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10 Keys To Happiness

10 Keys To Happiness

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We all want to be Happy, right?  Sometimes happiness escapes us, including Baby Boomers, and Grandpas, especially when we go through life changing events such as retirement.   An event like that can turn every part of our lives upside down.  Don’t worry there is help and there’s always HOPE.  Learn to Be Your Best.

REJOICE! (© Photo and text by John McFadden)
REJOICE! (© Photo and text by John McFadden)

This article from addicted2success.com (move down for article) can help you get back on you’re real path to happiness and the life you’ve always wanted.

1. Acceptance

Dwelling on our flaws makes it exceedingly difficult to achieve happiness in our lives.

Accepting ourselves and being kind to ourselves increase our enjoyment, resilience, and well-being.

 

2. Appreciation

Once you start noticing the world around you, you will begin to appreciate it that much more. If you’ve ever felt that there has to be more to life, you’d be safe in your assumptions. You just need to stop every now and then so you can take the time to appreciate what’s out there.

 

3. Direction

You have to have goals in order to feel good about the future. That takes direction and motivation. Our goals must be challenging yet realistically achievable. Attempting the impossible creates undue stress. However, choosing ambitious goals gives us direction.

 

4. Emotion

Regularly experiencing positive emotions such as contentment, gratitude, inspiration, and pride helps us to develop our resources.

It helps us focus on the positive aspects in our lives (the glass is half full, not half empty).

 

5. Exercising

Your mind is connected with your body. So when we are active it not only benefits our physical health, it makes us happier. Our moods improve and we can even lift ourselves out of depression as a result.

Interestingly enough, our activities do not have to involve complex exercises. There are simple things that we can do every day so that we are more active.

 

6. Giving

Caring about others and doing for others is vital to a person’s happiness. When we give to others or help them, it makes us happier and we become healthier in the process.

Giving helps us to create a better society. However, it also helps us to develop stronger connections with those around us.

 

7. Meaning

People feel more in control, get more out of their efforts, and are typically happier when their lives have meaning and purpose. Plus, they experience less anxiety, depression, and stress in their lives.

 

8. Relationships

Relating with others is quite possibly the greatest contributor to our happiness. Individuals who have broader, stronger relationships with others are happier and healthier. It also helps us to live longer.

We can increase our self-worth by developing close relationships with our family members and friends.

 

9. Resilience

All of us have experienced failure, loss, stress, and trauma in our lives. However, it is the way we react and respond to these issues that can have a huge impact on our lives and well-being. In other words, it is the way that we bounce back when we get knocked down.

 

10. Trying out

There are a number of positive benefits to learning. You get exposed to new ideas which enables you to stay curious and learn new things.

We become more resilient and improve our self-confidence, eventually gaining a sense of accomplishment.

 

Closing note: if you unscramble the first letter of each component above (A, A, D, E, E, G, M, R, R, and T) it spells “GREAT DREAM”.

7 Ways to Happiness! Baby Boomers Rock!

7 Ways to Happiness! Baby Boomers Rock!

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Happy Life
Happy Life of Grand Kids

Ah, Happiness, that sometimes elusive emotion we all strive for.  Now that we Baby Boomers are in our 50’s and 60’s, retirement is on the horizon, Happiness can, but shouldn’t,  seem even more elusive.  After all, our bodies are changing, our minds are changing, we change jobs or retire and most of our kids have left the nest.  Hopefully, they haven’t had to come back, yet.

This is a lot of change happening in our personal universe all at the same time.  Some of us adapt to these changes easily and quickly.  “The good news is that with age comes happiness,” said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. “Life gets better in one’s perception as one ages.”  And Duke University aging expert Linda George say, an older person may realize “it’s fine that I was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize winner.”  I believe we all have special talents and skills and we are perfect the way we are.

Others, maybe not so much.  Seriously, this is a lot for our brains, bodies, pride and egos to handle.

So, how do we deal with aging and continue to live life with zest and swagger? Here are some tips on how to become and stay a Happy Baby Boomer.

1.  Life is Simple.  don’t get bogged down with all the little details, keep loving yourself, happiness comes from acceptance-of yourself, your situation, your challenges  and “who” you are; remain true to yourself.

2.  Realize that life “is what it is“, in other words we’re gonna get older no matter what, we can’t stop aging.   “It’s all good“, meaning just deal with it, and make life a good experience.  We might as well, “enjoy life, there’s plenty of time to be dead.” (TEDX Pune, Aisha Chaudhari, Being Happy and Living in the Moment.).

3.  Realize Happiness is a chosen Attitude, it only comes from within our minds.  Choose to be happy, focus your thoughts on good things, be grateful for what we have, and control your thoughts.  You can say to yourself, “I Declare I am Happy”, or “I choose to be happy today”.  Block out the negative ones.  We must become the Master of Our Brains.  Our brains are just like the worlds’ best computers, they do what we tell them to do.  At least most of the time.  So, tell your Master Computer Brain to Be Happy.

4.  Be in the present and expect an awesome future.  Don’t get stuck in the past.  As the old  saying goes, “That was yesterday, today is TODAY!”  We enjoy life more when we focus on the moment, what we’re doing, right now, at this moment. Get lost in it, enjoy it and do your best.  However, it’s fine to remember and reminisce about past events and activities and accomplishments.  This can cheer you up at a sad time.  The key is not to dwell on past regrets.  Remember the good times, enjoy the present moment and have something to look forward to in the near future.

5.  As for our aging bodies, KEEP ACTIVE!  keep working on your Bucket List.  That’s the secret.  Take walks, alone, with your dog, with a friend or two, no matter how far you can walk.  Dance, move that body, all of it, even those hips.  Swim, exercise, or learn Tai chi.  Even the simplest Yoga stretches and movements help your body and mind be healthier.  The better we take care of our body now, the longer it will last.  Other ways to feel valuable and to feel satisfied is by volunteering and helping others.  There’s hundreds of ways to do this.

6.  Chill out.  Stop being so serious, relax, tell jokes, sing, get a hobby, Laugh Every Day! Be Social and you’ll keep the blues away.  In an ABC news article “81-year-old George O’Hare, a retired Sears manager in Willowbrook, Ill. He’s active with church, AARP and does motivational speaking, too. His wife is still living, and he’s close to his three sons and four grandchildren. “I’m very happy because I’ve made friends that are still living,” O’Hare said. “I like to go out and speak in schools about motivation.”  “Happiness is getting out and being with people, and that’s why I recommend it,” he said.

7.  Most important learn to Love Yourself and Be Your On Best Friend!  The voices in our heads can be very self critical.    When that happens tell the voices to go away, scat, and shut up, because they are wrong.  We can forgive ourselves for the past and mentally move on to the present.  Wake up each morning and count your blessings, own your potential and who you are.  Be proud of that and have confidence in it.  Imagine what it would be like to best your own best friend, what would you say, how would you act?  Now, go do it!  Start being your best friend TODAY!

And as a reminder, Happiness leads to success, so why not Get Your Happy On right now!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this chat,  thanks, John

Five Short Cuts to Being Happy

Five Short Cuts to Being Happy

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Happiness
Happiness

Are you HAPPY?  Really?  I think being happy is the second most important skill you need in life.  The first skill is to learn how to control your thoughts.  Do you want to be HAPPY? We were happy as little kids, lets bring some of that happiness into our lives today.

All of us strive for many things through-out our life time.  We want a nice family, loving spouse, good job, money to buy nice things, cars, houses, big screen TVs, a good education, travel and much more.  All these things give us different levels of satisfaction that comes and goes, sometimes leaving us unsatisfied rather quickly and looking for the next  new “thing”.  In reality, what we really want is true, lasting, Happiness.

That’s what I want.  All my life I’ve tried to be happy by working towards my next want or goal, always thinking that’s what would make me happy.  My very smart wife has always told me that happiness comes from within, not from money or things.  That’s been hard for me to believe.  But now, I’ve discovered she’s right.  Now I look within and choose happiness.  Life is no longer a big struggle thanks to her wisdom.

Good old Honest Abe said it all when he said, “Most folks are just about as Happy as they make their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln, US President, self-educated lawyer, legislator, avid reader, husband and father.

For many of us, we are so busy in today’s hectic world that we don’t have time to think about what really makes us happy.  But, you have a choice.  Either you run the day, or the day runs you.  Which is it for you?

Having searched for true happiness for most of my life, and studying people much smarter than me, I’ve found 5 short cuts to being happy.

One is Gratitude. Be grateful for all you have from the moment you get up in the morning.  It’s important to be grateful for all you have been given and built in your life.  When you’re grateful and have peace of mind and contentment, you become open to receive much more in life.

Two is Choice.  Like Abe said above, choose to be happy, it’s your choice how you think about your life and circumstances. When it comes right down to it, WE have control of our brain, which creates our thoughts, which create our words, which create our daily reality.  We have a choice, every day and every moment, to be happy and see the best in people and circumstances in our world, or to let negative people and events take us down and hold us back from being our best.

Three is Moment, be in the moment, in the NOW.  When you’re depressed you’re thinking of the past, when you’re worried or fearful you’re thinking of the future.  When you’re happy you’re thinking about what you’re doing right NOW. Explore the world, notice little things around you that make you feel good, play, be child like again.  Mindful breathing can bring you back from all the “monkey thoughts” (see more under Control, below) and focus you in the moment.  This will help you appreciate and enjoy life more.

Four is for Love, yourself that is.  I find that “I am…” statements help you focus and create higher self-esteem and self-love.  Instead of beating yourself up and being negative about yourself, try thinking and saying positive things in the present tense.  Things like, I am Happy; I am strong; I am talented; I am healthy; I am liked; I am expressing my true self; I am helping others; I am loving and I am loving.  Say those words to yourself throughout the day and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel and how you great things begin happening.  Before you can receive love, you must love yourself.  Life is much easier when you do.

Five is Control, the thousands of thoughts you have every day.  You are the owner of the world’s most powerful computer.  Learn to make it work  for you rather than against you.  Every second of our lives we have the ability to choose our thoughts.  They seem to come and go randomly.  When I have to many, coming too fast, and they’re scattered all over different subjects, I call them “monkey thoughts”.  They’re like little monkeys jumping from tree to tree, branch to branch, never settling very long.  They drive me nuts, and make me confused.  It’s hard to focus and be happy when this happens.  So, take control of your thoughts and learn to drive your brain, program it to use positive, empowering thoughts.

Being happy and controlling your thoughts are the most import lessons you need to learn for a great life.  I leave you with Gandhi’s words.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Be Happy!

Thoughts Become Things
Thoughts Become Things

As a last note, the people in Cannes, France have a Happy Song.  When you’re having a tough day, sing and dance along with them.