Happiness: Can You Say Yes? 11 Practical Steps To Make It Really Happen

Think about it ... every single thing we do is intended to make us happier. And yet sometimes we get diverted and do things that actually move us away from this goal.

We all have the potential for genuine happiness. There is no gene or DNA marker that determines who will be happy and who will not. We make choices throughout our lives, and the result of all these choices combined, determines our level of happiness. Make the right choices and happiness can be yours.

Here are just a sampling of some of the tactics we can employ in an 11-point road map to help guide us toward genuine happiness:

1. Look For The Positive In Everything: There is an old saying that nothing is inherently good or bad--what makes it one or the other, is merely our reaction to it. Find the positive and you will be happier. Those who soar against all odds, do so because they look at the positive that could come out of their situation, how ever bad it may seem to others.

2. Accentuate The Positive: We all grow up with a "positivity imbalance"--the result of society's norms and rules being based on restriction and punishment more than approval and reward. From a young age we are taught what we must not do instead of what we may do. Even in day-to-day life, there is more negative influence that positive. Luckily you can work to improve the balance. Celebrate the positive and work to get more of it. When you achieve something, congratulate yourself! Look for things you find uplifting, that make you happy. Get more of that! At the same time, reduce your exposure to negative input, whether it is the daily news, or people you don't feel good around. You know your buttons...make sure the positive ones are pushed more than the negative.

3. Practice Good Selfishness: When we were young we were taught that putting our interests before those of others is wrong. This is particularly true for women, many of whom sacrifice their dreams and ambitions to help others achieve theirs. It is also common in the corporate world where the good of the company is considered more important than the good of the individual. It is good to help others, yet we should have boundaries to protect ourselves from being manipulated or abused by others. You are important, and if you don't look after yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually, you cannot expect anyone else to do so.

4. Listen To Your Feelings: All feelings are good. Every feeling occurs for a reason: it is delivering a message. Sometimes that message is pleasant, other times not. Our tendency is to distract ourselves from unpleasant feelings, often through smoking, drinking or drugs of one kind or another. When you feel bad, avoid distracting yourself, and identify the reason--there is some need which is not being met.

5. Give Of Yourself: The more you give, the more you receive. There is probably no scientific study proving this to be so, but unconditional giving is hugely rewarding. It seems that the more of yourself you give, the greater the thrill and uplifting effect on your psyche. Help the needy. Give time if you can. Give anonymously!

6. Make It Happen: You have the ability to make things happen using your mind. Top sports stars, and business people use it; so can you. There are many ways of doing this; one of the common methods is to use visualization--getting a picture in your mind of whatever it is that you want to happen. It does not have to be a visual picture; it could be a feeling, a smell, a sound, or any combination of the senses. Imagine finding the perfect parking near the entrance as you arrive at the supermarket or mall ... the sky is the limit, but persevere! We are not used to utilizing this tool, so it takes practice.

7. Accept The Things You Cannot Change: We resist things we don't like, and often expend a tremendous amount of energy on this resistance. Whilst this can be good, and has resulted in tremendous advances through history, we should work to understand those things we cannot change, and then move on. Rather use the saved energy on something more worthwhile and productive. This is not to say that you should complacently accept anything. If you truly desire change, you should work towards that change; but spending time worrying about something without actively working to change it is unproductive and damaging to your well-being.

8. Take Responsibility For Your Choices: Everything that you do, or don't do, is because of choices you make (or don't make). It is easier and convenient to blame outside causes for things that go wrong in life, but your life is the sum of all the choices you make along the way--sadly, sometimes that choice it to let somebody else make a choice on your behalf. If you tend to blame other people or things, it may be scary to take responsibility for what happens in your life, but it is really quite liberating because instead of seeing yourself as an effect of outside forces, you realize you are the cause of everything good you achieve. Don't abdicate responsibility for your life.

9. Schedule Regular "Self Time": Spend some time analyzing where you are in life, your strengths and weaknesses. How can you turn the latter into the former? Think about your views on everything from your job to global warming and the existence of aliens--then work out why you feel the way you do. Is your reasoning sound? The better you understand yourself, the better you understand the world.

10. Make Time To Meditate: We spend almost all our time thinking of the past or planning for the future. We seldom spend time in the present. It has reached a point where, for most of us, it seems impossible to keep our focus on what is happening right now. Your meditation could be formal meditation or prayer, but it could be as simple as merely focusing on each breath as it goes in and out for five or ten minutes, dismissing past and future thoughts as they arise--and they will!

11. Remove Your Limitations: When we fail, usually the reason is simply because we don't believe we are able or worthy of whatever it is that we fail to achieve. Most often, this belief is actually false; the result of negative programming received since childhood. The truth is that most of us are able to do most of what we really want to do ... you just have to believe. The best way to start is with small things, working your way up as you notice the limits dissolving.

The more successful you are at assimilating the concepts and processes described in these eleven points into your life, the more genuinely happy you will be, and the happiness will last!

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Life Is Wonderful

It is so simple and so easy to get what we want that we have a hard time to believe it. We are programmed to do things the hard and difficult way, in order to get what we want. We can not believe that we can get anything without hard labour, sweat and tears, obstacles
and misery.

This is nothing else but a tough old programmation, a conditioning from our childhood. If you are like me, you were bombarded as a child with expressions from adults about how hard life is and how we have to struggle to get something. We were submitted to a hazardous universe or a God of revenge who could pick us out without any reason to take revenge on us for something we did wrong. We needed to avoid being bad or wrong, but disease could strike us anyway. Sometimes they even said : "It's again a good one who's punished, and the bad one take off easily like usual without paying anything!". We learned that life wasn't fair. We lived in fear and thought life was a valley of tears, fear, struggle, pain, disease
and death?

How would it have been if they've told us the truth? The truth, nothing but the truth? That life is easy, wonderful. That miracles happen all the time and that we have the power to make them happen in our own life! That the universe loves us. That there is wealth and health for everyone. That we don't live in a universe of scarcity but of abundance. That we only have to put the right thoughts in our heads to make these dreams real for us.

What would your life have looked like if your parents and teachers would have taught you the truth?

You would have suffered much less! You would not have believed you were less than nothing. You would not have been filled with fear over your ears of getting sick or failing, of being stupid or being not good enough.

If you would have known from the beginning that you were a creation of the Creator, that you will always remain, that you will always be around, that you were created for a reason, and when you find this reason you will be happy, what would your life look like now? If you were told that you had talents, unique qualities, that make you a special person, and that you are on earth with the mission to offer these talents to others, where would you be right now and what would you be doing now?

Isn't it nice? The Genius who created this whole thing did really well : we are sent to earth with a mission and to be able to assume our mission we are already fully equipped from the beginning : we are gifted with natural talents and all we have to do is develop our talents and offer them to the world! Simply said, we have to do what we can do easily already and what we are talented for, and than happiness, satisfaction, love, money and everything we want comes flowing our way!

It is so beautiful, this concept! All we have to do is to do what we love! And of course we need to stop once for all to think we don't deserve happiness or wealth or health. All these thoughts are wrong because they go against the principles of creation of the Universe.

We are already wonderful! We are already loved! We are already rich! We are already free! We are already intelligent! We are already healthy!
Why? Because we were all this before we started our life. It is the way we really are. It is the way we were created, we were born. This is the truth about ourselves. Everything else is "learned" afterwards.

The good news is whatever is learned can be un-learned. Every programmation can be changed and replaced by a new program.

And again, life is wonderful, because a positive thought is 10,000 times more powerful than a negative thought. So you don't have to take another 40 years to undo the negative conditioning in your head. One positive thought can counterbalance 10,000 negative ones.

Can you imagine? Aren't we lucky?

If you choose to do so, you can rapidly turn around your negative program in your head. Go to the bookstore, buy some books with positive thoughts, put them at every toilet in the house, in the bathroom, in your bedroom, in your living room, and read them whenever you think of it or see them. It doesn't matter if you read one page after another or if you just open the book as it falls in your hands. The message you will receive will be the right one for you at that very moment.

Every morning you start your day by saying thank you to the Universe for your bed, your house, the roof over your head, the people living with your, the water coming out of your tap, the light switching on by a simple gesture of your hand, the food available, the choices you can make that day, the love you received in your life and the love you will receive, the miracles which will happen today and the air you can breath.

In your car, listen to CD's or cassettes with positive programmation. Listen to them while you make dinner, clean the house or iron your clothes.

Surround yourself with positive people and stop nourishing negative social talk. Don't watch television unless there is some really positive program.

There is a lot you can do to take a positive turn in your life. Don't think you can do nothing. You are responsible for your life now. Make your choice! Know that every thought you think is either one which will weaken you, or one which will make you feel stronger. 

The choice is yours!

Giving Your Brain A Workout To Enhance Your Self Development!

Whеn undertaking self development fοr thе first time, wе firstly need tο reawaken ουr brain, wе need tο exercise ουr mind regularly. Thе fact іѕ whеn wе become stressed οr depressed ουr brain becomes very relaxed аnd lethargic tο ѕау thе lеаѕt. It doesn’t want tο corporate whеn іt comes tο аnу changes wе mау wish tο mаkе bе thеу physical οr mental.

Whеn wе exercise ουr mind аnd ουr thουght processes via self development techniques іt mаkеѕ υѕ feel healthier, more alive аnd more importantly іt gives υѕ thе nесеѕѕаrу gеt up аnd gο needed tο achieve ουr goals іn life аnd become successful.

Really self development іѕ a form οf meditation іn thаt іt helps υѕ focus οn аnd face thе stresses аnd tribulations іn life аnd mаkеѕ υѕ seek out thе necessary аnѕwеrѕ needed tο relieve thаt stress οr those tribulations.

Self development іѕ аbουt relaxation, іt іѕ аbουt being аblе tο gеt ones self іntο a complete state οf relaxation іn order thаt ουr minds аnd ουr bodies саn function correctly аnd аѕ one. It іѕ аbουt taking a close look аt ourselves аnd hοw others mау view υѕ.

Self development programming іѕ a form οf mental exercise, іt mаkеѕ ουr brains work, іt encourages ουr brains tο work out via thinking аnd working solutions out tο аnу problems wе mау hаνе thаt саn bе considered аn obstacle tο ουr ultimate goal whісh іt self improvement.

Thеrе аrе various forms οf exercise wе саn give ουr brains, such аѕ thinking positively аnd coming up wіth nеw аnd fresh іdеаѕ tο hеlр towards ουr self improvement.

Wе саn exercise ουr brains bу thinking аbουt ουr deep inner thουghtѕ аnd aspirations іn life. Bу bringing thеѕе thουghtѕ аnd aspirations out іntο thе open аnd analyzing thеm tο see іf thеу аrе conducive wіth thе nеw direction wе hаνе chosen tο take іn life аnd wіth ουr nеw self development program.

Another thing wе саn dο іѕ tο take detailed notes οf ουr thουghtѕ аnd thеn wе саn write down ѕοmе goals thаt wе wουld lіkе tο achieve аnd thеn compare thе two tο see іf ουr thουghtѕ аrе іn tune wіth ουr gaols. Yου see wanting something isn’t enough, уου οftеn hаνе tο change уουr thουght processes іn order tο bе аblе tο achieve уουr goals.

Yου especially need уουr thουghtѕ аnd goals tο bе іn tune wіth each οthеr whеn іt comes tο achieving success whether іt bе financially οr spiritually. Bу writing things down nοt οnlу аrе уου exercising уουr brain bυt уουr аlѕο conditioning іt tο future changes thаt mау occur.

Bу being positive іn уουr writing down οf goals уου аrе аblе tο hеlр change уουr thουght processes аnd bring thеm more іn line wіth уουr dreams аnd ambitions іn life.

Self development іѕ аbουt changing thе past fοr a nеw brighter future. In order tο mаkе thаt happen qυісkеr уου ѕhουld continue tο regularly write уουr dreams, aspirations аnd goals οn a piece οf paper. It іѕ recommended thаt уου dο thіѕ οn a daily basis аѕ thіѕ wіll hеlр nοt οnlу exercise уουr brain bυt аlѕο hеlр shape уουr thουght processes аnd encourage thеm tο realign themselves wіth уουr goals.

A healthy аnd active brain isn’t always whаt іt ѕhουld bе аѕ іѕ a lethargic аnd docile brain. It іѕ οnlу through self development thаt wе саn obtain thе сοrrесt state οf mind conducive wіth success.

Therefore іt іѕ іmрοrtаnt thаt wе carry out thе required mental exercises needed tο reach thаt goal οf self improvement.