The Quest For A Happy Life

Would you consider yourself to be a happy person? Are you seeking ways which could you to have a happier life? I am a person who basically is after a very simple and happy life. I do not crave fast cars, I do not wish to live in a huge mansion, I do not need to have lavish and expensive holidays abroad each year. In this article, I describe the type of lifestyle that would and does bring joy and happiness to my life.

I am a very proud father of two wonderful children. These children have an ability to make me smile when I am at my most depressed. They are very confident and live life to the full. They have an abundance of energy and are basically from what I can tell, having a very enjoyable childhood.

I am also engaged to be married and my fiancee is in full time employment. On most mornings, she will leave the house at around seven in the morning to go to work and will return home at around half past four in the afternoon. I am self-employed and this enables me to take my children to school and to also collect them from school. I love to be able to do this and just this morning was a prime example of why I do. My son, who is five years of age, woke up at about half past seven. I was already downstairs feeding our animals. He strolled down and asked if I could make him some breakfast. He did this with a huge smile on his face. He then ate his breakfast whilst watching some of his favourite television programs.

A little later, I handed him his clothes and asked him to get dressed. As it is quite a hot day, he wore his shorts and looked so cute later as we walked to school, as he was also wearing his baseball cap. As he lined up outside his classroom, he started to talk to his teacher and to his friends. I thought to myself that most fathers would never have the pleasure of seeing their children in these situations and I felt very happy and contented. Most fathers just like my fiancee, leave the house early and do not arrive home until after school has finished. I am sure a lot of them like it this way, but I want to spend as much time as possible with my own children.

I do not earn a massive amount of money as a self-employed person, however am able to earn enough to have what I consider to be a good quality of life. I hope to be able to continue this standard of living by working hard to keep my business alive. My accountant believes I should be working longer hours and that if I did, I could probably double my earnings. This may well be true, but it would no doubt come at a price. In my opinion, money is not the be all and end all. Money is not something that makes me happy, spending the maximum amount of time with my children does.

I am not envious of people when they tell me how much they earn, or when they tell me what car they drive, or when they tell me that they have just bought a villa in Tenerife for example. I am very happy as I am and these things are just not important to me. Each to their own of course.

I have in the past worked in what most people would call a nine to five environment. At this stage of my life I did not have any children and I was happy to work there.

As a self-employed person, I am now able to work at different times of the day and a lot of the work I do, I do in the evenings when my children and fiancee have gone to sleep.

I think I am one of the lucky ones and hope that this happiness continues for months to come. I am sure that my children also enjoy the fact that I am able to spend so much quality time with them.

Use The Power Of Your Thoughts

The greatest power we ever got is the power of our thoughts.

There is an Intelligence inside us that can elevate our life at the highest level.

Everyone should learn to collaborate with this Intelligence which is organized to react on our intentions and to create with us a life of abundance and happiness.

Freedom, happiness, richness, love, friendship, health and wealth are our birth right.

We have been created to live our life in freedom, health and wealth. If our life doesn’t look like that, it means we block ourselves by our thoughts. Our thoughts are very powerful instruments we use to either create happiness and wealth, or sickness and poverty.

If your life doesn’t look like what you’re dreaming of, it means you have thoughts which go against you. Your thoughts create your life. If you want to change your life, change first your thoughts.

You can choose your thoughts. Nobody in the world can put a thought in your head without your permission. Your mind belongs to you!  It’s your job to control your thoughts! You are the master of your head, you are the guardian of your thoughts. You can change them. Choose those thoughts who will bring you the results you want.

Never think a thing you don’t want to happen.

Read that again : never think a thought you don’t want to become true.

It means : don’t think anything negative about yourself if you don’t want this thought to become real. If you don’t want to be stupid, stop thinking you are. If you don’t want to be fat, stop rehearsing in your head how fat you are now. If you don’t want to loose your boyfriend or girlfriend, stop thinking about this possibility.

Instead of these destructive thoughts, choose thoughts which reinforce you. Choose to think how intelligent you are, and you will be! Choose to think how beautiful you are, and you will shine like a star! Choose to think you are loved, and you will!

Thoughts are energy. Every thought carries an energy level. Your choice : or you choose thoughts which lower your energy level, or you choose thoughts which increase your  energy level.

It’s in your hands! Or better : it’s in your head! How you will feel and act depends on what you think. Every action and emotion is preceded by a thought.

You can choose thoughts which block you, or even paralyze you.
It isn’t any more difficult to watch your thoughts to be able to choose them consciously. It’s just a matter of exercise and consciousness.

Once you've learned how to become the master of your thoughts, you become the master of your life!

If checking your thoughts seems too difficult for now, you can start watching your mouth. Never let come out of your mouth something you don’t want to happen! Never wish a bad luck to anyone if you don’t want this to realize. Watch your mouth, watch your words, watch your thoughts , and become the creator of your own life!

Your life does not depend on others. It depends on your own ability to master your thoughts.

Understanding Your Dreams

The meaning of dreams has been of interest to mankind throughout history.  Dreams come to us in a variety of forms that range from frightening to erotic.  We experience images, sounds, sensations, and voices in our dreams that we are unable to influence or control.  Do our dreams have special meanings?  Are they brought on by incidents that have affected our lives today or possibly sometime in the past? 

There are many theories why we dream, where in the brain dreams originate, or even why dreams occur at all.  It is not clear what the neurological cause is, or in what phase of sleep dreaming takes place.  Many believe dreams are reflections of the unconscious and some that they are predictions of the future or even messages from God.  Dreams often inspire artistic and other forms of inspiration.  Many dreams of a bizarre or strange nature have been interpreted by some as divine gifts, messages from the past, or predictions of the future.

According to most scientists dreams occur with equal frequency in most people.  The ability to recall the dream varies greatly with individuals however.  Most dreams it is believed occur during the (REM) sleep, which is a form of sleep that is experienced in the latter portion of the sleep cycle.

According to http://www.wicipedia.orghttp://www.dreams.budsbestbuys.com , both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung identify dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious.  Jung argued that the dream's bizarre quality is an efficient language, comparable to poetry and uniquely capable of revealing the underlying meaning.  While Freud felt there was an active censorship against the unconscious even during sleep.  They both agreed that the unconscious mind is the dominant force of the dream.

Lucid Dreams
Many books, charts, dream dictionaries, and even dream software programs are available today for those wishing to understand the meaning of their dreams.  The most popular and by far the most intriguing books are about lucid dreaming.  A lucid dream is one where the dreamer recognizes they are in a dream and can take control of it.  Lucid dreamers have the power to control their dreams and are capable of creating many fantasies such as making new objects appear, change their form, or even fly.  There are many forms of lucid dreams, having in common the fact that at some point in the dream the dreamer recognizes the experience as a dream.  While lucid dreaming has been proven to exist, frequent lucid dreaming requires much practice and dedication.  Many people practice specific techniques of lucid dreaming for personal or spiritual purposes.

Weaknesses Explored in the Hidden Self

When we become weak, it propitiates organisms that pander redundant habits that we possess, which reduces the growth and enhancement procedures. In order to reconcile with good habits we must develop willpower and self-discipline, since the two tools work in harmony to assist us with healing the hidden self.

Self-discipline and willpower can assist us with determining the process of development and enrichment of self. Developing self-discipline with willpower endows one’s strength and our willpower to work through difficulties easier. Willpower and self-discipline will bestow one to persevere in an effort to shun direct contentment and happiness. By shunning, we can acquire superior strength of mind and find real happiness and contentment from our efforts.

By inculcating willpower and self-discipline, we can learn to reject the vices that hinder self-development progression. In unison, by inculcating these virtues it will guarantee the development of the self.

Developing enhanced consciousness of mind can help one discover and come to realization of the hidden self.     Inculcating willpower and self-discipline, one will find it easier to undergo changes. Once you accept change, it assists you with developing refreshed habits, which oppose lethargic attitudes. These are the attitudes we must sacrifice, abandon to discover the hidden self.

In view of these facts, we must move to meditate daily. Meditation is a process that assists us with reforming and transforming the mind. Yoga practices can prove beneficial and assist you with meditating. Naturopathy therapy and long walks can also benefit you and assist you with self-development. You will also need a balanced diet suitable for your body’s needs.

Meditation is your guide to relaxing the mind and the soul, or body. Meditating often will help you with regaining your serenity and tranquility of the soul and mind. Meditation plays a chief role in developing one’s independence. Independent minds often manage negative or distressing thoughts easier.

Mediation also assists one with restoring peace of mind. Of course, a peaceful mind often finds happiness. Meditation can help one with soothing the mind and the body. In fact, meditative practices have proven to be one of the top therapeutic aids that effectively give you results.

Meditation can assist with restoring the emotional balance and propitiates the body so that it works in harmonization with the mind, to make sure it is properly working in harmony with development and growth of the self.

Yoga as mentioned can assist you with meditation. Yoga can help curb downbeat energies and pessimistic attitudes. Yoga practices have proven to promote growth and self-development by assisting with mental transformation. Yoga can relieve organisms that emerge some disorders, including digestive disorders; insomnia, sleeps difficulties, obesity, and can act as a pain management. Yoga also assists with healing conditions of the heart, as well as other complications one may deal with.

Incorporating practical yoga practices into your self-development scheme can lead you to talk self through vague logics that inhabit your competence by promoting rationale.

Impediments could be effortlessly overcome through self-talk. Self-talk will help one convert his or her thoughts to sensible for self-realization. One can achieve this level of mental strengths through the process of filtration. During this process, negative thoughts are filtered. In the course of personalization, it prevents an entity from pushing culpability on himself for all the cynical deeds.

In order to work through self-development effectively, one must develop an optimistic attitude. The entity must cultivate freewill. Free will is exclusively dependent on the will of an entity. Freewill can treads an entity to an untrue path that may lead him to endure severe consequences. On the other hand, his will can encourage him to accept the confirmatory attitude that may direct on to his growth and intensification in life.

You’ll See It When You Believe It – Growing Your Life From the Inside Out

Generally you pick up on the things that resonate with your beliefs and your view of the world.  This is why, when you’re feeling bad, bad things rain down on you relentlessly.

There are the real, major issues that you have to contend with and then there are the generalizations that you have learned to draw from them, like: “Life is hard” “It always seems to happen to me” etc.

It isn’t in any way your fault, of course.  It’s also true that bad things happen to happy people too. 

Happy people are not necessarily fortunate people in the sense of everything in their life being hunky-dory.  How many people do you know who have good relationships, good health, financial security and are still discontented, bored or only half-alive?  I can certainly think of a few.   

Happy people are the people who have learned to modify their mood, manage their emotions and choose their reactions.  Language, which we all have, is the sole tool that they need to do so.

You end up believing what other people tell you, when they tell you something often, or convincingly enough.  How many times have you found yourself believing some daft, but effective, advertising slogan, despite your better judgment?  How many times have you reviled yourself for being lazy, or stupid or worthless, even when you know that is not really you, because that’s what you’ve been told repeatedly?

If you’ll see it when you believe it, then the first thing to do is choose beliefs that serve you.  You can do that because you only have to tell yourself a thing often enough and you will believe it.  Unless, of course, your real mantra is: “Well, I’ll try it, but I know it won’t work for me.”  In which case it won’t –because you’ll get what you’ve affirmed. 

But you can choose an affirmation that allows your spirit to soar.  You can start from wherever you are with whatever words seem most appropriate to you.  Purely as an example, you could choose to affirm something like: “I now give myself permission to celebrate my strength, my uniqueness and my precious humanity.”

Say it once and nothing will happen.  Say it several times each day, over a period of weeks and old limiting beliefs will start to lose their hold. 

Or you could do it the way Sandy Forster advocates in “How To Be Wildly Wealthy Fast”.  Instead of just saying your affirmation, you go through it, putting the stress on the first word first time round, the second word second time round and so on until you reach the last word. 

An affirmation of 15 words, like the one above will probably take you 2 or 3 minutes to work through.  By the time you’ve finished, it will have interrupted any habitual negative loop and lifted your spirits. 

Do that a few times a day, when negative thoughts kick in and it won’t be that many days before you start to feel different.  And when you start to believe different things, you’ll start to see different things. 

Yes, it’s cheap, cheerful and ridiculously simple.  Often what stops you achieving something you truly want is not the enormity or the complexity of the thing.  It may just be a small, but crucial bit of information you lack, without which nothing seems to make sense.

The question is: are you prepared to give it a go?

Secrets of a Positive Attitude

Greetings self help reader,

Are you constantly bombarded by thoughts of negativity? Plagued by feelings of insecurity? Do you see everything in a negative manner? The reason for this lies deep within your heart. You are what you mentally and spiritually eat. If a person drinks alcohol on a daily basis, odds are their body will be affected in some way. They may have liver issues, develop cancer or incur some other type of health problem directly related to the amount of alcohol they have consumed. In the same way, a person who constantly feeds themselves negative thoughts will simply turn into a negative person.

This is the time to go on a diet. A diet of positive attitude food. You have to literally stop feeding your mind negative things. Ask yourself is this thought negative or positive or negative? What do negative thoughts look like? Well, they start with can't rather than can, no as opposed to yes, will and not won't. The Bible which is the greatest self help book ever written, speaks about taking every thought captive. The problem in our society has become that our thoughts have taken us captive. We have begun to let our thoughts control us.

A great way to know what we are negative about is to ask those people who are closest to us. You can ask your spouse
or another person in your life who really knows you how they would rate your attitude on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being super positive and 1 super negative. Ask this person to be totally honest with you. You will benefit from their honesty even if it causes you pain. Ask this person what it is that you specifically say that they perceive as negative. Write down what they say and look at the actual words. Now is the time to be honest with yourself. Those words are a reflection of what is inside you. They are who you are. The great thing is that you can change. It is as simple as making a choice to do so. You must decide to replace the thoughts of negativity with thoughts of positivity. Decide what words you will change the negative words on your paper to. Once you have done this, make an effort to insert these new positive thoughts in your mind. You will begin to notice a positive change taking place in your life. Your family, friends and co-workers will all notice it as well. They may not know what is different about you. But they will know that you are not the same person that you were.

The items which are causing negativity in your life could very well be the news, movies, constantly replaying tragedy in your mind and the list could go on. These things should be eliminated if you want your new mental health regimen to be a success. The news is very negative and does not help someone who is trying to rid their mind of such thoughts. When you are feeding yourself thoughts of death from a war or gunshot or car accident visually the outcome will be negative. I do believe there is a time to grieve over the death of a loved one. However, if a person constantly replays this negative event in their minds it can lead to depression. The person who has passed away is not coming back and we must close that chapter in our lives and move on to the next chapter. This is a difficult task which can only be done by making a decision to proceed with our own life, no matter how hard this may be.

You can do it. You can and will have a positive attitude, if you simply take the steps outlined above. You do not have to be what you were in the past. You can be different in the future. The choice is yours. I know you will make a positive one.

Much continued positive attitude success,

Surprisingly Quick And Easy Ways To Feel Happier

All of us have days when we're out of sorts. You just wish you were in a better mood.  You've had days like that, haven't you? Perhaps you tried to get yourself into a better state of mind but struggled to achieve it.

Sometimes we get stuck in our own emotional dumps and forget how easy it is to feel happier, so here are seven simple ways to lift your mood. Many people have found them useful. Some of them may surprise you!


1. Go for a walk.

Most people know that going for a short daily walk is one of the best forms of exercise. When you are feeling down it is even more beneficial. If you can, go into a natural environment with plants and birds. Can you think of such a setting not? What do you notice first? The different shades of greenery, the fresh  smell of country air, the sounds of birds, or the sunlight shining through the trees? Make it real by taking a short stroll.

2. Listen to quality music.

Music can shift a listener's state within moments. It's effect can be nearly magical. Dig out that CD you haven't listened to in ages or tune in your radio to something you've never listened to before.


3. Open yourself to discovering something new.

Read something (printed, not on line) different than what you would normally watch. There are a ton of different types of magazines can you get these days. Visit your local library or browse through a magazine rack.  Pick up or buy a magazine you wouldn't normally buy. You may discover something wonderful.

4. Find something to laugh at.

Laughter is one of the best ways to lift your spirits. Find a humorous book, or watch a comedy. Even better, try to learn a few new jokes and tell them to others. 

5. Simple breathing meditation.

Breathing meditation is a great exercise that you can do anywhere.  Simply allow yourself to sit comfortably with your back straight. Now close your eyes and become aware of the flow of air into and out of your nostrils. That's all there is to it. Do this for 10-15 minutes. Notice how pleasantly surprised you can be at how you feel afterward.

6. Doodling for the fun of it.

Most people can remember when they were young and used to doodle for hours. Kids love drawing silly little pictures. Drawing is not just for kids or artists.  Whoever you are get some pens, pencils, crayons or whatever you have and just draw for the fun of it. Notice how your state of mind shifts.

7. Think of others less fortunate.

The fact that you are reading this article suggests that you are probably much better off than most people on this planet. At times this may be hard to believe, but if you can read and have access to the internet, just those two things alone means you are better off than most people in the world.  There are many human beings that barely have access to the basics of survival. There are people in lots of pain. Allow your compassion for them to grow.

These are all pretty simple. There's nothing profound or life changing, but when all you need is a quick pick me up these may be just the thing you need. Putting simple ideas, methods, tools and techniques into action will help you achieve change more quick and easily--surprisingly so at time-- than you imagine.