Tag: happiness

Go with the flow. Be flexible.

You have to be flexible in life. If you’re too rigid, you’re more likely to break. If you’re pliable, you can bend without breaking. The wind can push you over, but it won’t break you. If you’re too stiff and can’t go with the flow, you’ll snap in half during the storm.

Practice going with the flow. This can be tough if you’re a planner and want things to go a certain way. But you have to realize that there are many things outside of our control. And if we don’t leave right on time, if we’re not eating the “perfect meal,” or getting exactly the right amount of sleep, it’s ok. Everything will be ok. We will survive. Our children will survive. One bad day or bad week isn’t going to ruin our health.

Go with the flow before you stress yourself out (and those around you) too much. Because if you’re too rigid, life will feel much harder than it needs to.

Being a positive realist

Not everything that happens in life is positive. Yes, you can try to find the silver lining in everything (and you should), but that doesn’t mean that you should ignore the negative.

When you feel pain, suffering, or annoyance, it’s for a reason. Pay attention to that and do something about it. If you can’t do anything about it, there’s no need to get angry or stressed about it. There’s no need to beat yourself up over it or to make yourself feel bad. And there is never a need to have self-pity.

Things happen that we don’t want to happen all the time. We can’t change the past. But we can learn from it and use those experiences to shape our future. Whether we decide to focus on the negative or positive is up to us, but the best choice is to see the whole picture, realize it is what it is, and get to work.

It’s just like the Serenity Prayer says…”God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.”

Today, and from now on, work on being a positive realist. You’re realistic about the situation at hand, but you can find the light in everything.

Spreading joy to make yourself happier

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” – Mark Twain

Joy, happiness, and laughter are contagious! Even if you are not happy, trying to make others happy can help improve your mood as well.

If you’re moping around, you may get attention in the short-term. Nice people or people who care about you will ask how you’re doing and try to offer encouragement or advice. But if you’re constantly down in the dumps, eventually people will not want to hang around you as much because you’ll drag their mood down too.

Be happy. Try to make others feel good. The more you can genuinely make others laugh or be happy, the more they’ll want to do the same for you. And you get the positive benefit of doing something nice for others, which will increase your happiness.

Adversity, self-improvement, and fulfillment

Challenge and adversity sucks when you’re in the thick of it. It can seem like the hardship will never end. But just like all good things must come to an end, so too must all bad things. Life goes on – it stops for no one and nothing.

The great part about overcoming adversity is that it tests you and lets you know what you’re really made of. When life seems too easy and you’re completely comfortable, we often lack the intrinsic motivation to strive for self-improvement. But when we face difficulties and need to get something done, often times you will rise to the challenge. How will we know our limits if we never challenge ourselves (or are not challenged by outside circumstances)?

Think about how you can push yourself today – how you can test yourself. Have you been living a soft, cushy life for too long now? If so, do you feel that you’ve come close to reaching your full potential or is there more to go? And the other, more important, question…do you even care to reach your full potential? There’s no judgment if you don’t. You need to feel fulfilled and only you can determine that.

Design your perfect day and extrapolate it

Live your life by design. Live it intentionally everyday.

Have you designed your life to be set up in the way that you want to live it? Or are you just going through the motions letting the waves take you to and fro. Do you have any say in your life right now? Are you living proactively or reactively?

Design your perfect day, week, month, and year. What are the most important things to you? What brings you the most joy? What do you get to do that allows you those freedoms?