The American Psychological Association has found, through a recent study that more than half of Americans are living lives with moderate stress. Close to 25% admit to being very severely stressed. A study done on absenteeism at work by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows that it is chronic pain and depression that account for 2/3rds of long term absenteeism at work. Stress related causes account for the rest. Add on the stress from unemployment a lot of Americans face each day, deepening debt that for most cannot be avoided, the fear of having their homes foreclosed upon, has become a major health issue for millions of Americans causing heart attacks in the worst case scenarios.

2008 Report

A 2008 report done by Sue Shellenbarger that works for the Wall Street Journal as a journalist states that, “91% of 8-17 year olds said they can tell when their parents are stressed out. Many feel sad, worried and frustrated as a result.” Our own children become rampant carriers of family financial stress with very severe consequences.

First Time in History

Children that live in America are now more likely to have shorter life spans than their elders for the first time in history. Obese kids are even more likely to develop chronic diseases than their peers that do not have the problem. It is estimated that 33% of school age children have the deadly overweight issue. It would seem through careful observation that the distractions of everyday contemporary life is keeping us from living out our lives as we intended, living up to the values we once had and thriving as individuals in a society that has everything.

Sociologist Judith Schor

Judith Schor a sociologist told the Los Angeles Times in an opinion piece, “We work too much, eat too quickly, socialize too little, drive an sit in traffic for too many hours, do not get enough sleep and feel hurried too much of the time.” Is it any wonder then that lives are becoming so dysfunctional and dissatisfying?

Nothing New

Over the last 35 years Americans have increased their income 20%. Our homes have doubled in size, more gadgets and the latest of everything have been enjoyed, but still we are not happier as a nation nor do we seem to grasp what it is that will make up happy.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin once stated, “The Constitution only guarantees the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it for yourself.” We, as a nation, have to define what will make up happy then find out our way of achieving it. The pursuit of happiness is a God given right backed up by the Constitution, an inalienable right. Thus we continue on a daily basis to seek out what it is that spurs our inner motor, that ticks our clock, that turns us on to the max, that turns work into play. Very few of us achieve that feeling, that rush of satisfaction that comes with living life to the hilt and truly enjoying it.

What science has Found

A great deal of science is being applied today to actually defining what makes us happy and what happiness is. Here are a few of what the scientists have come up with.

1. The choices you make in life is the determining factor in what satisfies us as a nation. Achieving balances with your partner, balancing work with pleasure, leading a healthy lifestyle and participating in social events are key factors in our roadmap in the pursuit of happiness.

2. Couples that prioritize their family goals are much happier than couples who put career and material wealth first.

3. Long key healthy relationships with your life time mate and friends in general are key to good mental health.

4. Being able to laugh can lower your stress hormones even to the effect of giving you an entirely different outlook and attitude towards life and the pursuit of happiness itself.

5. A study done at New York University in Canada came to the conclusion that helping others on a daily basis raises happiness levels and lowered depression among the ones who participated in it.

6. Going to church services on a regular basis, having close friends in the congregation, developing social skills are key to a happier and more satisfying life according to a University of Wisconsin – Madison study.

Conclusion

Looking at what we just found out it would be advantageous for us to pursue policies, as well as practices, that will stack the deck in favor of your pursuit of happiness and good sound mental health. Helping others obtain their goals is one key that can help you overcome your selfishness and desire to always putting self-first. Put another first in your life and see what it does for your overall happiness and health. It just might be a change for the good.

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“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955

Now isn’t that a gem of a reminder – maybe you already know it, maybe you are doing your very best to live this way, maybe you are not making the real progress you would like to have in this area, maybe you could focus a bit more on it today!

We are what we are because of our thoughts, we are our thoughts, in short. Thoughts are energy waves, they have a frequency, just like radio waves. The fact that you cannot see them does not mean they are not there – they are! We accept the radio waves as something normal nowadays – this was not the case with Marconi. He had a hard time with their family and friends to the point where he was admitted to a mental institution because they all thought he had gone bunkers!

Energy waves are around us, stay around us, hang around us. We are so concerned nowadays with the carbon footprint we leave behind – if we only knew HOW powerful our thoughts were and that they hang around for a long time as well, we would be so much more careful with them.

Hmmm, really, you wonder. Ok, example: have you ever walked into a room where unbeknownst to you, people had just had a terrible argument, a real nasty fight with words. You come into the room and they are not talking, they even pretend everything is hunky-dory by greeting you with a fake smile. Yet you can sense something is wrong, something is in the air and you can’t put your finger on it. Even when you sort of make a remark about it, they say nothing happened, but inside, deep inside, your gut is telling you different. That is the energy footprint. Become aware of it.

How? By checking in how you feel when you go somewhere, shopping or to a restaurant, a networking event, family, when you feel your feelings change and you do not know why, you just walked into an energy footprint cloud that does not really jazz with how you were feeling.

You can help dissipate this negative energy footprint by making sure all your thoughts are as pure and positive and for your benefit as you can possibly create them. Just consider this, it will not only make your life work a whole lot better by attracting or connecting with what you desire to have in your life, but also for the rest of the world. By having negative thoughts you keep feeding this negative energy footprint that hangs around. Ignoring it will make it go away.

If you think your effort is only small, remember that it is not the great things you do and think, but the small things you think about and do in a great way!

Elvire Smith, licensed LifeSuccess Consultant, inspires women to discover how to create the life of their dreams by teaching tools to make them come true in their lifetime. “You become what you think about!” Think about your dream life, imagine it, plan it, achieve it. Elvire is all about no fluff tips/tools and programs for the serious and searching mind-expander. She can be contacted at me@elviresmith.com. She is looking forward to that!

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William Feather, an author and publisher said, “Plenty of people miss their share of happiness. Not because they never found it – but because they didn’t stop and enjoy it”.

For a lot of people, life is filled with schedules, appointments, endless to-do lists, and rushing here and there. This is often referred to as the “rat race”.

Then you add a little emotional topsy turvy thinking into the mix and your level of enjoyment and contentment seems to diminish and is quickly replaced with stress and unhappiness.

There is a key word that can help you return to happiness and it needs to be added to your vocabulary if you aren’t already using it. The word is “STOP”.

End the inner madness, the negative or catastrophic thinking, the worrying, fretting, complaining, bemoaning, blaming, and sometimes even “woe is me” syndrome.

You just have to say the four letter word “stop”. Sometimes that may mean physically as well as emotionally.

You may have to remind yourself that you do have a choice on how you spend your time. You have options in the way you think and act, as well how you respond or react in situations. You can actually stop the wheel you have been running your thoughts and life by and take a well deserved break from it all.

Life isn’t going to wait for you; you have to make time for life and live it.

You have to respect your time, be kind to yourself, and make yourself and your life a priority.

Happiness is always within and surrounding you even when you think it isn’t.

For each person contentment may mean something completely different. What’s important is that you pause, interrupt what you are doing for a moment, and see how it’s there for you. It is there.

End the “rat race” mentality by halting what you are thinking or doing and take a look at the joys in your life right now.

Find your happy thoughts, your connection to inner and outer happiness, that special moment with your name on it and claim it; it’s yours for the taking!

Whether you are stuck in traffic, having an off-day at work or home, caught up in negative thinking or are with someone who is being negative, or you are in the hospital as a patient or visiting someone, or whatever is going on during your day that has you frazzled or upset, pause for a second and just take things in.

You need to stop and breathe life in and hold a space open for the happiness surrounding you this very moment. It is present and omnipresent.

Remind yourself to break the cycle of negativity and see if you can focus on the positives and the possibilities.

Enjoy the time you have the best you can. Stop and smell the roses rather than stay stuck on the thorns.

Develop a be happy now attitude by pausing in your thoughts and your activities and connecting to the greatest source of happiness there is.

Lean in, and on, what you understand God to be. Stop and listen to your intuition to lead the way back to inner happiness.

Use these techniques to assist you in recognizing how you can stop and return to peace and happiness again.

Kimberley Cohen is the Founder, Facilitator and Personal Insight Coach of The Insight Technique&trade.

Sign up today for your FREE Special Report – 3 Key Insights That Can Change Your Life! http://www.TheInsightTechnique.com

Kimberley is certified in Body Mind Counselling, Process Oriented Body Work and Spiritual Psychotherapy and Polarity Therapy. She founded the Insight Technique™ – Your Insight to genuine Happiness, Purpose and Prosperity to assist herself and others in transforming limiting mindsets.

Soar through the limiting beliefs holding you back and experience the freedom of unlimited possibilities. http://www.TheInsightTechnique.com

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“So, are you happy?” An old friend and I were having dinner, and I was completely unprepared for the question. My first knee-jerk reaction was to say, “Yeah, of course! Why do you ask?” But the more I thought about it, the more unsure I was. I mean, how do you know if you’re happy?

We’ve all felt happiness before — on a wedding day, with a promotion at work, or after winning a softball game — but does this mean we have a happy life? Is it as simple as tallying up your ‘happy points’ and your ‘sad points’ and seeing which is higher? It seemed like there must be more to it than that.

Over the years I’ve discovered the secret to answering that question, “So, are you happy?” The secret to being happy is: Realizing happiness when you feel it!

So, I started by tuning in my ‘happiness detector’ to pick up every single high point in my day. And you know what? There were a lot more high points than I was expecting! Before I knew it, each day started to feel like an endless stream of small but satisfying victories. And by comparison, my daily obstacles seemed much less intimidating. And this totally makes sense when you think about it.

In a football game, every point is a small triumph, and the final score is merely a summary of these triumphs. If the scorekeeper decided not keep up with individual points & focused only on the final score, he’d have nothing to add up at the end of the game. Neither team would know how the game went. It works the same way in our lives. If we don’t notice the good things in our lives (no matter how small), our days will become unremarkable drudgery. Pretty hard to be excited about that.

So my challenge to you is, look for the little pleasures in your day. Notice a sunset. Smile when gas prices go down. Rejoice when traffic is light. Tell a silly joke. Who knows — you might be happy already and just not know it! And the next time someone asks you if you’re happy, you’ll know!

Dr. Dan Bockmann founded Austin Spine & Sport, a chiropractic and sports medicine clinic in Austin, TX. He can be contacted at chiropractor-austin-tx

When he’s not helping patients, he enjoys playing competitive beach volleyball, climbing rocks at the Greenbelt and sampling unfiltered sake on the patio.

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What is success? Have you ever wondered why it is that for some, everything works, and for others, nothing works? Why is it that two people can have essentially the same opportunities, but one person be happy and the other one miserable? Is it not, therefore, happiness that constitutes the true meaning of success?

Success is happiness! Truly successful people are happy, and when you are happy and whole in yourself, all good things follow. Where then do happiness and wholeness come from? How does a person who experiences frustrations in life become whole? Can personal wholeness provide happiness, improve self-esteem, and lead to riches and fame, peace balance and harmony? Can relationships with family, friends and associates be improved because one person assumes the responsibility to be personally whole, takes the initiative to exude joy and happiness, seizes the opportunity to empower his or her own life by using the secret of the ages? The answers to all these questions lie in the seven fundamentals of the master secret.

FUNDAMENTAL 1

The first fundamental is you – the absolutely awesome and incredible you! Not the you of self-doubt, not the you that fears rejection or failure, not the you that questions your abilities, but the real you! Those other “yous” are not you. They are synthetic yous built upon limited and false notions of who you are and what you may become. For most of us those false notions originate as we mature. In our very early attempts to achieve acceptance, we often trade off our real selves. The desire to be loved is so strong that many of us give up love or respect for ourselves in order to obtain security. That trade-off never works, because what we are insecure about in the first place exists within ourselves.

Happiness is a state of mind. The kingdom is within. The real you is a higher you, a higher power that resides within you or is available to you whenever you ask or seek. The fact is, it is your birthright to manifest the glory of the incredible you. You absolutely have the power and ability to experience all the bounties of life, to experience many literal miracles in your life — for you yourself are a miracle, and all that you are or can ever be is a gift!

So the first fundamental is you. The power resides within you. No one else can do it for you. Your thoughts are reflections of your expectations. What has been sown in your subconscious mind is what you reap. Doubt produces failure, fear yields anger, and belief in limitation is the
greatest of all self-fulfilling prophecies.

FUNDAMENTAL 2

The second fundamental is that thoughts are things. The thoughts we have reveal the beliefs we have about ourselves. Listen to how we talk to ourselves. Is the language from the inside reflecting optimism, or is it filled with negative and self-limiting ideas? What you expect is what you get. Science refers to this phenomenon as the Pygmalion effect. It is a fact: if you expect the worst, you get it. And some of us must love it,
because we keep on getting it! Oh, we may complain about it, we may yell and scream when it happens, but what do most of us do about it? Most of us speak and act as though there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. After all, isn’t life full of “normal” events that produce “normal” responses?

Isn’t it normal to become angry for being cut off in five o’clock traffic? Isn’t it normal to become fearful when the boss speaks harshly? Isn’t it normal to be frustrated with a child’s lack of respect or self-responsibility? Isn’t it normal to become stuck or just fed up?

Such reactions may be normal, but are they appropriate or conducive to happiness? Has anger ever produced a peaceful sense of harmony within you? Has it ever solved a problem or led to anything other than more anger, guilt, and feelings of being out of control? Such reactions may be
normal, but another word for normal is average, which can be defined as the best of the worst and the worst of the best.

Neither end of this definition is the highest best of who you really are.

You are your thoughts. You manifest your thoughts, your subconscious beliefs, in everything you experience. Do you believe you deserve happiness, wholeness, and success? You must truly know at all levels of your being that all good things are yours in order for them ever to be yours. You create your own realities. Events are not pivotal points in your life, you are the pivotal point in your life. When your thoughts are in agreement with your desires, your desires will magically materialize.

FUNDAMENTAL 3

The third fundamental is to forgive and let go. That idea may be a bit startling at first, but think about it for a minute. Do you consider yourself to be a victim? A victim of your circumstances? Or are you willing to assume responsibility for who you are? There are two ways to be tied up in the
world. One is to be tied, literally, by someone else and the other is to tie yourself, figuratively, by refusing to let go of beliefs that limit your expression of the whole and complete being you are. In other words, as long as you displace responsibility by blaming someone or something for who and what you are, you remove from yourself the power to be anything other than partial and incomplete.

All behavior is the result of choice. Sometimes our choices are made at an unconscious or a subconscious level. For example, we choose to avoid conflict by repressing our true feelings. Later our true feelings become so strong that we can no longer suppress them, and some small incident
triggers an overkill response. That is a reactive model — we have lost control. When we assume responsibility for every aspect of our lives, we get in touch with our deepest fears and feelings. The power we gain over our former, reactive behavior, provides us with the ability to respond
appropriately to all stimuli. That is a proactive model — we are always in control. It has been said that the highest act of consciousness is
inhibition – inhibition of animal stimulus-response conditioning. When we accept responsibility for our every thought and action, we empower ourselves by performing the highest act of consciousness: inhibiting the animal stimulus-response reaction. But that means we no longer
have anyone to blame.In fact, as long as we blame, we effectively eliminate our ability to grow, to be in control, or to experience peace, balance, and harmony. Power to grow resides in forgiveness. Forgiving and letting go will set us free. Forgiving everyone, including ourselves, provides the opportunity to become more than we have been, which for many is but a mere shadow of our real selves. And the irony of all this is that most of us know that we are much more than we have acted out our lives to be!

FUNDAMENTAL 4

The most powerful force in the world is love. Love cancels fear. Fear is the only obstacle that must be overcome in order for all of our experiences to take on new dimensions of meaning and joy. This love is not romantic love between lovers but the unconditional love that we give our children. We are all children in some relative stage of development, learning how to live in joy and happiness. When we truly understand this  truth, it becomes easy to forgive another of acts that are selfish and self-centered — and forgive ourselves, as well. “Above all else, respect thyself,” said Pythagoras. In order to love others, we must first love ourselves. We cannot pour from an empty container.

Contemporary studies of behavioral dysfunctions ranging from learning difficulties to criminal activity indicate one common denominator: low  self-esteem. Low self-esteem grows out of fear of rejection — rejection by a loved one, an employer, a stranger, anyone who might laugh at our efforts or who would misunderstand or disapprove. On the other hand, high self-esteem grows out of self-acceptance.

Self-acceptance is self-love. Self-esteem comes from self-love. We cannot love anyone unless we love ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL 5

The fifth fundamental is that acceptance is mastery. Loving unconditionally suggests accepting others as they are. Furthermore, loving  unconditionally suggests accepting yourself as a whole and complete being on the journey of learning we call life. Acceptance, love, and  forgiveness are as necessarily interrelated as each side of a triangle is to the triangle as a whole. Acceptance is the natural process we knew as children. When light faded into night, each of us accepted that this just was the way it worked, and we learned to live accordingly. As we grew older we began to manipulate our world by means of electricity. Some things in the world can and even should be manipulated to our benefit — turning the dark into a bright space by flipping a light switch may be one of them. But there are other elements in our environment
over which we have absolutely no control, nor should we. Attempting to change other people into what we want them to be by manipulating them is what many of us have spent our lives doing. The best way in which each of us can influence our environment is in our presence of being. When we accept other people for who and what they are, we have taken the first step toward accepting ourselves and contributing to the
improvement of any condition or situation. Krishnamurti once stated that “you are the world.” When we reflect peace and joy from an inner level of being, the world mirrors it back to us. When we judge, condemn, hate, lust, and so on, the world shows us these qualities. The world is a mirror, for the principal function of the world is to provide us the opportunity to learn. What we resist we often become. What we like least in  another is almost always a reflection of something in ourselves. When we love and accept ourselves, we love and accept others. Each individual who comes into our lives is a teacher. Each has something to contribute to our learning. We in turn have something to contribute to their learning.

When viewed from this perspective, our every transaction with another individual transcends the limitations of manipulation. The fifth fundamental has been called the Golden Rule.  Treat others as though they were you, and treat according to the best you there is, and the rest just happens. What goes out is what you get back. Just as the story in the Bible of the prodigal son teaches us that God has already accepted and
forgiven us, so this fundamental suggests that for many of us the least of our brothers and sisters has been ourselves!

Accepting and loving ourselves provides the ability to accept and love others, just as accepting and loving others provides the ability to accept and love ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL 6

Martin Luther King once said, “I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.” He went on to say that the mutually related network of reality is the fabric of the human condition.

The sixth fundamental, then, is interdependence, the principle that each of us is an aspect of the whole. Each of  us invites respect or disrespect according to what we give others, all others. Down through the ages this concept has been given many labels, including the popular label karma.

In law it is called reciprocity. What we sow is indeed what we reap.

Interdependence means individually assuming responsibility for any condition that is contrary to the quality of humanness in its highest form and then acting to produce, out of the condition or situation, balance and harmony for all. That is not to say that we take up causes and then shove them down someone else’s throat. It is to say that we can work in harmony through example and right action to produce an environment that is loving and nurturing for all.

Many people operate in a codependent manner. Their method of assuming responsibility is to manipulate others by placing blame, finding fault, or assuming a contractual posture that goes like this: “If I do this, will you…?” or, “If you loved me, you would…” or, “Don’t you feel sorry that I feel…” or, “You need me to…,” and so on. Codependence is  manipulating another person to provide you with security, sensation, and power. If  someone else cannot live or function without you, then your self-worth has been validated — and vice versa. A codependent is a victim, a victim both of his or her surroundings and of other people. The need to control another person is a classic symptom of codependency. Codependency grows out of insecurity. All insecurities are externally oriented. The codependent sees stimuli through the lens of expectation. Expectation is a
contract that goes like this: “I will behave this way, if you behave this way;” or, “If you behave that way, I will behave that way.” The fear of  fnfulfilled expectations gives rise to internal conflict.

Happiness is a state of being. It exists moment to moment in the eternal now. If happiness doesn’t exist, conflict takes its place — even if the conflict is only the difference between what we think we should be experiencing and we are experiencing. In other words, when we have what we desire, we experience joy. Furthermore, when what we experience is unconditional, as opposed to contractual, then we experience only joy.  Insecurity fuels fear, and fear is a very creative force. What we fear most is therefore very often what we create as our experience. Instead of accepting what is, we project what might be or lament what might have been. We are responsible only for ourselves individually. We must be whole before any event in our lives will be. Therefore, true interdependence assumes the role of “fixing” oneself.

FUNDAMENTAL 7

The seventh fundamental is the culmination of all the fundamentals of success. That culminating principle is this:

Do it now. This is a world of action, not procrastination. For anything to change, you must do the changing. Nothing happens until you make it happen! Only you can do it for you. If the world was a world of theory, then none of us would be here. Nothing in this world stands still or waits. No action is inaction and all inaction is action. The form and the function are the same. Live with the awareness that God’s presence
exists in all!

(Note: This article was originally published in MIND BODY SPIRIT).

Eldon Taylor, Ph.D. is the author of over 400 books, tapes and videos (http://www.innertalk.com). His work in personal empowerment led to receiving the coveted International Peace Prize awarded by The United Cultural Convention in 2005. He is currently the director of Progressive Awareness Research.

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Sometimes an innocent trip to the store turns out to be a “game changer.”

Yesterday we made the one mile trip to PetsMart to get food for the frogs. (Yes we have two little spotted frogs which sing to us at night). While my son was getting the food, I looked at the cats for adoption, hoping they would have some kittens. No kittens. So when Chris had the frog food I suggested that we look at the dogs – we haven’t looked for a long time. What was this? We had plans for a new pet but certainly hadn’t talked about it for a while. I only came along for the ride.

We walked into the kennel and there, right in front of us, in the big play area were three of the cutest puppies I have ever seen. Three. Pick One! The attendant took us all – my son, the three puppies and I -  into a smaller room with toys and chairs and we played. The dilemma was – which one. Each was adorable. Each was different and each was special. Two were brown and one was white with tan spots. One was smaller, one was prettier and one was a different color. All played. All were loving and friendly. All looked healthy. Could we take all three?

No way. We simply couldn’t handle three at once. Oh, but it was tempting.

We played more.

And then, after lots of play, we held each of them. One was calm. Two were wiggly little guys. We liked calm and the choice was made.

We left with a puppy and a bag of frog food.

It was a wonderful choice. Shadow, the big dog at home, wasn’t too pleased but the puppy settled in like he had always been here. No crying. No whining. (That was a surprise).

Sometimes, things are just meant to be and you are led right to them.

We promised my grandson that we would get a new puppy. He is in California and will be here in three weeks. We had planned to wait until he was here to pick it out but puppies are rarely at PetsMart and this one is exceptional. Jack can name him and we know it will be love at first sight between boy and puppy.

Pets bring so much to people. Read the featured article about pets and happiness. The picture is my son, Shadow the alpha dog and the new puppy. We wouldn’t know what do do without these wonderful friends of ours.  It has been hard to cope with not having my grandson here on a daily basis and I know a puppy won’t fill that hole that’s left in our lives. But he certainly brings joy at a time when a “joy boost” is needed. And when my grandson comes at the end of the month, the house will be absolutely overflowing with love, joy and happiness.

Charles Schulz was right when he wrote, “Happiness is a warm puppy!”

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I ask tough questions.

“What do you really want in Life?”

“What makes you happy?”

“If you had it all over to do again, what would you do differently?”

These questions sound easy, but for most people it’s a struggle to come up with an answer. There are different reasons why answering these questions doesn’t come easily.

For one thing, people rarely take the time to be with the most important person in their life. Yet, we all have the same most important person. The most important person in your life should be YOU!

It’s the old story we hear every time we go on an airplane. When the oxygen mask drops down you place it over your nose and mouth to help yourself first. After that, it’s time to take care of the other people around you.

When people take care of themselves, they become happier and more fulfilled. When they are happy and fulfilled, then they take better care of others. You’ll be amazed the difference this makes in the area of relationships.

I’m an expert when it comes to relationships, and I know you have to start with yourself. So, stop trying so hard to fix someone else. Success only comes when you start with yourself.

What I notice is as people get more angry, disappointed and frustrated with all the different things going on in their life they create much more chatter in their heads. Most of the chatter — that little voice in your head — is targeting outward towards everybody else, everyone except themselves.

Here is some of the self-talk people are hearing:

“I can’t believe you treat me like that.”

“I’ve been trying to help you and you don’t appreciate me.”

“How come every time I try to talk with my spouse or kids, we get into a fight?”

“Why am I always angry? I used to be happy, what happened?”

I’m sure you’d be able to share many more conversations going on in your head. You get my point!

When you shift your focus from everybody else and put the spot light on you, then you can answer my questions at the beginning of this article much more easily.

Here are a few steps to get you moving in the right direction so you can start the process of living a happy, fulfilled and successful life.

1. Be aware of what’s really going on in your life.
2. Take some time on a daily basis, and notice what chatter is going on in your head.
3. Notice if the chatter is about you, or about the other people in your life.
4. Make up your mind what you want different in your life.
5. Write down on a piece of paper what you want in life.

I have great news for you. Anytime you decide to make up your mind about what you want, that’s when you start on the road to living a happy, fulfilled and successful life.

The choice is yours. Since we only have one life, I encourage you to start today! There is no time like the present.

Curt Gorlick, The Life Choice Strategist, is an expert coach on mind set and successful life skill strategies. Curt helps baby boomer’s live happy, fulfilled, and successful lives. Curt provides proven steps to help people who are tired of living a life filled with frustration and disappointment. He knows what that’s like. He used to live it, but now he lives the life he loves. To get your Complimentary 7-Step Success Mind Set Course, visit http://Frustration2Fulfillment.com

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Does this scenario sound anything like your life? Hard at work on an important project, eight or more hours a day at the office, arrive home to take care of household errands, projects, dinner, and car pool for the children, and maybe end the day with an additional hour or two of work to make the next day go a little smoother, so you tell yourself. This same day repeats itself Monday through Friday and the weekends are not much more fun.

Fun, remember that word, when was the last time you contemplated having some? Are you aware that the week I just described could become a lot more tolerable if you added a little fun in the mix? So why don’t you take the time to enjoy yourself more? Some see fun as unworthy of their time and even trivial. There is important work to do, right? What you may not realize is that fun is not a distraction from your successful life, but in fact can lead you to it.

Remember what it feels like to laugh uncontrollably until your sides hurt? If the last time you experienced that kind of fun was when you were a kid, then it is time to make plans. And not just for the fun of it, there is actually scientific proof that laughter is good for your health and your work.

• Laughter releases endorphins – just like exercise and chocolate!
• Laughter bolsters the immune system
• Play encourages creativity and thinking on the right side of the brain
• Reduces stress and burnout ” Play improves communication skills
• Play recaptures the spontaneity of childhood

By adding some fun into your life, that next big project that seems impossible to complete, can be completed with more ease and creativity as a result of taking time for fun and allowing your brain to stretch and rest. I hope I have convinced you that you should add some fun into your routine. If I have you may now be saying, “so what is that I will do to have fun”. What did you get lost in for hours as a child? Did you play alone or prefer a playmate, indoors or out of doors? Start remembering what you really loved to do, you will find that your childhood memories may help you to uncover your fun meter. Or you may already know what you love and be ready to make plans. I believe if you say, “You’re right I’m going to try to start having some fun”, you have not made a real commitment and it will never happen. But if you sit down and create a list of activities that you would enjoy doing and then start the planning process, then you will have created the structures to ensure you have some fun.

List of fun activities Enjoy a night at the movies with a good friend–Actions to make it happen–Pick up the phone and make the invitation.

I enjoy gardening–Actions to make it happen–Schedule time after work to stop at garden store and begin planning.

I love picnics–Actions to make it happen–Surprise your family and create a picnic dinner to share at the park or in the backyard-do it today or tomorrow.

A ballgame with a friend–Actions to make it happen–Get online order the tickets, call your friend and make the invitation.

A quiet bath–Actions to make it happen–Tell your family you will be unavailable for two hours, pick up some wine, candles and great music…today and enjoy! You get the idea. Now here is a challenge–make your own list of fun activities and keep it posted in clear view so that it is easily seen. It will remind you to have some fun occasionally. I encourage you to actually schedule some fun in your life. Pull out your PDA and schedule it now!

Donna Amos

Business Coach and Strategist

Infinite Possibilities Coaching

http://www.donnaamos.com

donna@donnaamos.com

Donna supports solopreneurs while they create incredible profitable businesses while maintaining balance in their lives. She only works with those that are committed and ready to take action. Email her to learn how she can help you create a successful business.

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Imagine happiness is a fire that burns within us and to keep the flame bright we need to feed it regularly. The fuel is the 10 Sticks of Happiness, an old Lakota understanding about happiness.

It is OK to want possessions-a good sound system, a sporty car, nice clothes, etc. And we all need some pleasures in life. The problems start if we believe that pleasures and possessions are the way to be happy. We soon find that we can never get enough of them. Research shows that more money does not increase happiness.

What do we mean by happiness?

When you are happy:

• You feel joy, peace and contentment
• You are pleased with who you are
• People enjoy being around you
• You have higher self esteem
• Your life is improved physically
• You can more easily solve any problems that may arise
• You have additional energy
• Your life is improved in every way

10 Sticks of Happiness

I am learning:

1. That I am the most unique and special manifestation of creation.

Is there anyone else sees the world exactly as you do, has your thought, hopes and dreams? That makes you unique and special.

2. To appreciate all that I am and have.

You can never be happy unless you appreciate who you are and what you’ve got. The alternative is always to be wanting to be someone else, or to have something else and this does not bring happiness.

3. To approach life with optimism and trust.

It’s hard to be happy when you have a negative view on life. Given that both negative and positive views are just interpretations, why not choose the one that makes you happy and be optimistic and trusting.

4. To set new and interesting goals for myself.

We are naturally innovative. We want to improve things, make them better. Without new and interesting goals we become stagnant and depressed.

5. To adapt with the changes in my life.

All of life is change. Everything is changing all the time. It’s much easier to be like a willow tree and bend with the wind rather than be rigid and break.

6. To live today as if it is my last day

One day it will be your last and you will want to appreciate each and every minute. Why wait until then?

7. To deepen the love of myself.

The power of love can help you overcome anything that faces you. When you truly love yourself you will have a power that others will see.

8. To understand the other.

When I can see the world through the eyes of the other and empathize with their feelings, I become wiser, kinder, gentler and less concerned about myself.

9. To avoid being a perfectionist.

Nothing in life or nature is ever perfect. Expecting it from yourself and others is a definite route to unhappiness.

10. I am learning to laugh with life.

If you can smile at your problems and laugh when things get you down you will live a longer, healthier and happier life.

Mike W Bell has over 15 years international experience teaching people how to be happy. You will find this expertise here http://www.mutualinspiration.co.uk/behappy/ Learn about his free 8-part Strengthen Your Inner Happiness course here http://www.mutualinspiration.co.uk/behappy/strengthen-your-inner-happiness/

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Being transparent within yourself will enhance and strengthen your own happiness. Being transparent within your relationships will help you spread happiness.

It is essential that you try to be transparent within yourself. You cannot hide from yourself forever. You make mistakes just as well as the next person. (I make mistakes just as surely as you do.)

To try to deceive yourself about those mistakes is foolish. Even if you succeed in repressing those mistakes, they will find you out in such things as anxiety or even lower back pain.

To repress feelings caused by hidden mistakes is like stuffing a plastic garbage bag. You can stuff and stuff but eventually the bag will become too full and burst. When it does burst, you will have garbage all over yourself.

The most important place where it is not a good idea to be opaque is in your relationship is with The All There Is (Tathis). As you make contact with and develop a connection between yourself and Tathis, where you find your meaning, which is to be happy, when you try to keep mistakes from Tathis, you mess up that connection.

(Tathis is a word I coined to remove as much baggage as possible from the term “God.” It is a combination of the first letter of The, the first letter of All, the first two letters of There, and the entire word Is. It is pronounced with a long “a” and the word “this.” I hope you can see that Tathis is a non-baggage participant here.)

In your kinship with Tathis you need to be as transparent as you can be. This is for your own sake, not for the sake of Tathis. Tathis “knows” all there is to know about you anyway. So hiding yourself in any form from Tathis is counterproductive. You cut yourself off.

Notice please that “you cut yourself off.” Tathis is always there, living in the background so to speak, waiting for you to remove your own self-imposed barrier to Tathis. It is you who have distanced yourself from Tathis.

When you go seeking happiness and meaning, you make a connection with Tathis. This linkage is strengthened and expanded over time through the meditative arts. In some form of prayer and or meditation, which suits you, you reinforce this kinship with Tathis on a regular basis.

In that meditation you find that you are completely accepted. Which means that you can be completely transparent with Tathis. You cannot hide anything anyway. So why not be completely transparent? You will be the better for it. I know.

When you bare your spirit in that relationship with The All There Is, you have come clean. It is so good to have completely let it all go. You need hide nothing anymore. (You cannot hide anything, anyway.)

What a great feeling it is to have become completely transparent and still be totally and unconditionally accepted by Tathis. It is completely liberating. It is part of the bliss you can feel in that relationship with Tathis.

But then there is more – you can then be more transparent with other humans in your relationship circle.

I am not saying that you must be completely transparent. Not everyone is going to accept you just as you if you reveal everything. There are those who consider it their duty to criticize others. Revealing yourself to them in too big a way is a mistake.

So you cautiously reveal yourself, a little at a time. See how those around you react or do not react. See who you can trust. You will find a few who you can trust totally with who you really are. These are the ones you need to build long term relationships with.

They need also to trust you when they become transparent to you. You need to keep their confidences. You need to try to accept them just as they are as well.

Truly you may not be able to keep all confidences. You may not be able to accept everyone just as they are. These folks you may need to break off with or distance yourself from. You cannot be super-human in your associations. You need not expect yourself to be.

But so far as is possible and good, try to be transparent within yourself, with Tathis, within your affinities with friends and relatives, and allow others to be transparent with you.

This transparency, all around, will help you have greater happiness and meaning. Begin now to be more transparent.

This has been Dr. Bob 4 U, and I invite you to change your life for the better by claiming your Free Instant Access to a Force-Source-Resource. Just Click Here. Remember, one bit of information can give you a lifetime of satisfaction.

My Vlog: http://themeaningoflifewithdrbob.com/drbobslifephrases

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