Happiness Simplify

Simple Steps To Enhance Your Happiness

We have all been hearing and reading so much about Happiness. How to find happiness? How to be Happy? This is not going to be one of those articles where I tell you how to find happiness… Why? Simply cause I believe happiness is within each and every one of us. We need not look for it elsewhere. We don’t need to search for happiness, because it can never be found!

How do you really find something that isnt lost in the first place?? Happiness can be self controlled and enhanced through certain practices. A large portion of being happy comes from our own power to change. Change is usually a good thing, especially, if you’re in a dormant not-going-anywhere kind of situation.

So today I will give you 5 simple steps/practices that will enhance and improve your happiness quotient:

1. Be Grateful:

Write letters of gratitude to people who have helped you in your life. Maybe it was something small or something big…but write that letter. Email or Text the gratitude note or letter. Its my guarantee, you will experience a lasting and increased sense of happiness. But you wont know till you try it!

2. Be Optimistic:

Everyday before you go to bed or while you meditate, visualize an ideal future for yourself. For example-living with a loving and supportive partner or finding a job that is fulfilling. You can visualize whatever you want and describe that vivid image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few days: one- the universe will start positively aligning things for you, two- you will have an increased feeling of well being.

3. Count Your Blessings:

Practice writing down three great things that have happened to you over the week. You might have met someone nice or might have bought something new. You being alive and breathing is a blessing too. You living and experiencing this wonderful life is a blessing too. Write it down and see the heightened state of euphoria you feel after you do. You will start noticing blessings you didn’t even know you already had!

4. You have strengths, Use them:

Take time to think about your strengths. You might be loving, giving, nurturing, helping, a good friend, a good person, a good host/hostess, great at your job, great with kids…the list is endless. Identify your strengths and then make use of these in your daily life. Everyday will become a blessing you will want to write about in your gratitude journal.

5. Commit acts of kindness:

Helping others also helps ourselves. Donate some time or money to charity. Better still be kind, help and assist people in need. Watching another person smile because of something you did, is the best feeling in the world! You will miraculously feel your worries vanishing, only to be replaced by a heightened soulful sense of happiness. Simple, isnt it?

Now go ahead and gently introduce these practices in your life. You deserve every ounce of happiness you can garner from this wonderful life.

Rosie Motene

One More Time

How to Give Yourself a Second Chance

Tragedy happens. A relationship ends. A child dies. A drunk driver kills. A job is lost. A new business closes. It hurts. Life is difficult.Why not quit? Why try again? Because you can. No matter how difficult life becomes, always remember it’s never too late to try again. You can choose differently. You have that option.

Shift your perception

When you experience loss or failure it’s natural and good, to grieve.  Take the time you need to be sad, cry, feel your pain. When you’re finished grieving it’s time to shift your perception and make a plan to begin again. Every ending leads to a new beginning

Start small. 

If you are overwhelmed, start with one small step, today. Dr. Martin Luther King advised, "Take the first step in faith." If you lost a job, update your resume. If you've ended a relationship, let go of the pain, if you have bad health, see a doctor.Change the things you can. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Yes, that’s exactly where you need to begin.  How can you do things differently?

Change your routine.

Change your eating habits. Join a support group. Hire a coach. Make that phone call. Become who you are. 

Start with a clean slate.

Let go of anything that is no longer working in your life. Live your values. Do life your way. Stop seeking approval from others.

Focus

With your goal in mind, write down your three most important tasks every day. Put  all of your focus on these three things. When you are finished, do it again.

Embrace opportunity

Believe in possibilities. Keep an open mind. Practice saying “yes.” There has never been a better time to be alive.

Journal. 

Express your strong feelings, change your thinking, develop clarity, and come to new conclusions. Find a role model. Find others who have been through difficult times and have came out ahead. Model their behavior. Listen to podcasts, read books, find stories of others who have gone on to succeed.

Forgive yourself and others

Nobody is perfect. All things come to an end. Don’t compare your circumstances to others. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t beat others up. Use your energy to move on to new opportunities and better things.

Have a positive attitude

Read The Diary of Anne Frank or Mans Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. We can't control life. We can't prevent bad things from happening. Our power comes from how we react to what happens.  

You are worthy

Believe you are worthy and powerful. Listen to your heart. Open yourself to guidance, trust, and unconditional love, and acceptance.New doors open in times of loss, crisis, and tragedy. In moments of darkness, remember that not only will the sun shine again, it will shine even brighter than before.There's a crack in everything. That's how the  light gets in.~Leonard Cohen

Are you willing to give yourself a second chance?   

Expect the Unexpected

Have No Expectations Just See Where Life Takes You

“The best things in life are unexpected – because there were no expectations.”- Eli Khamarov

Expect The Unexpected

Sit down, grab a cup of tea, because you’re in for a treat, this article is going to be amazing. Wow, what a great way to start an article, right?…Did I already give you an initial expectation?

Life is full of many ups and downs, moments of inconceivable joy, tremendous suffering, utter boredom, yet in the end it is all part of a beautiful ride.We are blessed to have a conscious mind, but it has also been one of our greatest enemies. Because the way in which our minds are hard-wired, we perceive the world in a way that keeps us from actually experiencing it in its totality.Our minds function through memory, from logic, and even if we are crazy, the way in which we think may still seem logical to us.We all live with a little sensor that resides inside us, that is constantly comparing every little thing, and this comparing inevitably leads us to have many expectations

What is an expectation?

An expectation is a logical or not so logical way in which we want the events of our lives to unfold, how we think things should be, because of the experiences we have had in the past. You look out into the world through filters influenced from the millions of impressions you have accumulated, all safely tucked away in your brain.

How often does life go according to our expectations?

Having expectations automatically makes something in your mind a destination, which is not real. Your mind becomes closed and functions on conclusions, then you cease to really learn about anything. But through “will” power and a lot of unnecessary effort, many of us achieve some of our expectations.This on the surface may seem great, but all I am asking, is this really the most joyous way to live our lives?

Are expectations necessary?

Shouldn’t life be lived simply and not made extraordinarily complicated? How do we even live a life without expectations? I think the first step is to become aware of your inner censor. The little voice inside you, that automatically begins to evaluate and compare any situation against the backdrop of your beliefs. Then based on your evaluation, which is always incomplete, you will proceed with some type of action or non-action which is still a form of action. Once you see this little voice in operation, become aware of it, remain a passive unattached witness to it. See that this may not necessarily be the best way for you to respond to a situation. Don’t become identified to that little voice. Learning to constantly question your little inner voice automatically creates inner space for you to freely observe your thinking processes.It’s easy to initially decide to witness your mind, but it is extremely difficult to remain unidentified. If I ask you to do it now, to take a minute to watch your mind, passively, unattached, yet very attentive, you can do it for a short while, but how long can you remain in this attentive state?….This will show you that we are never really awake during the day, because the majority of our time is spent inattentively.This is why things just happen in our lives, we really don’t “do” anything. We make a strong determined resolution to do something, then soon become inattentive, and things just happen, then we rationalize why things did not work out the way we expected them to.

Go With The Flow of Life

“I am open to the guidance of synchronicity, and do not let expectations hinder my path.”- Dalai Lama

If you are able to remain unidentified, switch your awareness to your body and all the subtle non verbal communication that it gives you. This is an intelligence that does not function from memory, therefore has no expectations about the future, it is here and now, and will give you direction in your life.Sure many times these signals may seem illogical, but you have to remember that this is life’s very nature. Dropping your expectations and going with the flow will allow you to be in harmony with existence, even if it seems irrational and crazy.Life unfolds in miraculous ways the moment you embrace it, you expect the unexpected unexpectedly. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new. But for many of us to make this jump requires that we really get in tune with the different aspects of our being. Our organism has been corrupted, become extremely dull, and not functioning in tip top shape.You need to learn to let your mind do its job of sane rational thinking, your hearts job of feeling, without letting them mix into each other and become corrupted. You need to learn to not express and become identified with negative emotions. You will see why if you really try, yet this is the most difficult thing to put into practice. Make sure you take great care of your body so that it is sensitive, then its intuitive and instinctual perceptions are allowed to function.When you are in harmony, you are able to let go of your expectations of how life should be, and be fully available to what life actually is. See where life takes you. Enjoy the ride.Sure it makes logical sense to make definite and specific plans and to achieve those plans, but for me life has always been more fulfilling when it is approached with no previous expectations. Just having a curious attitude, like that of a child filled with eyes of wonder, wanting to explore a world that is unknown to him.You live life instead of thinking about how to live.

Managing Your Expectations and of Others

Managing Your Expectations Is The Key To Hapiness

From the moment we enter this world, the way we live our lives is influenced by the expectations of others.Our parents (who love us, feed us and give us a warm, safe place to sleep) expect that we will bring them a lot of joy. That’s pretty reasonable so we do things to make them proud of us. These things can range from having good manners to going to the university they never had the chance to attend.

At school we might have a teacher who sees a special talent in us and spends extra time encouraging us to develop that talent. So we make sure to do something with that talent whether it be trying out for the cross-country team or entering an art competition.

At work we might have an amazing mentor who’s spent hours of their time giving us advice and guidance. That mentor has expectations too. She might consider us her protégé and envision us following her footsteps down a particular career path.

Expectations are pretty powerful things. And often they are good things – for instance they usually force us to lift our game and perform at a higher level.But …

Find me a person who is unhappy with their life and I will show you someone living a life driven by the expectations of others.That’s the person who ends up going to university because it’s all their mum ever wanted them to do. Even though all they ever wanted to do was get an apprenticeship and pursue a trade.It’s the person for whom art is a relaxing hobby; who hates entering competitions because it really stresses them out. Yet they find themselves applying for a bunch of awards simply to please the teacher who is captivated by their talent.It’s all the people in the world who have found themselves heading down a career path that puts a smile on their mentors’ faces, but not their own.

Rachel McDonald (life coach and blog coach) highlights the major problem for all these people:Squeezing into a box of Someone Else’s Expectations almost always leaves us depleted. We suppress our (truest) desires. We dilute our potential. We seek relentlessly – searching for fulfilment, validation and that spark we’ve seen in others, and want for ourselves.

But is it selfish to ignore the expectations of others and pursue the life you want?

Let’s say you’ve just had a light-bulb moment.You’ve realised you’re unhappy because you’re living the life other people want you to live. What now? Well the next step is to tackle the voice in your head that screams SELFISH!

Kirri White, a Brisbane based life coach says:Choosing to be true to yourself and your own desires, in a world that is doing its best to make you everything but yourself, is not selfish.It actually takes a whole heap of courage! If you want to be a better human being, don’t concern yourself too much with what others have told you.  Look into yourself and ask who you would be. What virtues do you feel compelled to share with the world?  What do you value?  What do you want to create?

Rose Wintergreen (who is also a social media coach for creatives) embodies Kirri’s advice. She decided what she wanted to share with the world and went out and did it. Rose says: I’ve tried living up to (what I thought were) other people’s expectations.I knew since primary school that I needed to make music and be an artist in some way. Yet, straight out of school, I chose ‘sensible’ pathways because I felt others believed it was irresponsible to choose to pursue anything creative (ie choosing a creative career would mean choosing to starve.) I spent years studying and working in areas I found interesting but wasn’t passionate about. I was desperately unhappy (several bouts of depression) and hard work to be around. In 2006 I made the very hard decision to switch to what I always knew I wanted to be doing. I won’t say it’s been easy, but I’ve been much more positive. I have lots more energy and am inspired and excited by life and my work. As a result, I think I am more fun to be around and I am more open, loving and generous with the people in my life (whether it be family, friends, or new contacts).

There’s no doubt we’re hard-wired to please, but when you’re showing up and living a life designed by you, you’re modelling happiness, authenticity and passion for others.So hopefully by now we’ve decided it’s not selfish to chase your dreams and live a life that makes you smile.

We all have expectations in our lives: what we want out of life and who we want to become. I believe one of the keys to happiness lies within the management of your expectations of people and circumstances. If you do not have expectations, you can never be disappointed. Often we tend to believe that the way we treat others will be the way we are treated in return. But, unfortunately, this does not always happen.You need to make sure you enter into relationships with someone who has as big of a heart as you do. If you do not, you may feel as if you are being taken advantage of or are being shortchanged. You need to find people who appreciate what you do for them and who will reciprocate these actions.

“There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality or lower your expectations.

”Having realistic expectations will allow you to accept the flaws each person has. We need to learn how to take responsibility for our own lives and our own decisions before we can expect others to do the same.One of the biggest challenges we face in life is learning to accept people for who they truly are. Once you realize that your expectations cannot change people, the better off you will be. The problem will arise when the expectations do not materialize. If you find that you are going out of your way much more than the people you surround yourself with, it may be time to find a new group of friends.“Give without expectation, accept without reservation, and love with hesitation.

”Unrealistic expectations will, can, and most often do lead to disappointment. Too many people are obsessed with finding the perfect career or the perfect spouse, and as a result become increasingly frustrated when this does not pan out.An unfortunate pitfall of having high expectations in certain circumstances is that we prevent ourselves from enjoying the experience altogether. If you feel this way in your life, you need to readjust your expectations. Do not expect things out of situations, just go into them with an open mind. This will allow you to fully immerse yourself without the pressure of living up to preconceived notions.When you have unrealistic notions for people, you place yourself at a high risk of getting disappointed and hurt. Maybe someone did let you down in certain aspects, but isn’t it inherently unfair to have these people on such a pedestal? By maintaining an accurate awareness of your own realities, you become able to determine what is truly expected from others.

“Expect the unexpected, believe in the unbelievable, and achieve the unachievable.”Such disappointment can lead to several outcomes, including trying to get this person to change and an increased anger toward the person who is causing the disappointment. This becomes problematic since the fault lies with you for putting such pressure on this person.There is a paradoxical issue when it comes to this. If you have high expectations, you can often end up disappointed, but if you don’t have these expectations, you may not try as hard as you could in order to accomplish a goal. These tendencies can turn people into perfectionists, which is far from a healthy lifestyle.

“Expectation is the root of all heartache.”Expect what you can, reach and be aware of the fact that sometimes life throws you a curve ball. Try to remain confident while maintaining positive aspirations; just remember not to make these aspirations so high that they are impractical or unreachable.Acceptance is an amazing trait that needs to be actively worked toward. When things do not work out the way we had planned, it is much more beneficial to realize that is how life works rather than becoming frustrated at the situation.

Have hope rather than expectations and you will tend not to be as disappointed.

Live Your Life Out Loud

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I will tell you, I came to live out LOUD.” ~Émile Zola

1. Live your life on purpose.

Not on “default.” Be Proactive. Make conscious and deliberate choices. When you don’t choose, circumstances choose for you and you are never leading: you are following or catching up—or worse, living in “default” mode.

2. Utilize your full potential.

Give what you’re doing your best and fullest attention. Be here now. Even if you’re not where you want to be, giving it half your effort doesn’t move you forward. Master what you have at hand, for the sake of mastering it, and something will shift.

3. Overcome your fear.

Get out of your comfort zone. Find out you have a pulse. Let something give you butterflies in your stomach. This is how you know you’re alive—how you grow into something new. Every fear overcome is a freedom gained. Don’t know how to overcome fear? Do the thing you’re afraid of. Cross them off the list. Make it a game. Pretty soon, you will be invincible.

4. Discover a new talent.

One of my favorite quotes by Martha Grimes is, “We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.” But we don’t find this out until we try something new.Learn a new instrument, take an art class, play with a digital camera, take up cooking, plant a garden, join toastmasters, pick up a needle and thread, try mountain climbing or camping. Find something that interests you and explore it. You never know what will come out of it.

5. Honor your word.

When you strip everything else away, your word is all you’ve got. Do what you say you’re going to do. By honoring your word, you honor yourself. And it doesn’t feel good when you don’t. So, make it a habit. Value your integrity and keep your promises. It’s a good life practice. It’s a good business practice.

6. Create a new habit or break an old one.

Who has dominion over your life—you or your habits? Make it a game. How many things can you get under your control? How many bad habits can you convert? There is a great sense of empowerment when you feel you are in charge of your life. This helps you get there.

7. Pay a stranger a compliment.

Not only does it make someone else feel good, but it makes you feel good to compliment someone else. All of the sudden the world is small and the stranger next to us becomes our friend and we recognize that we’re all in this together.

8. Take yourself out on a date.

Treat yourself. Bring a book. Bring something you’re working on. Bring a journal and use it to write up all the amazing qualities that you want in a partner or a friendship when it comes your way. Find somewhere that has music or wireless and plant yourself there.Have a meal, enjoy it. Treat yourself. You deserve it. Living out loud is playing out loud whether you have someone to join you or not. And you never know who you might meet or strike up a conversation with.

9. Take 100% responsibility for your life.

If things aren’t working out in your favor, take note and ask yourself what your part in it is. Being a victim is passé, boring. There is no power in blaming other people. Don’t wait for other people to change. When you change, your world will follow suit.

10. Live in the question.

There is nothing you cannot be, do, or have, so do not impose limitations on yourself. Instead of saying you can’t get there, ask “How can I get there?” Live in the affirmation of possibility rather than the declaration of negativity.There is always a way, and it is being presented consistently, but you have to live in the question to be on the lookout for the answer.

11. Make more decisions for yourself.

There is great power in making a decision. It’s a declaration. You don’t know what you want? Then look at what you don’t want and work backward. I bet you do know what you want; you just haven’t been in the habit of asking yourself. Hey. That’s a new habit to change! (See #6)

12. Learn to say “No.”

To live your best possible life, you need to learn how to say no to the things that aren’t serving you. The best barometer to measure this by is: if it isn’t a “hell yeah” (yippee, so fun, can’t wait!), then it is most probably a no. If you have to talk yourself into it, it’s a no.Once you get comfortable saying no, everything becomes a matter of choice. Living a life of choice is a living a life of freedom.

13. Know your own value.

Others may be more educated, skilled, or talented in one or another area, but there is something magnificent and valuable about what you have to offer this world that, in comparison, is equal.Do not allow yourself or anyone else to diminish it. You have a learning disability? So did Dr. John Demartini, and that’s what makes him the most powerful speaker today. Joe Vitale came from homelessness. Look at him now. Stop idolizing anyone else’s gifts and dismissing your own.

14. Give yourself permission.

For everything. Permission to make mistakes. Permission to shine. Permission to look beautiful. Permission to accept (instead of correct or dismiss) praise. Permission to have bad days. Permission to get angry. Permission to cry, to laugh, to scream. Permission to take the day off. Permission to take a nap, go to sleep early. Permission to get a massage. Permission to do nothing. Permission to succeed.Life is about being here now, in all your full range of emotions, mood swings, wins and losses. Give yourself permission to live out loud today.

15. Own your own opinion.

No one has to agree with you in order for your opinion to matter. Stop waiting for consensus. You matter. Your opinion matters. The nature of living out loud is that some people will agree with you and some people won’t. You will never get consensus. So, stop looking for it.The only question you have to ask is, does your opinion matter to you? Claim it. Own it. And know that with new information, it could change tomorrow. Life is transitory. Live in the evolution.

16. Do not punish yourself for past actions.

Your past behavior was what you’ve done, but it is not who you are. Who you are is still unfolding. Mistakes, errors in judgments, and failures all add to our character and value. They make us human and compassionate and wise. To berate yourself for acquiring these valuable qualities is wrong, so stop it. A new beginning starts today.

17. Live in the realm of “possibility” rather than “probability.”

Stay open at the top. You don’t know what the outcome can be. Statistics are made up of groups. You are an individual. Be the individual that charts your own course. You don’t know what is possible for you until you find out.

18. Do not argue for your limitations, but instead focus on your strengths.

We all have weaknesses, but we also have our strengths. What do you do well? Practice that. When you lead with your strengths, the rest follows suit. And miraculously, your limitations sort of disappear. What you focus on grows.

19. Practice gratitude.

In a world of imperfections, it’s amazing how perfect things actually are. But sometimes we have to look for them. When your life’s circumstances aren’t working in your favor, the one thing you do have control over is your attitude. If you lead with gratitude and create a habit of it, in short order, your life will change.

20. Be authentic.

Thoreau said, “If I am not I, who will be?” Did you ever notice that the ones who are most successful are not the ones that follow the masses and trends, but the ones who stand in their own authentic expression and declare who they are? Regardless of who agrees with them? There is an expression that is uniquely yours and to dismiss it, is to dismiss the divine.

21. Own your own power.

The answers are not outside of you. Own what you know. The more you practice this, the more you hone the powerful magnetic field that surrounds you and the more power you emit in your convictions, knowing, and in your life. Your results will confirm this.

22. Stop Complaining.

Complaining is a form of passive victimhood. Ask yourself instead, why is this happening to me and what part do I play in this picture? Then work on your part of the solution.Have you ever found yourself not setting a boundary and allowing someone to take advantage of you? Or not taking care of yourself in a situation and getting burned by the outcome? We are always the single common denominators in our lives and we are the only ones we have control over.Use what you are complaining about as your inner clues as to where you need to start taking better care of yourself.

23. Practice “being” and have nothing to prove.

Know your own value with or without results. Your value is in your human being-ness not your human doing-ness. In a society that is wrapped up in image, this is sometimes difficult to practice. People ask what you do, not who you are. But a person who knows their own value, does not have to prove it.

24. Be of service.

Offer your help where you can and do your part in making the world a friendly place. We are all in this together. As Gandhi preached, be the change that you wish to see happen. You would be surprised by the impact you have.

25. Love generously.

Spread random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. Hatred is already rampant. We need to tip the scales the other way. Love is a far more powerful emotion and has far reaching consequences. Living out loud means loving Out loud. And ironically, the more you love, the more love you have to give.

26. Find your bliss and live your passion.

Again, don’t know what that is? Then it’s time to find out! Your emotions give away clues. When your life has spun out of control and you are finding yourself in a tizzy, go back to what makes you happiest and do that.The more you follow this thread, the more you are leading with the heart. There are always ways to monetize your passion, to find ways to make a living at what you love, but first you have to discover it. Your emotions don’t lie. Follow their lead.

27. Stop waiting.

Life is happening right now. Don’t wait for the right career, the perfect relationship, or the landfill of money. Make the best of what you have right now and be creative with it. Don’t put your life on pause. Live with the possibility that what you are waiting for can arrive tomorrow, and live your best lifetoday.

28. Let other people off the hook.

They didn’t mean harm and even if they did, it hurt them more than it hurt you. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and rise even taller. Don’t use anyone as your excuse to shirk your responsibility to live a bigger life.Victimhood is not a badge of honor. Overcoming adversity is. Use success and joy as your barometer. And march on.

29. Use co-creation to help you.

We are always working in conjunction with invisible forces. They want to create on your behalf, but they are waiting for your leadership to direct them. Living out loud means acknowledging that we are a big presence with a big force of nature at our disposal. We don’t underestimate our power. We utilize it.

30. March to the beat of your own drum and stay the course.

Do you hear your own music, but find yourself dancing to the tune of someone else’s beat? Stop it. Were you told at any point in your life that your own music was the wrong kind? Re-Consider.The symphony of the world’s vibration, the hum of its tune, is the sound OM (aum). Your task is to find your own Om—your life force vibration, life pattern or purpose, your song or melody. Find it, claim it, express it, and live it. Never give up on yourself. You are who you are. It’s time to honor that and make use of it. Stay the course.For many of us this is already a way of life. But to others, some of these practices may feel daunting. To you, I say this: just start. You may not succed 100 percent of the time, but like a friend once said, “Life is a hard hat zone, we’re always under construction.”Bloom where you are planted. Work from the inside out. Make the commitment to yourself and get started.Find your “OM.” Claim It. Own it. Express It. Live it. You are divinely supported.

The Moment You Wake Up

Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself The Moment You Wake Up

The alarm goes off and our first thoughts are negative; waking up is a chore. Instead of angrily kicking off our sheets or pressing the snooze button for the fourth time, we need to reassess our attitudes in the first minutes of our days.

We need to wake up with more proactive mindsets. These are the five questions you should be asking yourself the moment you open your eyes:

1. What Am I Grateful For Today? 

Instead of getting up every morning and first thinking about what you want — breakfast, coffee, another 10 minutes of sleep — think about what it is that you are grateful for. It’s a trap that most people fall for — a thought pattern that in the end causes more damage than it does good. There is a huge downside to consistently focusing on what it is that you want: by focusing on what you want you are unwittingly and regularly emphasizing all that you believe that you are missing from your life.

If you want a nice car then you must not have one. If you want a girlfriend then you must be lonely. If you want to lose weight then you must be fat. If you have wants then you must be missing something. If the things that you want you believe to be necessary for your happiness, then you must not be happy at the moment. If you need something then you are lacking something; if you are lacking something that you believe will make you happy, that must mean that you are currently unhappy — otherwise you wouldn’t be in need of anything.

The truth is that most of us don’t actually “need” anything more than what we have. Most of us want a lot, but the things that we want aren’t things that we must have in order to be happy; they are things that we believe would make our lives better. But why do we believe that we must always be making our lives better?

When is it enough? Is there a point at which we can say that what we have is enough, and that we no longer want anything that we already do not have? Or is it against our nature to not want? Nature doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s not in our nature to feel this constant starvation for the material; we are not programmed by nature to over consume, but to satisfy. Our need to constantly consume is the result of the constant marketing campaigns we are exposed to by consumerism — the theory that an increased consumption of goods is desirable.

Start each day thinking about what you have that already makes you happy. There is always something to be happy about because happiness itself is a concept that only exists in juxtaposition; no matter how bad your situation, there is always something to find comfort in. Wake up and take a look around you. You most likely have a comfortable bed to sleep in.

You made it through the night alive. You have both of your legs to stand on. You more than likely have a lot more to be happy about than you have to complain about. This is the case for most of us, yet we will make sure that we spend as much time as possible dwelling on all the negative instead. Why focus on the negative and make yourself feel bad when you can remind yourself about all that is awesome and literally feel better about yourself and about the day ahead of you? Focus on the positive in your life each morning and do your best to keep that mindset throughout your day.

2. How Will I Make Certain That I Will Remain In The Moment?

There are essentially two realities to our existence — the outside and the inside, the physical and the mental. Our senses are exposed to the reality that exists outside our minds, a reality that competes for attention with all the thoughts and states that have an existence only within the confines of our consciousness. While philosophers for a long period of time have endorsed introspection and the importance of exploring one’s own mind, it now feels that many of us are losing touch with the outside world.

We spend a lot of time on the Internet, we spend a lot of time playing videogames or apps, we spend a whole lot of time working and solving problems, we spend a lot of time thinking about our lives, our wants, our dreams and hopes. We spend a lot of time thinking, inspecting and contemplating.

Each of us will have this issue to a different extent. There are many of us that are more naturally inclined to live in the physical realm rather than the mental. The problem is that the more intelligent a person is, the higher their IQ or their ability to process information, the less time they will spend interacting with the outside world.

This is a huge problem because the outside world is just as important, if not more important than the worlds that exist exclusively inside our heads. The world that you create for yourself in your mind does reflect upon the outside world, however, your interaction and the happenings in the physical world will also greatly affect your mental take on reality. The important thing to remember is that when people say that they feel alive, they are referring to physical action.

Doing your best to focus on the moment will help you feel like you’re living. No one has ever said that they felt “so alive” after spending 10 years solving a previously believed unsolvable math theory. When you wake up, take in your surroundings. Come to realize that you are lying in your bed — how does it feel? How do the sheets feel against your skin? The pillow underneath your head? How does the floor feel under your feet? How does the chair feel against your back?

Focus on your physical reality first when you wake up and it will be easier to return to this reality throughout your day. If you avoid the physical world, physical exertion, and physical awareness then you will go through life without ever physically feeling alive.

3. What Is My Focus Of The Day?

There are only two things that you should be doing in life: either improving yourself or enjoying yourself. Human beings, due to their powerful brains, have the ability to grow as individuals — a concept that doesn’t really exist among any other animal in the animal kingdom. We have the ability to establish beliefs about the world and then alter them because experience or contemplation has moved us to reconsider these beliefs. Because of our need for progress, developing as an individual plays a strong role in the process of becoming one’s own definition of successful.

We are competitive — just as are all the other living creatures that exist. Although I just mentioned the danger in always looking forward to your next craving that needs satiating, the truth is that there is likely to always be something that we want. We may understand that we don’t need anything additional in order to be happy, but that will never change the fact that as human beings we are programmed to always be wanting of one thing or another to some degree. This, however, does not need to be a bad thing; because we are always wanting of something, human beings make huge progress. We innovate, we improve, we simplify and we create.

Unfortunately, most people do not have a clear methodology when it comes to making improvements. If you go and ask someone the top thing they would like to change or improve about themselves or their lives, chances are that every person will have a difficult time narrowing it down. No one has just one thing they wish to improve — even if they do, chances are that it takes at least a dozen steps or changes that need to be made in order to achieve that one main improvement.

The best — fastest and most efficient — way to improve any area of your life is to do so one task at a time. Multitasking is very much overrated; the truth is that multitasking makes you dumber — seriously, it does. Instead of trying to wrap your brain around all the things in your life, focus on one turd at a time. Once you accomplish one change it’ll be easier to accomplish the second and even easier the fourth, fifth, etc.… Wake up and pick one thing that you will make the focus of your day. Hold onto that purpose for the whole day. Tomorrow you can reevaluate your position and decide whether you need to continue with your sole focus or if you’d be better off changing your focus for the day.

4. What Are The Tasks I Need To Complete Today?

You have personal problems and then you have problems at work, with friends or with family. Life throws us tasks that need to be completed whether or not we are prepared to tackle them. Laundry needs to be folded, floors need to be swept, kilometers need to be ran, push ups need to be pumped, friends need to be listened to, parents need to be reassured, projects need to get accomplished… The list goes on and on and on and on. Your life will never run out of things that “need” to be done. However, you only have so much time in a single day to do them — so why worry about everything when everything is not within your grasp?

If you’re like me then you have a never-ending, ever-growing to-do list. You do your best to tick off items as you go, but you are well aware that even after you spend hours taking care of the things you need to take care of, you’ll wake up tomorrow with another long list. So what can you do? There are only so many hours in a day and you can only do so much with those hours. Do what you can do and then don’t do what you can’t; no one can ever ask you for more. Many times we will come to the conclusion that a lot on our to-do list isn’t that important and we will begin to leave such tasks off the list — we’ll begin to prioritize.

The world would be better off if everyone knew how to prioritize properly. Tasks that are most important and/or that have the shortest timeframe for completion ought to be completed first — it’s common sense. Each morning, go over the 3-5 tasks that you need to complete for the day. Make sure not to overcrowd your schedule in order to avoid feeling stressed or rushed. In my opinion, the only things that are worth doing are the things that you enjoy doing. The only things that you enjoy doing are the things that you put some real time and thought into.

If you don’t have the time to produce quality results then either leave the task for when you will have time or don’t bother doing it at all. Producing half-assed results will leave you with a feeling of fulfillment. Prioritize and do so with your happiness in mind. You may end up dropping some things in order to maximize your overall happiness with life.

5. How Will I Enjoy Myself Today?

Here’s a weird one for you: wake up each morning thinking about how you will have fun, how you will enjoy your life this day and how you will be happy. You shouldn’t wake up each morning thinking about all the work that you have to put in; it will make you dread waking up, make it difficult to get out of bed and ready to shuffle off towards your office, and make you miserable within the first few breaths you take each day. What’s the point of waking up and worrying about the numbers? Worrying about all the work ahead of you? Trying to fix all the problems that you have? What will it hurt you to start your day with 15 minutes of happy, serene, positive thoughts?

How much better would everyone feel if they would wake up every day, take a big breath of air and exclaim: Let’s Have Fun!!!? Wake up each morning, force yourself to smile and think about one fun activity that you have to look forward to later that day. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a few. Do this every day for long enough and you will quickly come to the position where you have too much to look forward to and that thinking about each individual future event will make you late for work; that’s a great position to be in. That’s the position that you want to find yourself in.

We spend too much time worrying, fixing and improving. We are always looking for the next big score, the next big achievement or the next big success. We are constantly working to improve and better our situations. At what point are we allowed to sit back, take a look at where we are, who we’ve become and simply feel grateful? When do we get to enjoy ourselves without feeling like we are slacking or falling behind? I sometimes feel that the secret to success is not caring whether or not you will ever be successful. It’s not the end-goal that matters, but the journey itself. The day for you to be happy won’t come tomorrow, next week or next year. The day for you to be happy, fulfilled and joyful is today. Wake up and get ready to enjoy your life. Tomorrow is never a promise.