Category Archives: Happiness

Self-Worth

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Your self-worth is your ceiling! ~ Jamie Kern Lima, author of Worthy!
Eighty percent (80%) of people hear their inner voice telling them they’re not enough. Jamie Kern Lima’s book WORTHY helps you unlearn the lies that lead to self-doubt and enables you to ignite your self-worth!
‘Worthy’ is a confidence-building compass, empowering you to conquer self-doubt and embrace your authentic self.
Do you allow yourself to dream big, love deeply, and pursue your most audacious goals? Remember, you are inherently worthy of all the beauty life has to offer. Embrace your worth, reach for the stars, and let your belief in your limitless potential guide you writes Jamie Kern Lima.
To craft a life filled with self-love, purpose, and unstoppable empowerment, you must believe in yourself and believe you are worthy of your hopes and dreams and of living this one precious, beautiful life as who you indeed are, states Jamie Kern Lima!
You are deserving of all the greatness that awaits!

“In life, you don’t soar to the level of your hopes and dreams, you stay stuck at the level of your self-worth. In your business, leadership, relationships, friendships, and ambitions, you don’t rise to what you believe is possible; you fall to what you believe you’re worthy of. When you build your self-worth, you change your life.” – Jamie Kern Lima.

Mermaid or Whale?

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Recently, in a large city in France, a poster featuring a young, thin, and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.It read: “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?”

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman pictured on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym. She had a whale of a lot to say:

“To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends: dolphins, sea lions, and curious humans. They have an active sex life, get pregnant, and have adorable baby whales. They enjoy stuffing themselves with shrimp, playing and swimming in the sea, and visiting wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea, and the coral reefs of Polynesia.

Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. ?They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.They are loved, protected, and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist.If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of psychoanalysts due to their identity crisis. Fish or human would prove quite a quandary for even the most skilled of therapists.

They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them … where is IT? Therefore, they don’t have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

P.S. We are in an age when the media attempts to convince us that only skinny people are beautiful. I prefer to enjoy ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and good chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated, and happy.”
—-Copied from Brian Horne page—-

Secret to a Long and Happy Life

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On CNBC’s Make It, 107-year-old Shirley Hodes shares her secret to a long and happy life: Don’t wait for your dreams to come true.

Shirley Hodes, who celebrated her 107th birthday earlier this month in North Carolina, says, “Not everyone has their dreams come true.” If you want to be happy in life, especially as you age, “you must look at other things besides dreams.”

That philosophy means reorienting yourself towards finding joy in small things, in what you can control, and in wanting what you already have. It is about being grateful.

“You must be content with who you are and what you can expect of yourself. Find things that are satisfying,” Hodes says.

Cultivating this kind of happiness mindset requires effort. But the work can pay off: Positivity is linked to a longer and healthier life.

Here are top tips for staying happy as you get older.

  • Think of yourself as fortunate and blessed. Be thankful for all the things and people currently in your life.
  • Believe that tomorrow will be better than today.
  • Focus less on what others have and more on the aspects of life you can feel grateful for.  Don’t get swept up in jealousy or resentment,
  • Find delight daily in the small things. I listened to books on tape, took walks, watched old movies on TV, and had a scoop of ice cream after dinner. Most importantly, family and friends.

Source: 107-year-old shares her secret to a long and happy life: Don’t wait for your dreams to come true  https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/21/107-year-old-shares-her-secrets-to-happiness-as-you-age.html

Follow a Compass

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Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, you should build a career plan: Map out where you are now, where you want to be, and the steps you’ll need to take to get there. However, Seth Godin, a bestselling author,  disagrees with that conventional wisdom since he never followed a predetermined path. His advice: Use “a compass and not a map.”

Your compass is your vision — who you aspire to be outside of a job title. Following it means pursuing decisions that make you happier and more content in the short term rather than following a pre-planned set of steps that may or may not eventually lead to your “dream job.”

Maps are great! They get you from point A to point B and help you stay on the right track! Yet, everyone’s got the same map, following the same routes, visiting the same sights. So, if you try to run your business or career using a map, your business or career will look, sound, and feel like any other out there. How do you stand out like that?

As a business owner and individual, what you need is a compass!

This won’t give you a step-by-step guide. No, it does something better! It points you towards your goal, leaving the path to reach it totally up to you. Unpredictable turns and unexpected terrains provide the chance to craft a unique journey. That’s what will make your business stand out!

Now, I’m not saying that you should throw away the map! Glance at it from time to time to see what routes work and which ones lead to nowhere. Just don’t follow it unthinkingly, or you might end up like some of the drivers who follow GPS without using their judgment – in a lake!:D

Your business needs that compass mentality. It’s not about retracing steps but charting your unique journey.

Those decisions may not always pan out, but you’ll learn enough from each failure to succeed eventually, Godin said.

Happiness

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“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“A teacher gave a balloon to every student, who had to inflate it, write their name on it and throw it in the hallway. The teacher then mixed all the balloons. The students were then given 5 minutes to find their own balloon.

Despite a hectic search, no one found their balloon. At that point, the teacher told the students to take the first balloon that they found and hand it to the person whose name was written on it. Within 5 minutes, everyone had their own balloon.

The teacher said to the students: “These balloons are like happiness. We will never find it if everyone is looking for their own. But if we care about other people’s happiness, we’ll find ours too.”

Mindset of Building Wealth

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Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation or circumstance. It means that what you believe about yourself impacts your success or failure or happiness or wealth.

Simply, your beliefs shape your mindset. Mindset is a collection of beliefs and thoughts. It is a way of thinking:

“Mindsets are those collection of beliefs and thoughts that make up the mental attitude, inclination, habit or disposition that predetermines a person’s interpretations and responses to events, circumstances and situations.”

According to Stanford psychologist and best selling author Dr. Carol Dweck, your beliefs play a pivotal role in what you want and whether you achieve it. Dweck has found that it is your mindset that plays a significant role in determining achievement and success.

Mindsets can influence how people behave in a wide range of situations in life. For example, as people encounter different situations, their mind triggers a specific mindset that then directly impacts their behavior in that situation.

Your mindset plays a critical role in how you cope with life’s challenges. With a positive growth  mindset, adults are more likely to persevere in the face of setbacks. Instead of throwing in the towel, adults with a positive growth mindset view it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

In short, your mindset not only impacts how you perceive the world around you, but also how you see and believe in yourself and your abilities.

Gratitude Mindset

It’s important to be grateful for everything you have in life. For having a roof over your head, a paying job, a family, a good supply of food and water. Simply, gratitude is the “affirmation of goodness”.

Gratitude is a super power! It has been scientifically proven to be good for your health, your well-being, your building wealth, and your relationships.

Psychology research has demonstrated that practicing gratitude is good for improving your health, your well-being, your building wealth, and your relationships.

We often forget to be thankful for what we have…have a mindset and attitude of gratitude.

If you can be grateful for what you have, you won’t take anything or anyone for granted in your life, and you’ll be wealthier and happier in the long run.

Your mindsets have a lot to do with self-confidence, self-esteem as well as self-development and the desire for self-improvement and being grateful.

References:

  1. https://sourcesofinsight.com/what-is-mindset/
  2. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-mindset-2795025
  3. https://wealthygorilla.com/15-different-types-mindsets-people/

Gratitude

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“I have every possession I want. I have a lot of friends who have a lot more possessions. But in some cases, I feel the possession possesses them, rather than the other way around.” ~ Warren Buffett

Never allow all the things you selfishly covet or you want make you forget about all the things you have or currently possess. Put a little gratitude in your life today and be thankful for all you already possess.

Moreover, happiness doesn’t mean everything is pleasing or perfect. Instead, happiness means that you can choose to see beyond the problems and imperfections, and embrace an attitude of gratitude.

The endless pursuit of hollow amenities and fruitless assets that barely add any value to your life are often so intoxicating that people loose sight of things that truly make them happy and bring them joy such as personal relationships, joy and peace in abundance.

“Sometimes you have to stop staring at your problems and start seeing how beautiful life really is.” ~ Anonymous

Don’t wait for great. Be Great everyday! Don’t allow a little negativity keep you from feeling grateful for everything that is going right and for everything that is good and pleasing in your life.

Gratitude must become a 24 hour / 365 day mindset, so that you don’t take what you have for granted.

Research shows that gratitude can:

  • Help you make friends. One study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek a more lasting relationship with you.
  • Improve your physical health. People who exhibit gratitude report fewer aches and pains, a general feeling of health, more regular exercise, and more frequent checkups with their doctor than those who don’t.
  • Improve your psychological health and emotional well-being. Grateful people enjoy higher wellbeing and happiness and suffer from reduced symptoms of depression.
  • Enhance empathy and reduces aggression. Those who show their gratitude are less likely to seek revenge against others and more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, with sensitivity and empathy.
  • Improve your sleep. Practicing gratitude regularly can help you sleep longer and better.
  • Enhance your self-esteem. People who are grateful have increased self-esteem, partly due to their ability to appreciate other peoples’ accomplishments.
  • Increase in mental strength. Grateful people have an advantage in overcoming trauma and enhanced resilience, helping them to bounce back from highly stressful situations.

References:

  1. https://positivepsychology.com/gratitude-exercises/

May you have Peace, Joy and Patience in Abundance!

Basketball

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#NBA and #collegebasketball should implement a triple bonus policy of 15+ team fouls.

Basketball games are difficult to watch and appreciate from a fan’s perspective when one team is constantly committing personal fouls in the final minutes of the game in a desperate attempt to erase a deficit and achieve a comeback.

Currently, losing teams are free to commit an unlimited number of personal fouls to put the opposing team on the foul line in attempts to slow the game and to try to stage a come back. During these periods of relentless fouls and slowing the pace of the game, the game becomes difficult and painful to watch from the fans perspective.

To disincentivize this practice of relentless fouling in the final minutes of a basketball game, professional and college basketball should implement a triple bonus team foul policy of two free throw attempts and the ball out for the foul shooting or victimized team. This would speed up the final minutes of the game and would increase the enjoyment of viewing the game for fans. Television networks broadcasting or streaming the game would offer audiences a much better product, especially in the final minutes.

This triple bonus team foul policy would also force basketball teams and their players to become more discipline in the manner they play the game.

Fifteen total personal fouls are more than an adequate number of fouls to permit in a game. Effectively, every foul above fifteen would be treated like a technical foul, two free throw shots and retain possession of the ball.

It’s well past time to fix this part of the game that is painful to watch for fans.

Good Relationships Equate to Happiness

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“Satisfaction with relationships was a better predictor of how people would age more than cholesterol, socioeconomic conditions, or genetics.” ~ Motley Fool contributors Brian Feroldi, Brian Stoffel, & Brian Withers

Positive and strong relationships keep you happier, healthier and living longer, according to the results of a 75+ year experiment started at Harvard during the Great Depression and according to dozens of other studies.

In 2002, two pioneers of Positive Psychology, Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, conducted a study at the University of Illinois on the 10% of students with the highest scores recorded on a survey of personal happiness. They found that the most salient characteristics shared by students who were very happy and showed the fewest signs of depression were “their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them.” The New Wallis, 2005).

“Social connections are really good for you; and loneliness kills. “People who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community are happier; they are physically healthier; and they live longer than people who are less socially connected.”

A relative lack of social connections has been associated with depression and later-life cognitive decline, as well as with increased mortality. One study, found that lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death from all causes by 50% — an effect on mortality risk roughly comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and greater than obesity and physical inactivity.

Thus, satisfaction with relationships was a better predictor of how people would age more than cholesterol, socioeconomic conditions, or genetics.

Social connections give you pleasure, they also influence your long-term health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a healthy whole real food diet, physical activity and not smoking.

Understanding finance and investing your personal capital are just a means to an end. The whole point of financial freedom is using that time that’s freed up to strengthen your personal relationships.

There’s nothing more important to a long-term mindset than good social relationships. The quality of your personal relations with other people is the number one factor that effects your level of life-satisfaction.

So, make it a priority to take time to foster your most meaningful relationships. Choose activities that are most likely to bring joy to you and the people you have the strongest personal relationships.

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ~ John C. Maxwell

References:

  1. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-health-benefits-of-strong-relationships
  2. https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/science-of-happiness/relationships-and-happiness/

Life Purpose in Five Minutes

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Adam Leipzig gave a TED talk regarding discovering your Life Purpose in 5 minutes. In his talk, he discusses a five step process to find meaning and purpose in your life.

In a non-scientific survey of Yale University classmates attending a college reunion, Adam Leipzig discovered to his dismay — despite financial, material and career success — that:

  • The majority of attendees, eighty percent (80%), were unhappy with their lives, and
  • A minority of attendees, twenty percent (20%), were happy

He explained that the people who were happy with their lives knew their life purpose.  For this to take 5 minutes, you need to already know the answers to these 5 things or questions:

  1. Who you are
  2. What you do
  3. Who you do it for
  4. What those people want or need to better their lives
  5. How the people you serve change or transform as a result of what you gave or did for them.

The most successful and happy people in almost every field and walk of life  are outward focus and focus on the people they serve first and foremost.

So, when people ask you, “what do you do”, just respond how what you do changes the lives of people. For example: “I help people build wealth, better manage their money, and achieve financial freedom”.  In a way, this can become your personal brand and elevator pitch. And it can be that simplite.

Adam Leipzig is a producer, executive and distributor. and has produced more than 300 stage plays and live events, and one of the founders of the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Your Life Purpose comes down to what you really want to do to serve others and what you really enjoy doing to serve other, in the end. What you feel the most alive and happy doing while serving others.

References:

  1. https://www.transcendyourlimits.com/find-life-purpose