If the previous post does not inspire you, or tease the smile out onto your face, then maybe these 3 tips will. Of course, you have to do them in order for them to work, although just reading them made me smile! Again, these tips have been taken from one of my Goddess newsletters, and again, I just had to share them with you! Written by Michelle - one of the authors on Goddess
Tip 1:- Do A Handstand - once you're upside down, that smile magically appears :)
Tip 2:- Put your foot out and trip your cat - that put a huge smile on my face today but I am waiting for him to avenge which may not keep the smile for too long :) Warning - do not trip the dog, they get confused and fall. (That will also apply to humans I guess! Maybe not a great idea, and what do you do if you have not got a cat? but I have to admit, just reading that tip, did make me smile!)
Tip 3:- Buy something really expensive. If that doesn't put a smile on your face, I'm sure the 'look' you get from your spouse will :)
Now as I said, these 3 tips came from one of my Goddess newsletters. They are not necessarily my 3 tips - for one thing, I can no longer do handstands due to a physical disability! But I am sure that you get the point. Make yourself a list of 3 things to do, or to say, or to look at, which will help you smile and feel good on days which are just a little bit difficult and hard. Keep the list with you, make copies and put up in places where you can always see it. That way, your smile will never be far away. And that can only be a good thing!
Monday, 25 October 2010
Boost your self-esteem the NLP way!!
So it's been a while, for reasons I wont go into. But after deciding to re-read a lot of my old Goddess email newsletters for inspiration, I came across this one on NLP. This is a great practice for those who find their thoughts forever in darkness and/or surrounded by negativity. On an impulse, I decided I had to share this with you all. This is taken as is from the Goddess Newsletter about the goddess Amaterasu, happy new energy and to fix your self-esteem using NLP.
To get an idea of how NLP works, here is an article by Shlomo Vaknin, which describes an exercise to stop the flow of negative images, and at least for the present, will guide your mind back to the right tracks...
Step 1: Create an image of you as if you see yourself from the outside. Just for a few moments, try to imagine what would you look like if you saw yourself standing or sitting there, next to your computer, staring at the screen. Imagine the clothes you are wearing right now, the color of your hair and eyes, the facial expressions, the posture, the general look of you in a dissociated image.
Step 2: Adjust that image to present a positive look, even mildly positive. Ignore the little flaws that normally would catch your eyes in the mirror, and see the big picture, you as a whole person, sitting there on the chair, looking at these words, feeling some sort of serenity even just a little bit, it will grow stronger in a few moments.
Keep adjusting the image; play with sub modalities - make the image brighter, make it larger, play a quiet song you like in the background (only in your mind), make your image-self smile softly, enlarge any of your strong and positive characteristics.
The idea in step 2 is to maximise the positive points in you and minimise the negative ones. Keep working on that image, changing small details one at a time to make it a beautiful positive and accurate representation of who you really are.
Step 3: Exaggerate. We are all doing it in the negative side of our lives, making every little flaw a huge setback, a zit becomes a huge sign saying "look at me", the few cellulite bumps on our belly makes us believe everyone are starring at our fat-self. Of course it's not real, so why not doing it for our own benefit? Exaggerate the positive sides of you. You have blue eyes that everyone adore? Make them brighter and larger. You like your nose best? Focus on it. You have a great sense of humour, imagine how good you'd feel having other people smile from your words. Make it big, sensational and positive. There is no one way better, just play with it.
Step 4: Make that image more powerful by comparing it with the image you made in step 1. You can tell the differences because you did a lot to change the image. What is the difference in feelings? Where are those feelings located? Compare the images and approve to yourself that the second image, the more positively powerful one, is the one you'd like to keep with you today.
Note: This is not a one-time-fix exercise. You will want to practice and play with this short by powerful exercise as many times as you need. It is especially useful when you want to lighten up your day, maybe after an emotional event, a time when you feel down and want to cheer up. It is a simple but useful way to make you feel good, for a change.
I sincerely urge you to take these steps, and then build on them. NLP is a very powerful tool, and has proven itself over and over again. There are now a lot of places offering courses on becoming a qualified NLP facilitator and practitioner. Just think, this could very well be the first step in an exciting new career - helping others to be happy! What a wonderful way to live!!
To get an idea of how NLP works, here is an article by Shlomo Vaknin, which describes an exercise to stop the flow of negative images, and at least for the present, will guide your mind back to the right tracks...
Step 1: Create an image of you as if you see yourself from the outside. Just for a few moments, try to imagine what would you look like if you saw yourself standing or sitting there, next to your computer, staring at the screen. Imagine the clothes you are wearing right now, the color of your hair and eyes, the facial expressions, the posture, the general look of you in a dissociated image.
Step 2: Adjust that image to present a positive look, even mildly positive. Ignore the little flaws that normally would catch your eyes in the mirror, and see the big picture, you as a whole person, sitting there on the chair, looking at these words, feeling some sort of serenity even just a little bit, it will grow stronger in a few moments.
Keep adjusting the image; play with sub modalities - make the image brighter, make it larger, play a quiet song you like in the background (only in your mind), make your image-self smile softly, enlarge any of your strong and positive characteristics.
The idea in step 2 is to maximise the positive points in you and minimise the negative ones. Keep working on that image, changing small details one at a time to make it a beautiful positive and accurate representation of who you really are.
Step 3: Exaggerate. We are all doing it in the negative side of our lives, making every little flaw a huge setback, a zit becomes a huge sign saying "look at me", the few cellulite bumps on our belly makes us believe everyone are starring at our fat-self. Of course it's not real, so why not doing it for our own benefit? Exaggerate the positive sides of you. You have blue eyes that everyone adore? Make them brighter and larger. You like your nose best? Focus on it. You have a great sense of humour, imagine how good you'd feel having other people smile from your words. Make it big, sensational and positive. There is no one way better, just play with it.
Step 4: Make that image more powerful by comparing it with the image you made in step 1. You can tell the differences because you did a lot to change the image. What is the difference in feelings? Where are those feelings located? Compare the images and approve to yourself that the second image, the more positively powerful one, is the one you'd like to keep with you today.
Note: This is not a one-time-fix exercise. You will want to practice and play with this short by powerful exercise as many times as you need. It is especially useful when you want to lighten up your day, maybe after an emotional event, a time when you feel down and want to cheer up. It is a simple but useful way to make you feel good, for a change.
I sincerely urge you to take these steps, and then build on them. NLP is a very powerful tool, and has proven itself over and over again. There are now a lot of places offering courses on becoming a qualified NLP facilitator and practitioner. Just think, this could very well be the first step in an exciting new career - helping others to be happy! What a wonderful way to live!!
Monday, 6 September 2010
Dance Like No One's Watching!!
Unfortunately there has not been that much happiness in the news, or around recently and I had promised myself not to blog until I had much more happiness to share.... and that has happened today with an email I received! It contained the below article and thought it would be fantastic to share with you all!
It is important to realize as well that no one else has the power to make you happy, that no situation is the root cause of your happiness. If you continually think that your happiness is dependent upon someone else, or if you have this, or if that happens, you will never actually be happy. Being happy comes from within, and the sooner people realize this, the happier they would be! It took a long time for me to realize this, and since doing so, I have been more happy than I was before. It is important as well to share your happiness - a smile to a stranger (or a loved one) will make them feel special, and will more than likely smile back. I believe that 1 smile to someone can travel the world - and can you imagine the stories it would come back with? How it made someone who was sad, feel better? I think that is a wonderful thought, and so, whenever I see someone who catches my eye, I smile at them! I ask that you do that today - and see how that makes you feel, and how many smiles you get back! At the end of the day, I believe that you too will be feeling happiness within!
It is important to realize as well that no one else has the power to make you happy, that no situation is the root cause of your happiness. If you continually think that your happiness is dependent upon someone else, or if you have this, or if that happens, you will never actually be happy. Being happy comes from within, and the sooner people realize this, the happier they would be! It took a long time for me to realize this, and since doing so, I have been more happy than I was before. It is important as well to share your happiness - a smile to a stranger (or a loved one) will make them feel special, and will more than likely smile back. I believe that 1 smile to someone can travel the world - and can you imagine the stories it would come back with? How it made someone who was sad, feel better? I think that is a wonderful thought, and so, whenever I see someone who catches my eye, I smile at them! I ask that you do that today - and see how that makes you feel, and how many smiles you get back! At the end of the day, I believe that you too will be feeling happiness within!
Dance Like No One's Watching
by Crystal Boyd
We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we're frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We'll certainly be happy when they're out of that stage.
We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?
Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."
This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with...and remember that time waits for no one.
So, stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you're off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you're born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Bring on the Happiness!!
There is so much bad and depressing news out in the world today, that it amazes me that anyone can be happy! And indeed, there are probably just as many unhappy people out there, as there are stories. However, it is not all bad, there are plenty of happy people, and just as many happy news stories. But how many people would turn on the TV to watch happy news, or buy the daily papers to read about happy instances in and around the world? I am guessing, that the people in-charge of editing what goes out, believes that no one would buy/watch anything happy. Does happy news make money??
Well, I believe that it would, and in some circles, it does. But here is a question - how many pages would there be in a newspaper which printed nothing but happy news? I think that maybe, just maybe, it would have more pages than the average paper does. That is just my opinion, and I wonder if anyone would compile a daily/weekly newspaper just with happy news. Maybe I will....... there could be a page of puzzles, positive affirmations, delightful pictures and interviews with people who have had a wonderful experience or some fabulous good luck!
One piece of fab news this weekend was about a little 2yr old boy who was reunited with his toy rabbit! From what I remember, he and his family had gone on holiday, and quite by accident, this toy rabbit got left at a local cafe where they had been holidaying. The lovely owner started a facebook page, and then somehow it was picked up by a newspaper, who then arranged for the toy bunny to be taken back to his little distraught owner. Even though he was 2yrs old, he knew his bunny had gone missing and I can only imagine his delight at getting him back! More heartwarming stories like that need to be shouted out, and not hidden on the inside pages where it could be missed.
It just goes to show that there are people out there who believe in doing acts of kindness, and it takes just one person to make a difference in someone else's life. A smile can travel around the world, and that can be traced back to one person. A kind word or comment to a stranger can turn their day from a mediocre one to a pleasant one. Simple.
Being happy as well keeps you healthy and young. Studies have discovered that it takes less muscles to frown, than it does to smile. I'm not entirely sure what the actual numbers are, so if anyone knows this, I would be interested to know!
There are many ways in which to become happy, and one such way to become happy within yourself, is through daily positive affirmations. If you just simply type into Google 'daily positive affirmations' you get back 1000's of results - free to print, email subscriptions, book recommendations, sign-up free e-courses and so on.
Me, I'm a fan of Louise Hay and her range of books. After facing some difficult and hard times throughout my life, and especially recently, I felt I needed some additional help and my search took me to her. It was quite by accident as at that time I was not actively looking, but it is amazing at times, where you can end up to escape a sudden downpour of hail! I escaped into a small bookshop, almost hidden by all the other shops surrounding it, and found myself over at the bookcase which had the last copy of her 'You can heal your life' book. I picked it up, started reading it and before I knew it, the hail downpour had stopped and almost an hour had gone by! I knew then that I was going to leave the shop with it (legally!) and also knew that it was going to put me back on the right path. And you know what? I believe that it has saved me from spiraling downwards and I am not ashamed to admit it. I am now a much happier person, and daily affirmations are a part of my life. Some days are harder than others, a lot harder, and on those days I make a much more concerted effort to be happy, and to see happy and positive things. It works. Whatever you can do to make you happy, and as long as it does not hurt anyone, yourself included, then go for it.
Another thing I find that works for me is the word cupcake. Such a simple word, and yet it makes me smile no matter what mood I am in, and in that moment, I am happy. So I say a great big shoutout to CUPCAKES everywhere! and would love to know what word brings a smile to your face as well! I wonder if there is a book out there just full of smile inducing words? What is the word that Mary Poppins sings about????? oohh I feel a Google search coming on....
Well, I believe that it would, and in some circles, it does. But here is a question - how many pages would there be in a newspaper which printed nothing but happy news? I think that maybe, just maybe, it would have more pages than the average paper does. That is just my opinion, and I wonder if anyone would compile a daily/weekly newspaper just with happy news. Maybe I will....... there could be a page of puzzles, positive affirmations, delightful pictures and interviews with people who have had a wonderful experience or some fabulous good luck!
One piece of fab news this weekend was about a little 2yr old boy who was reunited with his toy rabbit! From what I remember, he and his family had gone on holiday, and quite by accident, this toy rabbit got left at a local cafe where they had been holidaying. The lovely owner started a facebook page, and then somehow it was picked up by a newspaper, who then arranged for the toy bunny to be taken back to his little distraught owner. Even though he was 2yrs old, he knew his bunny had gone missing and I can only imagine his delight at getting him back! More heartwarming stories like that need to be shouted out, and not hidden on the inside pages where it could be missed.
It just goes to show that there are people out there who believe in doing acts of kindness, and it takes just one person to make a difference in someone else's life. A smile can travel around the world, and that can be traced back to one person. A kind word or comment to a stranger can turn their day from a mediocre one to a pleasant one. Simple.
Being happy as well keeps you healthy and young. Studies have discovered that it takes less muscles to frown, than it does to smile. I'm not entirely sure what the actual numbers are, so if anyone knows this, I would be interested to know!
There are many ways in which to become happy, and one such way to become happy within yourself, is through daily positive affirmations. If you just simply type into Google 'daily positive affirmations' you get back 1000's of results - free to print, email subscriptions, book recommendations, sign-up free e-courses and so on.
Me, I'm a fan of Louise Hay and her range of books. After facing some difficult and hard times throughout my life, and especially recently, I felt I needed some additional help and my search took me to her. It was quite by accident as at that time I was not actively looking, but it is amazing at times, where you can end up to escape a sudden downpour of hail! I escaped into a small bookshop, almost hidden by all the other shops surrounding it, and found myself over at the bookcase which had the last copy of her 'You can heal your life' book. I picked it up, started reading it and before I knew it, the hail downpour had stopped and almost an hour had gone by! I knew then that I was going to leave the shop with it (legally!) and also knew that it was going to put me back on the right path. And you know what? I believe that it has saved me from spiraling downwards and I am not ashamed to admit it. I am now a much happier person, and daily affirmations are a part of my life. Some days are harder than others, a lot harder, and on those days I make a much more concerted effort to be happy, and to see happy and positive things. It works. Whatever you can do to make you happy, and as long as it does not hurt anyone, yourself included, then go for it.
Another thing I find that works for me is the word cupcake. Such a simple word, and yet it makes me smile no matter what mood I am in, and in that moment, I am happy. So I say a great big shoutout to CUPCAKES everywhere! and would love to know what word brings a smile to your face as well! I wonder if there is a book out there just full of smile inducing words? What is the word that Mary Poppins sings about????? oohh I feel a Google search coming on....
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
I did find a few other blogs which promised nothing but good and positive news, but unfortunately they were out of date, one by 7yrs! This was a shame, but there are others out there, and I promise to pass on at least one good piece of news with every blog post, but am not able to promise that it will be daily.
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