Happy 5th Anniversary ChantforHappiness.com!

Happy 

5th Anniversary 

Chantforhappiness.com! 

Here I am - my hernia surgery was a week ago, August is here, and this week is the 5th year anniversary of Chantforhappiness.com! 

I feel like popping open a bottle of champagne and toasting to all of you! 
At first, I had no readers, I only had the memory of myself combing the bookstores and libraries to find this practice...looking for it for YEARS and finally finding it when I met Kate Randolph in San Francisco in 1985 when I was already 25 years old. Right away I wanted to share my new tool for happiness - the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo within the SGI with everyone! 

In the past five years, the readership of Chantforhappiness.com has grown to 36,000 people a month ~ all over the world. This humble site has received more than 600,000 hits. Many of you are from the US, Australia, India, Singapore, Canada, Europe, Africa, South America, and many other places too. 

Where do YOU live? Write to me at Chantforhappiness@gmail.com and you may be in my next book. I'm collecting the emails I receive about how this blog has been a lifeline in places where there is no SGI, or how it has helped at times to give you that extra burst of energy to continue advancing fearlessly...(or to continue advancing with fear, but with strong determination too!)
My goal has been to help you connect with the Soka Gakkai International (which is full of people helping others become happy), and to the heart of our living mentor Daisaku Ikeda. I am so grateful to have raised my life from one of extreme depression, friendlessness, and sadness to one of strength and happiness that flows through me at every moment. I ride the wave of every challenge I face, and turn it into a benefit. And if I can do it so can YOU!

It's very mystic that I had surgery for a Hernia. When I consulted Louise Hay's book "You Can Heal Your Life" (one of my favorites ~ I always keep this book close to me) about the real meaning of a hernia, it said "Ruptured Relationships, Strain..." and I had to laugh. Hmmm, WHICH ruptured relationship? All of them? A particular one? My entire "ruptured relationship karma"? 
And I thought back to 5 years ago when I began this blog. It was born from the ashes of a ruptured relationship. I was missing someone so badly I could literally FEEL the pain in the exact area where my hernia operation took place. Heartache actually hurts. I know. I've felt it. I know how all of you who write to me about heartache feel. 
I also knew at the time that the pain I felt was INSIDE my life. Yes, it was triggered by the relationship, but it was within me, and therefore, I could forever root the cause of the karma of this pain and depression out of my life through this practice. So I began chanting two hours a day to get rid of this pain FOREVER...to Root it out of my family karma. And I began writing this blog so that I could show actual proof through my life and take the whole world along. And of course, it worked. I followed the Soka Gakkai's prescription for happiness. Now I have permanently turned a corner...raised my life condition...changed forever this state of suffering. Forever. Changed. No more depression. Ever. 

And here we are! 

During the life of this blog so many things have happened...including: 

My sweet Mommy died...
I had major hip replacement surgery... 
My son got into Medical School and just passed his boards with flying colors...
I wrote the book PowerPrayers for Chanting Your Way to Absolute Happiness and Success (soon to be released)... 
I went through the biggest challenge of my life when my son became sick this year and he is now much better... 
and now I am mystically recovering from surgery in the exact part of my body that triggered the blog in the first place. And you, my friends, have accompanied me on every leg of this journey as I've proven the power of the Mystic Law with my life...and as YOU'VE proved the power with your own lives! 

I have answered hundreds and hundreds of emails. I have shared laughter with you, and I've shared your tears. In some cases I've been able to answer a few seconds after you wrote; others of you have had to wait longer, or have had to write me again when times were busy. Many mornings I have woken up to 5, 6, 7 emails from you...and sometimes...just when I needed it most...your emails were full of appreciation that brought tears to my eyes...just at the right time! 

Many of you have connected with the SGI through this blog. Others have reconnected. Many of you have broken through...some are still fighting, but are not alone! 
And yes, some of you found out about this practice for the first time through Chantforhappiness.com. I want to hear all your stories, and share them if you'll let me. Don't worry though, I never share anything unless you give me permission, so whatever you write is in confidence. You know the email: chantforhappiness@gmail.com

I can tell you with more confidence than ever that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo IS the answer to every single one of your questions and the exact prescription for all of the success and happiness you were born to experience. I write this blog to show through my own life experience, my own ups and downs, that anything is possible. And it IS! If I can overcome my heartache and lifelong depression so can you. So can anyone. If I can lose the weight that my mother carried...that all the women in my life have carried...then ANYTHING is possible, because THAT was clearly impossible...
I write this blog to show you the impossible is possible and to share our glorious mission in life together! 

I salute YOU my dear friends! I salute YOU!