A young man sat with all his prized possessions... his trophy girlfriends... his money and his
power... yet there was an empty hole within him that just couldn't be fulfilled... He began to ponder
the next phase of life... “It is time” he said, “What am I missing in life? How can I achieve
happiness.” He realized “If only there was some way to achieve this happiness without having to
become a celebrity or a player.”

And then like magic, appeared The Gift!

As like anyone shocked by the sudden appearance of The Gift, the young man was speechless... But
this happened to be a talkative Gift... “I will guide you... I will show you the path to real
happiness... you must come forth with me... for your happiness doesn't lay in this god forsaken
place.”

“But Gift!” The young man cried out. “If I follow you... then I give up my most precious
possessions... How could I ever replace such valuable things?”

The Gift, slapped the young man, “No!” “For happiness can never be achieved in the material
world... You must leave your golden palace in return to save your soul from a life of pure
unhappiness.”

“But Gift... is it worth the risk to lose everything I have for something that sounds too good to be
true.”

The Gift replied, “Follow and see.”

The Gift led the hesitant young man through the portal of time....

Lesson One

Out of the portal and into a busy shopping mall in New York.

The young man stood in shock... as thousands of people pushed through him to get to the nearest
shop... The signs reading “50% off on skin products... Buy one get one free Iphones.”
The Gift grinned, “Look at all those people...  Rushing around... Rushing to buy the latest skin
products to stay young and beautiful... Foolish people.... In a rush to buy the new Xbox 500  to
bring another meaningless amusement into their lives... Foolish people.”

“But Gift, why are they foolish?” Said the young man who ran to the “Free 900 Mega pixel camera
phones” stall.

The Gift slapped the young man, “Foolish man... You're eyes cannot see... what your feelings
cannot feel.... Do you not see the purpose of all these materials?”The young man pondered on the thought, “To make us happy?”
The Gift looked at the young man in pity, “Foolish man... Do you not see that all these materials are
just a distraction.”

The young man began to open his mind, “A Distraction?”

The Gift pointed to a shattered and depressed woman, “Do you see this woman buying the latest
Iphone? What you don't see is that whenever a new gadget comes out that is popular... she will be
the first to get it... only to brag to her friends of what she has in her life.”

“So?”

“So.... deep down she feels the need to prove that she is better then her friends... because there is a
hole inside her that can never be filled... She is always trying to fit in with the cool people... This
started from the very age when her friends had my little ponies and she was all left alone to play...
So she tries to be the first of her friends to get the cool gadgets... just so she isn't the last person to
be left out the loop... Foolish... deep down it's a distraction... a way for her to play out this stupid
ego game... rather then admitting she isn't happy with her life.”

Then appeared a young beautiful woman

The Gift pointed at her, “Do you see her? That woman is racing around the shops to fill her face
with skin cream and lavish herself with make up.... She is unaware that she is distracting herself
from the fact that she isn't happy with her life... No matter how beautiful she looks... when she
looks in the mirror she is always that ugly witch... So she reads the magazines... observes and
envies celebrities and other beautiful women and tries to find what they have... She is frustrated
with her life because she can never find the root to happiness... In a few years time she will settle
down for a nice guy who will always lavish her with attention that makes her feel validated... only
to cheat on him with a bad guy... Her perception will never allow her to see the true beauty.”
The young man began to realize, “I'm starting to realize that... we seek happiness externally when
truthfully it is rooted internally within us.”

“Alas,” The Gift said... “Happiness is found from within... not from without.”

The young man now realizing the error of his ways. “We look around to see what others are doing...
to see if people are better off... we compete with others... when someone is doing better off... we
perceive that because they have more money, more relationships. More power... that in order to be
happy we have to do the same... when truly it's our perception that gets tainted by the media... it
plays on our insecurities to gets us in a loop and distract us from the real happiness.”

The Gift nodded.

And with that the young man realized.

“Material possessions are to add on to our happiness not to define it.”

“Happiness is a state of mind.”

“Remember,” said The Gift “To go within and find happiness... is to alter your perception and
realize that success starts in the mind... The person who thinks he can... the person who believes in themselves and not the bullshit fed to them by society... will set a strong foundation to the inner
journey of happiness that will never fade or die out.”