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Archive for the ‘happiness’ Category

Nine Choices Extremely Happy People Make

Posted in good life, happiness, Inspiration, Journaling, mental health, positive psychology, writing, tagged , , , , on April 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

four women standing on mountain
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

In “How We Choose to be Happy,” authors Rick Foster and Greg Hicks identify Nine choices that extremely happy people make. What are those choices? According to Foster and Hicks the happiest people:

1. Consciously choose happiness over unhappiness
2. Choose to accept full responsibility for their thoughts, actions, and feelings
3. Choose to look deeply inside of themselves to determine what makes them uniquely happy vs. looking to others to learn what should make them happy
4. Choose to keep what makes them happy central in their lives
5. Choose to convert problems into opportunities and find meaning in even the most painful times
6. Choose to be open to new opportunities and remain flexible and ready to adapt when the unexpected occurs
7. Choose to possess a deep and ongoing appreciation for all that is good in their lives and to stay present focussed
8. Choose to give of themselves generously and without expectation of being rewarded
9. Choose to be honest with themselves and others

How many of these choices do you regularly make?  If you were to commit to making these nine choices every day, how might your life be different?  What might you be doing differently?  How might you be thinking and feeling differently?  I think I’ll make this my journal assignment for tonight.  Join me?

 

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A Blessing a Day

Posted in awe and wonder, good life, happiness, spirituality on August 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

lifes companion
In “Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest,” Christina Baldwin suggests the following practice before going to sleep. First, pause and review the day, and then write a brief statement, selecting one experience that you’ve recalled that you are willing to acknowledge as a spiritual gift from the day. Complete your entry with the words “Thank you.” Baldwin also suggests that you circle or highlight these entries in your regular journal so that you can find and read them easily or purchase a special notebook specifically for this nightly exercise that you can keep by your bed. It’s remarkable how a simple act practiced daily can have such a significant impact on one’s life. Try it for 30 days and see what happens…

Here is mine from last night: “I watched two young girls work diligently to save a crab that had been stranded on the shore. Each time one of them would manage to help it into the water, the surf would tumble and roll it back onto the beach again. Finally, the girls succeeded in bringing it far enough out into the frigid Atlantic that it did not make another futile return to the beach. It seemed to regain its equilibrium and went on its way. I was touched by the girls altruism and determination. Thank you.”

What will you be thankful for this night?

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The Psychology of Your Future Self

Posted in happiness, mental health, resiliance, wisdom on June 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

In his TED talk, “The Psychology of Your Future Self,” Dan Gilbert observed, “At every stage of our lives we make decisions that will profoundly influence the lives of the people we’re going to become…”

The choices that we make today often have far more reaching effects than we realize. This video reminded me of how important it is to keep this in mind as I make choices today.

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I Will Not Die an Unlived Life

Posted in awe and wonder, death, good life, happiness, healing, hope, Inspiration, meaning, mental health, Poetry, resiliance, transformation, wisdom on November 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Art by Steve Hanks, Bookends

Art by Steve Hanks, Bookends

One easy way that you can tell which books in my library have touched or taught me the most would be to notice which are the most marked up.  I came across a book just the other day that is filled with yellow highlights, it’s Dawna Markova’s, “I Will Not Die an Unlived Life.”   Beautiful and wise.  Reminding us of what’s sacred,  asking us what it would look like to live our lives “fully, sensually alive, and passionately, on purpose.”   Encouraging us to live days that are “a sweet and slow ceremony” and nudging us as winter approaches to let go of “what no longer is alive, to get bare enough to find the bones of what is important” to us.

“I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible;
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit. ”

~Dawna Markova~

 

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Maya Angelou on Letters to My Daughter

Posted in awe and wonder, good life, happiness, healing, hope, Inspiration, wisdom, women on September 23, 2013| 1 Comment »

More wonderful wisdom from Maya Angelou…

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Discovering Meaning: Living and Loving the Good Life

Posted in consumerism, crisis, good life, happiness, Inspiration, meaning, simple living, simplicity, wisdom, tagged , , , , , , on June 16, 2013| 5 Comments »

I’d like to warmly and humbly share a gift with you today in honor of Father’s day. For the rest of this month you can listen to the audiobook, “Discovering Meaning,” for free! “Discovering Meaning: Living and Loving the Good Life” is the second of four audiobooks in the “BirthQuake: Journey to Wholeness” series.

“The Birthquake: Journey to Wholeness series is one of those rare finds written by a psychotherapist that not only enlightens, inspires, and comforts – it befriends and embraces the listener. It’s the culmination of the author’s many years of research, clinical experience and perhaps most importantly, her own life lessons. The BirthQuake series is an invaluable tool for anyone who has ever struggled or stands anxiously at a crossroad.”

Listen to Part One
Listen to Part Two

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Becoming Holy: Three Questions to Ask Each Day

Posted in awe and wonder, good life, happiness, healing, hope, Inspiration, meaning, positive psychology, resiliance, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I listened to a talk by Jean Houston on Gaiam TV today and was moved tremendously by one observation she made in particular. She noted that each of us gets wounded during our life times, and that if we live long enough, we become so full of holes that we ultimately become holy.

My own life has taught me that my wounds will ultimately diminish or enrich me, depending largely upon whether I meet them with a closed fist or an open heart. I’ve also come to understand to my amazement that an ordinary day can be transformed from the mundane to the holy not so much by what happens during the course of it, but by what questions I choose to ask of myself when I first encounter it.

Michael Beckwith urges us to ask the following three questions each and every day.

How can I grow?

How can I give?

What can I celebrate?

I’ve found that every morning that I ask myself these three questions and then commit to living the answers by the end of the day, my life is so much more likely to be experienced as the profound gift that it is.

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The Surprising Science Behind Happiness

Posted in good life, happiness, mental health, positive psychology, tagged , , on May 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

In a short TED talk, Nancy Etcoff, evolutionary psychologist and faculty member at Harvard Medical school, discusses (among other things) what cognitive science can tell us about the ways in which we attempt to achieve and increase our happiness, how surprisingly little it has to do with our circumstances, and its effects on our bodies. Some of what she shares may very well surprise you.

Here’s one brief quote from her talk, “…people are happiest when in flow, when they’re absorbed in something out in the world, when they’re with other people, when they’re active, engaged in sports, focusing on a loved one, learning, having sex, whatever. They’re not sitting in front of the mirror trying to figure themselves out, or thinking about themselves. These are not the periods when you feel happiest…”

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One of the Greatest Discoveries of Our Era

Posted in good life, happiness, healing, hope, mental health, positive psychology, resiliance, transformation, tagged , , , on March 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

Diane Ackerman wrote in the New York Times, “A relatively new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you.” A message well worth reminding ourselves of daily.

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What Can Offer You More Money, Power, Freedom, Greater Health and Can Help Save the World? Ask Roger Doiron.

Posted in collective action, community, consumerism, happiness, health, hope, shared abundance, simple living, sustainability, tagged , , , , on December 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In a funny, thought provoking, (sometimes scary) and inspiring TED talk of less than 20 minutes, Roger Doiron (one of Maine’s own) shares how growing our own gardens can improve our health and well-being, increase our wealth, power and freedom, and help save the world. Here are just three of the many facts that Doiron shares during his talk:

Around the world both Hunger AND obesity is on the rise

To keep up with our expanding population, more food will need to be grown over the next fifty years than has been produced thus far during the past 10,000 years COMBINED and we will need to produce this food with LESS – less oil, water, soil, climate stability and time.

Our yards need not simply be yards, they can truly be full service green grocers!

You might want to visit Doiron’s wonderful site, Kitchen Gardners International: A Global Community Cultivating Change where you’ll find information, community, recipes, resources and more.

Here’s just a very small taste of what this website can offer you:

How to plant a garden in the snow
How to give Eco-friendly and budget-friendly gifts
How to connect with and learn from other gardners in your community and around the world
How new low tech technology can assist in growing food in arid environments

Disclaimer: I do not personally know or have ever had contact with Roger Doiron. I simply believe in his work and want to promote it. I firmly believe in the healing power of both nature and community, healthy eating, and living sustainably, consciously, and responsibly.

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