Can you remember your childhood days? During those times, nothing yet seemed complicated. All we had to think about were crayons, cookies, or Santa Claus. We didn’t care about the things we didn’t know because we were just too oblivious of the things that might bother us.
But as we grow older, we get anxious with the things that surround us. Life and death, loving and parting, success and failure, to name a few. We find that almost everyday, we are obliged to be concerned about people or events.
Nevertheless, always keep this in mind to not take things as if they are responsible for the way you feel. Events or situations do not trouble you. How you look at them does.
If you miss those carefree days, you just have to look back at how you used to view things then, and you will know what to do now. Here’s a guide to make sure you won’t lose your way:
Cherish the simple things: Trust in the power of a smile or laughter, a kiss or a hug. Believe in kindness, honesty, dreams, and imagination. Living positively is the first step to becoming happy.
Loosen up. Laugh at your mistakes. You might remember the time when you were delivering your speech and your mind went completely blank right in the middle of delivering it. It’s embarrassing. But most likely, your audience will forget about it in a day or two. We all mess up occasionally. The good thing is that people tend to forget such situations.
Surround yourself with what you love. Get a pet. Retain film moments as keepsakes. Keep away from those that drag you down. If that high-paying job makes you sulk at the thought of having to go to work, find a job you like first before quitting. If some people force you to comply even if you think of doing otherwise, stay away from their company.
Don’t put off. Go on that trip. Get your Masters. You’ll never know the extent of your life. Do something, while you can.
Don’t push yourself too hard trying to please everyone. You just can’t. And it never seems to be worth it anyway. When you want to make somebody’s day, start with your loved ones.
Keep fit. Be that attractive person you always picture yourself to be. Cherish your health. It’s the best way of showing you are putting your best face forward.
Do not assume. Don’t fret about forgetting your speech before you actually do it. Don’t worry about not getting the job you want because you might mess up at the interview. Don’t end up expecting only the worst to happen.
Alter your way of thinking. When you’re being ridiculed, criticized about your family background, or condemned for past mistakes, put on deaf ears. Don’t believe everything you hear. You know yourself better than everybody else does. Never wallow in self-pity.
Remember: Don’t get upset over things just because it’s how most people would react when faced with the same situation. When you find yourself being negative angry, down, jealous, etc. you also unknowingly drain your energy and enthusiasm. You just have to try keeping these negative feelings in the low, because giving in to these emotions would sometimes make you unreasonable, and you might end up making bad decisions.
Happiness is always in your grasp. You can attain it, as long as you reach for it.
Filed under Articles, Happiness by on Aug 12th, 2009. Comment. 
The good things in life do not create happiness. The good things in life arise from happiness. If you wish to be happy, then be happy.
It really is as simple as that. There’s no need to wait until you acquire this or achieve that. If you constantly place conditions on happiness, you’ll prevent yourself from experiencing it. Go ahead and be happy now, today, this very moment.
Be happy for no reason at all, and you will find that you’re more effective, more productive, more creative and more fulfilled.
Indeed, happiness is a powerful state of mind that is available to you when you allow it to be. The best reason to be happy is because you can.
Being genuinely happy is a powerful way to express your confidence and your expectation that positive things will happen. And when you confidently expect the best, that’s precisely what you get.
Go ahead and be happy!
Filed under Articles, Happiness by on Apr 29th, 2008. 2 Comments.
Do you know someone who is terminally ill? If you do, you probably know someone who looks at life in a completely different way than the average person. When you are healthy and happy, you often take the small things for granted. Then, when you have a bad day or when you are feeling down, you tend to think that your problems are the worst problems in the world. You may even wallow in self-pity at some point.
The important thing to know is that you don’t have to live that way! There are many things you can do to learn how to create your own reality and live life in a happy and carefree way. I remember when my father was ill; he continued to make us laugh, kept working on his job and never complained. That was a wonderful lesson we all learned from my father.
The first thing you can learn from those that are ill, that it is important to be able to put things that happen to you into perspective. It’s not so much what happens to us, but how we look at them. The end result is usually how we view the situation.
Sure, you may have car troubles before work or you may not be able to lose those extra ten pounds you have put on since last summer. However, you are alive and you can get through anything!
Filed under Articles, Happiness by on Apr 27th, 2006. Comment.
Ambitious dreams bring inspiration. They’re the only kind that have the power to make you happy.
The world is full of people who’re afraid of reaching for their dreams in case they’re disappointed.
A lot of parents teach their children to be modest in their expectations. It’s understandable for them not to want their sons and daughters to be hurt, so they teach them to have “reasonable” ambitions — to aim for the things they know are well within their capabilities. That way, they’ll avoid the pain of failure, or the embarrassment of having other people know they’ve failed.
The trouble is, a “reasonable” ambition dooms you to a life of mediocrity.
Just getting by is not abundant living. Doing a job you don’t enjoy, solely because it pays the bills and is considered socially acceptable, is not a definition of success or happiness.
Suppressing your real ambitions, talents, dreams and wishes is a recipe for unendurable frustration — and over time the pain of that frustration will get worse, not better.
Your particular mixture of interests, talents, dreams and inspirations is unique. It’s not appeared before in human history, and it won’t again.
That means that YOU (however unlikely it might seem right now!) can achieve something no-one else has ever done before you — and if YOU don’t go for it, then no-one else can.
It might be years, or even centuries, before someone takes another route to make the same discoveries, to write the books, to sing the songs or sell the products that it lies within YOUR power to achieve — and till that happens, the whole world must do without them. What’s so very “reasonable” about that?
If this sounds far-fetched, think of Thomas Edison. Born in 1847, this was a man who in all his life had only three months’ formal education, but he planned to make a light-bulb that could offer bright, safe light in people’s houses. Most people laughed at him. After all, it wasn’t “reasonable”.
At first he couldn’t do it, but he wouldn’t give up. He couldn’t, because he had a big, ambitious dream that went a long way further yet.
Once people had electric lighting in their houses, they’d need power — and once they had the power, they could use it, too, for other things, like heating, cooking, cleaning… even entertainment. Once he had his light-bulb, he could change the world.
It’s said he tried 10,000 times to make a light-bulb. When someone asked him how he felt about his many failures he replied, “I haven’t failed. I’ve ruled out ways that don’t work, that’s all. Each try brings me closer to the one that will.”
Eventually, he was rewarded — and with his light-bulb in production, set to work on even more ambitious dreams. Just a couple of his successes led to the beginning of the record industry and cinema.
Edison was granted over 1,000 patents — more than anyone in history. To this day that record’s not been broken. He formed a company to develop his inventions, and became one of the richest men in America.
What’s important’s not just that he achieved the seemingly impossible, or even that he persevered despite 10,000 disappointments. What matters most is HOW he did it.
He had ambitious dreams that totally inspired him. They energized him. The knowledge of the benefits that he could bring the world, as well as to himself, fuelled his commitment even when the road was hard. He wasn’t “reasonable”.
If you want to reach your goals, it pays to be creatively UNreasonable.
Choose a dream that totally inspires YOU, one you can enjoy however hard the going gets. Write down exactly what you’re aiming to achieve, and how it can help others (the way to get the things you want’s to make sure other people get what THEY want, first — that’s the only way they’re going to pay you for your efforts).
Now list the steps you need to take to make that happen. Spend some time working on those tasks each day (you don’t need give your job up till you can afford to!), and watch the magic start to happen.
Above all, keep your outlook absolutely positive. Learn from your mistakes and adjust your plans accordingly, but remember the 10,000 light-bulbs and keep going.
See yourself always as on your way to great success. Thomas Edison succeeded — so can you. The way to be quite certain that you’ll fail is not to try.
Shoot for the moon — for even if you miss, you’ll reach the stars.
by: Aislinn O’Connor
About The Author
Aislinn O’Connor is a motivational writer and personal development consultant specialising in helping you to use your inner, subconscious mind to transform your life and circumstances. For helpful tools and lots more information, visit http://www.access-your-peak-performance-zone.com/.
Filed under Articles by on Apr 5th, 2006. Comment.
