Give Me 5 Minutes And I’ll Show You How To Get What You Want Out Of Life

I’ve gotten in a rut lately. I’m not particularly motivated and each day is blending quietly into another. Some of this is due to the cold of winter settling in and some due to allowing each day to be easy and repeatable.  Ever go through these phases in life?

I’ve decided to give myself a serious attitude adjustment by understanding my daily habits and finding out how they REALLY make me feel. Do they motivate me? Inspire me? Make me content? Am I learning? Do I find meaning in what I do? This weekend I’ve visited my Dad, slept in a bit, read a few books, downloaded some new music, and wrote this article. Here is what I’m looking for.

Contentment. We usually refer to this as happiness, but I like the word contentment. It’s that fuzzy warm feeling, like a warm blanket wrapped around you on a cold day while reading a good book.

Meaning. Is what I’m doing providing me meaning? Will it benefit me long term?

Knowledge. Am I learning from this activity? Is it opening my eyes to new things?

Pride. Am I proud of what I’m doing? Do I feel accomplishment?  Is it making me better as person?

Inspire. Am I being inspired and motivated by my actions and behaviours?

Love. Am I becoming a more loving person?

Now I’ll list a few things I’ve done this weekend and rate them from a scale of 1-10.

Visiting my Dad.  Love -10. Pride -8,

Writing this article. Meaning -10. Pride- 10,  Inpsire- 10, Meainng -10

Sleeping in.  Pride 3, meaning 2,

Hmm, I did not work out, slept in and procrastinated on a few household tasks I was supposed to do.

As you can see certain activities are high and provide me with what I really want out of life. Some are showing that I’m wasting my time.

I challenge you to take a good look at your life and begin to see what daily habits are benefiting you the most both short and long term. List out these values and rate yourself. You may get your ass off the couch and begin to start building the life you really want.

I’m going to build a work sheet in the future for all of you to use.  I think it’s a fabulous idea.

Please retweet this article to all your good buddies  : )  Thanks!!

2 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress and Find More Joy

As we drown in information overload and stay glued to our computers we live an increasingly unnatural life.  There is no way our brain can keep up with the amount of information we are subject to every day.

The amount of electronic devices that deliver information to us grows at an incredible rate. We have smart phones, tablets and don’t forget the lowly personal computer. Many people own all three devices. Billions of websites and hundreds of thousands of apps offer every imaginable type of information at the touch of our fingertips.

We text and Facebook our friends at an astonishing rate , spreading ourselves thin while losing those deep personal friendships that face to face camaraderie creates.

And don’t get me started about business productivity. We all know we are meant to produce at a high rate while the bulk of us don’t receive a raise near the rate of inflation.

Humans are meant to connect with nature. We need to find time to disconnect from the smart phones, take a walk in the woods, breath and clear our minds. I take a walk at lunch every day to get out of the office and see the horizon of the sky expand before me. I always come back in refreshed. I try to walk the dog as much as possible in the woods near my house.  Slowing down the information being thrown at us and reconnecting with nature is a simple change, yet is surprising how it puts a smile on your face and lifts a weary heart.

Seek true friends you can be honest and genuine with. I’m not sure if Facebook or texting is the best way to forge a deep friendship. Having heart to heart talks and opening up to someone, as well as having a shoulder to lean on, is essential to being a happy and well adjusted human being. Without close friends life is that much tougher and uncertain. Deep friendships allow us to express our fears, share laughs and celebrate victories. So the next time you think about texting or Facebooking how about meeting up for supper instead?

Less stress, more joy. It just takes a small effort every day.

Using The 80/20 Principal To Create A Fabulous Life

At work we achieve our highest value 80% during 20% of our time.  In our personal lives we are happiest and add 80% of greatness to ourselves, family and friends, 20% of the time.

If 80% of our time leads to only 20% of our most happy times, what can we do to better use our time?

I want you to really think about this now.

What activities bring you the greatest happiness? Why aren’t you focusing on these activities? Is watching television really bringing you happiness? What activities can you cut out?

Think about it. Start doing the things that truly make you happy right now.

List them out and make them lifetime habits.

Happiness Is The Ultimate Goal

When making life changes isn’t happiness your ultimate goal? Isn’t a life filled with joy, contentment, love and those soft wonderful moments what you strive for?

Success isn’t happiness. Find happiness and success will follow right behind. Find positivity and success will be right behind. But always, always find gratitude.

All the experts are with me on this one. Gratitude is a seriously beautiful building block to everlasting happiness.

I am grateful for having a warm and furry pet to hug.

I am grateful for plenty of foods and an abundance of water.

I am grateful to live in an open and uncensored society.

Think about 3 things you are grateful about every day. Let go of the constant flow of bad news. Squash the media. Block advertising out of your life.

Find the beauty. Find your connection to nature. Love your life.

6 Factors Guaranteed To Promote Happiness

I’ve read at least two dozen books and written 56 articles related to happiness. Here are the top 6 factors (in order) which seem to always repeat. Think about making some life changes around them!

Nurture relationships

We are happiness when we are around our closest friends.  Close friends also provide much needed support and guidance in difficult times.

Nurture your health

Taking control of your body, be it meditation or exercise reduces stress, worry and promotes calm and positive emotions. Try taking a walk instead of having a drink after work.  Meditate in the morning instead of rushing out the door.

Express your gratitude

Appreciating life in general and all of its small gifts on a regular basis will always boost your happiness. Write out an appreciation audit (list everything you are grateful for) and go over it at least once a week. You will love this exercise and it will always bring you back to what is truly important in your life.

Be kind to others

Doing acts of kindness will lead to others to like and appreciate you more.  This will improve your social relationships. Kindness also increases confidence, optimism, compassion and promotes purpose and meaning in life.

Live In the present moment and find joy

Worrying about the future is prevalent in our information drenched society. Bad news saturates our day. Learn to live in the present moment and clear your mind of endless chatter. Yes….smell the flowers… find a sense of calm…. take in a beautiful morning.  Each morning I stand outside and take in the fresh air while marvelling at the sounds of the world waking up.  THEN I get in my car.

Devote yourself to a goal

Happy people find meaning and purpose in life through committing goals. We become more confident as we accomplish our goals. Finding a goal provides structure in our lives. Find a goal that will be personally rewarding and meaningful for you today!

Don’t Wait For Your Life To Change – Change it

Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed

Click to link

Change Your Life For 5 Dollars A Month

The deluxe version of My Life Changes is a cheap 5 dollars a month. It’s really, really cheap compared to the cost of developing it.

For 5 dollars a month you get E-mail reminders, Private journal, Archiving, a motivating timeline and no Advertisements!!

We spend 5 dollars on a coffee at Starbucks or a Happy meal. Why not consider 5 dollars a month on My Life Changes?

It would really help me add more tools to this website and give you all these great options!

I’ll even give you this cool link to a hilarious comic about where not to spend your hard earned money.

This is how I feel about buying apps

Thanks!

Terry

Owner My Life Changes

Love – The Ultimate Life Change

If one of your personal values is love and you have it as a core value in your  tracker, do you have a good definition of love?   Or is your definition just warm and fuzzy?

In Barbara Frederickson’s book Positivity she comes up with a pretty good definition.

Positivity comes in ten forms.

Joy.

Gratitude.

Serenity.

Interest

Hope.

Pride.

Amusement.

Inspiration.

Awe.

Love.

Why is love at the bottom of this list? Because if you mix all of these up in a blender… you get love.

Think about a time you felt love. At  different points in time it had most of these elements in it. When you define love as a personal value, whether love of a person or love of the world it helps to remember what makes up love.

You just may want a little of all of these positive elements in there.

Just to remind you what love really is.

See How Easily You Can Discover Your Core Personal Values

What behaviors from others drive you crazy? What INFURIATES you? Which behaviors force you to draw a line in the sand?

These are the questions you should ask yourself. These are the questions that will point you to your most cherished core personal values. They are the opposites to what you really stand for.  It’s usually pretty easy to figure out what you don’t like.

Have you seen a boss humiliate someone in a meeting?

Does sitting in traffic piss you off?

Does the greed of Wall Street enrage you?

Are you feeling like a prisoner in your cubicle?

Is the stress in your life killing your health?

Now think about what values are the opposites of these feelings?

How about respect?

Joy.

Freedom.

Health.

Peace.

Compassion.

Giving.

Your values are your moral compass, a source of energy and most of all they motivate you.

My most cherished value is freedom. Freedom inspires me to build a life where I can work anywhere in the world. Where I can make my own rules. Where I can share my dreams with others.

What are your core personal values?

Who Else Wants Life’s Happiest Moments?

When I was in Florida a few weeks ago I would stand by the pool enclosure and deeply inhale the fresh morning air. Our backyard was an open field with woods to the right. After a long winter the smell of dew and earth invaded my senses and I felt the spread of contentment glow inside of me.

It doesn’t take miracles, big money or iPads to experience the best things in life. Sometimes it’s just the soft and simple moments that are the happiest. Now I walk the dog in the small forest nearby and I smell and feel springtime in the air again. In the middle of our walk I stop, crouch and listen to nature waking up.

I also love standing on the edge of the driveway on a brisk and blue morning. After taking in the lacy streaks of blue and gold in the morning sky, the soft chirps of birds and crisp morning air, only then am I ready to hop in the car.

What are your happiest moments?

Maybe it’s time to make a few more.

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