Guadalajara, Mexico, weighing 140 pounds, Jorge Solís!” Later, working for the world-famous WWF (now the WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment), I interviewed competitors live in front of an audience of twenty thousand people. That might sound really exciting. In fact, it was horrifying.I remember walking down the ramp toward the ring feeling so scared; my heart pounded like it was going to come out of my chest. All I could think was: Can I do this? Am I good enough? Will the people like me? Will I get the contract to host the rest of the shows?
At least I had an amazingly romantic French boyfriend. He was a sweetheart and very thoughtful. When I was featured in People en Español, he bought all the copies he could find, and he surprised me with them at the airport when I came home. Yet no matter what this guy did, I always felt unworthy of his love, and I was fixated on the worry that he would cheat on me.
I had a great career, a wonderful boyfriend, a nice apartment near the beach in Miami... and I was miserable. I was reading all the self-help books I could lay my hands on, going to workshops, and declaring affirmations, and none of it made me happy.
In other words, I was a hot mess back in the day. I did not know any better, but now I know that we always do the best we can with the awareness we have at that moment. When I was in my twenties, I longed to be loved — loved by everyone, loved by the whole world. What I didn’t know was that I was really searching for the love of God...and that I already had that love within me!
I could not bring happiness into my experience because I was in a trance, living like a puppet run by my own ego. It was ego that told me I’d be happy when I booked that commercial, won that Oscar, or got married and had kids. All my unsolvable problems determined my reality, and every problem was a big deal. The harder I looked for love, the farther away from me it seemed to be.
In 1995 I came across Marianne Williamson’s book A Return to Love. At that time I was going through a major depression, and her words were very comforting. But what affected me most were the quotes from another book called A Course in Miracles. I had never heard of that strange blue book before, and it would be six years before I actually began to study it. While browsing the bookstore of the Unity on the Bay Church in Miami, I heard an announcement that an introductory class on A Course in Miracles was beginning in the next room. I was intrigued, so I went. I wasn’t quite prepared for what the teacher said: We are wholly responsible for our experiences; we are not victims of anyone or anything; only love is real and all else is an illusion.
I’ll admit that I was shocked. I am responsible for everything I see, and I am not a victim of the world? I just wasn’t ready to buy that. The teacher went on to say that the Course focused on true forgiveness, which he defined as the understanding that no one has really done anything to you. ¿Qué, qué?
That’s when I fell out of my chair... and I mean literally. It was very embarrassing to pick myself up in front of everyone! Yet as I did so, I had the powerful sensation that I had found my path, even though I really didn’t understand anything of what the teacher was saying at the time.
Twenty years after first reading about A Course in Miracles (ACIM) — and after much study to acquire my ministerial certificate from the ACIM school known as Pathways of Light — I’m a little clearer on the message. This self-study spiritual thought system helps students develop a relationship with the “internal teacher” it calls the Holy Spirit, which in turn helps us change how we see the world on a daily basis. This “shift in perception” is what ACIM calls a miracle.
How to Use This Book
For me, A Course in Miracles provides the inner tools to become free of bondage to the sickness of the ego, so that we can finally discover all the power within us. The Course puts it this way: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it” (ACIM, ch. 6. section IV).Let’s be clear: Seeking and finding all the barriers we’ve built against love is not fun. We have to face feelings of sadness, abandonment, fear, and loss and take responsibility for them all. We have to learn to trust the voice of our inner teacher instead of our own worst advice, which basically means getting over ourselves. We have to stop trying to manipulate people, stop trying to make things happen the way we want them to happen, and most importantly, stop looking for happiness “out there” where it will never be found.
This book is a simple but not necessarily easy guide to learning to live your happy. I will share practical spiritual tools to get you there, along with stories of my own journey and of people I’ve counseled. I empower my clients not by telling them what to do but by helping them understand that they have the answer within.
That being said, I ask that you trust me and be gentle with yourself. Step by step, I will train you to listen to your right mind. In turn, you will become free to live in happiness consistently. You will even be happy when you have so-called problems. How’s that for a miracle?
Setting an Intention
In the same way that I begin all my workshops, I offer this book with an intention. An intention is different than an expectation, which ultimately makes us unhappy. For instance, I advise you not to expect this book to make you happy. There is nothing outside yourself that can give you your happy, including this book. My intention is for this book to help you see that you have all the happiness you could ever want already — waiting to be recognized within. As the Course puts it: “If you will lay aside the ego’s voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in its messages” (ACIM, workbook lesson 106).The secret of living your happy is that you don’t have to find something or someone that’s missing before you can claim it. But it is useful to identify any barriers that get in the way of living your happy — including fear, impatience, and doubt. We’ll look more closely at those barriers as we go along. For now, just be willing to give up whatever might be blocking your well-deserved joy. This is how you will get out of your own way and let the will of God — which is the same as the intention of love — be accomplished instead.
I will be your spiritual coach, but you will need to do the work. Right now all you need is what the Course calls“a little willingness,” and the rest will follow. Declare now: I am willing. And then let’s do this!
Dearest Holy Spirit, I hand over my experience of this book to you. I am willing to let go of my expectations and simply enjoy the ride. I allow you to come into my mind, opening the door for me to see whatever needs to be seen, so I may heal and live the happiness I am worthy of. Guide me on what to read or reread, how much time to spend on this reading, and how I can apply the teachings that will work best for me.
Amen
