Posts Tagged ‘Emotional Health and Wellbeing’

Alphabet of Happiness

Monday, September 28, 2009 22:02 1 Comment

A–Accept
Accept others for who they are and for the choices they’ve made even if you have difficulty understanding their beliefs, motives, or actions.

B–Break Away
Break away from everything that stands in the way of what you hope to accomplish with your life.

C–Create
Create a family of friends whom you can share your hopes, dreams, sorrows, and happiness with.

D–Decide
Decide that you’ll be successful and happy come what may, and good things will find you. The roadblocks are only minor obstacles along the way.

E–Explore
Explore and experiment. The world has much to offer, and you have much to give. And every time you try something new, you’ll learn more about yourself.

F–Forgive
Forgive and forget. Grudges only weigh you down and inspire unhappiness and grief. Soar above it, and remember that everyone makes mistakes.

G–Grow
Leave the childhood monsters behind. They can no longer hurt you or stand in your way.

H–Hope
Hope for the best and never forget that anything is possible as long as you remain dedicated to the task.

I–Ignore
Ignore the negative voice inside your head. Focus instead on your goals and remember your accomplishments. Your past success is only a small inkling of what the future holds.

J–Journey
Journey to new worlds, new possibilities, by remaining open-minded. Try to learn something new every day, and you’ll grow.

K–Know
Know that no matter how bad things seem, they’ll always get better. The warmth of spring always follows the harshest winter.

L–Love
Let love fill your heart instead of hate. When hate is in your heart, there’s room for nothing else, but when love is in your heart, there’s room for endless happiness.
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8 Tips For Disliking A Person Less

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 23:55 No Comments

Some people are part of your life, whether you want them there or not. What if you don´t have the warmest of feelings for your boss? Your mother-in-law? Your next-door neighbor?

It´s easy to come up with a mental catalog of all the ways in which that person could change to be less annoying, domineering, passive-aggressive, arrogant, etc.-but the fact is, you can´t change anyone but yourself.

Here are some tips about how to help yourself cultivate more friendly feelings. It´s quite a strain to hide feelings of dislike;  if you can manage to change your feelings, you´ll be much happier. It´s hard, but not impossible.

1. Seek contact. This is a bit counter-intuitive. If you don’t like someone, you probably feel like avoiding that person, but because of the psychological phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect, we tend to like people better the more we see them.

2. Do nice things for that person. “We prefer to see those to whom we do good than those
who do good to us,” as La Rochefoucauld observed.

3. Give that person a brief touch. Subliminal touching, i.e., touching a person so unobtrusively that it´s not noticed, increases people´s sense of well-being and positive feelings.

4. Lighten up. Joke about whatever annoys you, and if you can manage it, laugh about it with that person, or poke fun at your own reaction. Nothing neutralizes bad feelings like a good laugh.
This can be tough, however.

5. Act friendly. We think we act because of the way we feel, but often we feel because of the way we act. So act the way you want to feel. This is uncannily effective-just try it.

6. Resist criticizing that person. When you voice your complaints, they assume a solidity in your mind that´s hard to eliminate. When your thoughts remain unspoken, they can more easily be changed.

7. Remember happy shared experiences. Recalling good times elevates mood and will help warm your feelings.

8. Be grateful. Reflecting on reasons to feel grateful, instead of reasons to be angry or annoyed, will help change your view.   We think we act because of the way we feel, but often we feel because of the way we act.  So act the way you want to feel. This is uncannily effective-just try it.

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