[From Happiness and the Michael Teachings]

The Michael teachings define seven roles, or soul types.

Servers thrive when they feel appreciated. We all thrive when we’re appreciated but it’s especially important for servers. It would be awkward to ask people to tell you that they appreciate you, but when someone does express appreciation, you can give positive reinforcement for that: “Wow, thank you! That makes me feel really good.”

We tend to be self-deprecating about compliments. We all want to be loved, but then when love is expressed, we sometimes reject it. How much better to fully take it in. When we ask for things, we need to make space to receive them. By receiving appreciation and thanking the other person, we form a circuit. We make them feel good to know that they’ve made us feel good. As a result, they’re probably going to express more appreciation for us in the future. That works a lot better than being a woebegone server who’s always complaining “I slaved all day over a hot stove but nobody appreciates it!” That makes people want to leave.

Priests get depressed when they aren’t inspired. All of us like to feel inspired, but for the other roles, it’s not central. Different things inspire different people: being in nature, music, and meditating are examples. Meditation is great tool for happiness. It quiets us and allows spirit to take over for a while and relax, heal, and ground us. Priests who don’t take time to recharge their inspiration languish. So stay inspired, priests!

Artisans thrive when they have a hobby, usually a craft. Artisan is the second most common role, accounting for twenty-two percent of the population. Obviously, twenty-two percent of people are not highly artistically gifted, but almost all artisans can get a lot of happiness out of doing something with their hands. It could be cooking or decorating — it doesn’t have to be a handicraft.

Incidentally, almost anything you could say about an artisan is true of a sage to a lesser extent, and anything you can say about a sage is true of an artisan to a lesser extent. It works that way with the other axes, as well: warriors and kings, and servers and priests. The main difference between them is ordinality versus cardinality. (In the Michael teachings, the four axes, or basic qualities, are inspiration, expression, action, and assimilation.)

A big happiness tip for sages is laughter. I have a friend who is an old sage whose mother was mentally ill and severely abused her. When I first knew her, she never laughed. She smiled — she was as sweet as could be — but she didn’t laugh. Her healing has been partly about regaining her ability to laugh. A sage who cannot laugh is in deep trouble.

You’ve probably heard the story of Norman Cousins who laughed himself to wellness by watching Marx Brothers movies and episodes of Candid Camera. He wrote, “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,” I channeled him as a priest with a discarnate sage essence twin, so sage was a secondary energy for him, but that sort of therapy would be especially good for sages.

Sages can also get a lot of happiness out of performing: playing in a band, acting in community theater, etc.

Warriors are the people who climb a mountain because it’s there. (I look at pictures of a mountain while sitting on my Barcalounger because it’s there. I don’t need much challenge.) Warriors are not going to be happy if they don’t have challenge and excitement: roller coasters, horror movies, athletics (both as participant and fan), etc. They also need worthwhile work.

Kings like to have big projects to sink their teeth into, preferably leading others, or a difficult skill they can master.

Scholars are pretty easy to keep happy as long as they have something to assimilate: books, movies, the Internet, etc. For moving centered scholars, travel can bring much happiness.