happiness
Happiness, defined; things that help you find happiness, keep it, and share it with others.
“So what?”
“Attitude is a little thing that can make a big difference” was the brightly colored banner posted on the main wall in my elementary school’s lunchroom. From the time we are young, we are taught that if we can have a “good” attitude then success will be ours. What we aren’t taught is how to program them. Attitudes can feel like something out of our control. We can feel ourselves start to spiral down a rabbit hole of negativity when the lady in front of us grabs the last cinnamon bagel at the coffee shop. They can feel like something that is just happening to us in the moment with no way to get out or life raft to grab onto. And in a way, they are. They’re the reaction that our minds have programmed in us to protect us from anything “bad” or “unknown” or “unexpected”. The issue is that this programming doesn't always take into account all the wonderful things that can come out of these “unexpected” moments. It takes a lot of retraining to be able to create the attitudes we want to experience so I’ve come up with some tools that by utilizing regularly, I believe can help bring a little more clarity and joy to our attitudes and to our lives.
By Ashley Andersen5 years ago in Motivation
New Year: Knew You
I knew you. I knew you before you knew yourself. I watched you tear down your opportunities because you believed that you weren't worthy, and I silently screamed, "Stop." My unspoken words fell on death ears because you couldn't hear me.
By Jennifer S. Benson 5 years ago in Motivation
Of ‘New Year, Who Dis?’ Resolutions and Why Old You is Enough
Please do not make a big deal out of New Year’s resolutions this year. Simply look at the past few years, dating back to Instagram’s world takeover around 2013, and analyse how that has worked out for you, love. All these years one mantra prevailed. All can be well if you only were to wake up at seven AM every day to work out for an hour, eat clean like in those ‘Harper’s Bazaar Celebrity What I eat in a day’ videos, drink tons of water, and meditate to match the physical glow up to a mental one. You see other people do it so much on social media until it becomes a trend, and the alternative leaves you doubting the value of your own life. You, unlike every other perfect human being out there, lack the determinacy to lead such a lifestyle. Of course, it is possible, considering ‘you can achieve what you put your mind to’ and all. The likelihood of possibilities is not really what is at stake here, is it? The real question you need to ask yourself is, is any of this necessary?
By Isabella Wimmer5 years ago in Motivation
My Body Became A Liability
I hopped on my bike and started riding. The day was warm and the sunlight broke through the trees with majesty. My bike isn’t fancy, but I love my beat up silver Specialized. I always wear my helmet for safety, but now I add my facemask. It’s Massachusetts’s law to wear it outside and I wear it like a “chin-diaper” pulling it up over my nose when passing folks either on a bike or people walking on the path. I love the power I feel in my legs, pedaling my body through space on this bike. It is at once, exhilarating. My body tingles with sheer joy.
By Yvonne Mendez5 years ago in Motivation
New Year, New Me
I’ll be the first to admit, positive thinking is not my strong suit. I can be cynical, and I’ve battled with periods of depression. After getting through 2020 in all it’s unpleasantness, I’ve decided to try and change that. I’m realistic enough to know it may not work as well as I hope it will, but that won’t stop me from trying.
By Erin O'Neil5 years ago in Motivation
Don't Worry Be Happy
The first step in to not worrying and being happy is to have no worries. I know that is easier said than done. It is like someone once told me “Why borrow worry?” I have also heard it said that worry will still your joy. Here are a few ideas of how to keep your worrying in check so it does not steal all your joy: therefor, allowing you to be happy. One suggestion I have is to schedule a certain amount of time for worrying. Let us say 10 min a day. I found this helpful because sometimes worrying can easily become an obsessive behavior for some. Also, you can analyze your worries for validity to determine how likely they are to come true. This can be helpful to determine how much if any time needs to be devoted to worrying. You can also brainstorm possible solutions to your worries. Sometimes there are no solutions, and that is okay, that is when you need to learn to let it go and realize sometimes somethings are beyond our control. When we learn to “let go” it can be a very liberating experience. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. One of the things I have learned with age is to roll with the flow.
By Paula Winemiller5 years ago in Motivation
Hey 2021
It's a warm, sunny summers day here in amazing Western Australia. The blistering sun rose into the baby blue sky over the tops of green trees lining the summits of the Darling Range cradling the valleys below from the dry, humid winds of the Gibson Desert. As the cool fanned air whispers over my sheets and fans the drapes apart, the streams of sunlight fill my room and bathe upon my skin, lighting my face to open my eyes. Awakened and grateful to be alive I use my inner core strength to pull my refreshed body from the horizontal position into a sitting grace to reach for my phone sitting on the window sill. Checking my WhattsApp, he hasn't messaged me yet so I send a quick Good Morning x and pull the sheets back. My long legs slide out of the covers and softly land onto the cold vinyl floor. Lifting myself into a stand and walking out my bedroom into the dark hall towards the toilet.
By Perth Local Guide5 years ago in Motivation
The Universe within Us
The Universe Is a place with many stars, galaxies and planets and a cosmic web that connects all. Stars are born and stars die everyday. Like us humans we are born, we live our lives and then we die. Its like creating a black hole for all that loved you. Like the stars connected, we too are connected to the cosmic web of this vast universe, just because we cant see it doesn't mean its not there. Information travels to every single device we use via radio waves, something that cannot be seen, but we know its there.
By Christine Barger5 years ago in Motivation
Mindset and Moving
It’s the middle of a pandemic, and I decided to move across the country. The main reason for my move was my school placement. I’m finishing my Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology and because of the pandemic, placements were short in my very large, but almost constantly stay-at-home-ordered city. I decided to expand my search and applied to a small city in the beautiful Canadian Rockies, nearby where my younger brother lives. I pulled off this whole move in just a few weeks and by January 4, 2021 I was in a new place, where I have only 2 friends plus my brother, but know no one else. Not to mention a placement in community mental health which is a complete career change from what I was doing before. Yet with all of this, I’m feeling comfortable. How is that possible?
By Kelsey Harris5 years ago in Motivation
The Importance of Escapism
The Importance of Escapism We are born then we die. We work, we earn and we eat then we die. There has to be much more to life then the cradle to the grave, there should be more to existence, isn’t there? Well I have news for you, there is far more then merely life and death. There is far more then one great thing, that one thing that is beyond substantial. This thing is our imagination. It separates us from the animals and gives us motivation and drive. Our imagination can affect our health and ultimately our environment. When a person goes through life a they may be bombarded with opportunities to consume various forms of media or entertainment. While it’s easy to get discouraged with these various forms of media, we need to look at them differently. These things are forms of escapism and also they are exercises for our imagination. There is far more to life then merely life and death; there is also creation and love. The purpose of life is to create and to make and to touch others with the things we make and hopefully that will inspire others to make as well and this will be an ongoing ripple effect. Imagination is one of the strongest forces in the universe, without it we wouldn’t be here, the things around us would not exist and meaning would be sapped from our very existence. Without imagination, humanity would not be motivated to develop the complex civilizations that it has throughout history. All of that aside, it’s important to indulge in some light escapism at times, we need to treat our imagination well so we can have a far more robust perspective of reality. I don not merely mean going through the motions, I mean it is good to lose yourself and follow your imagination where it may lead. I have a belief that your imagination can shape your reality for the better or for the worse. If one has a healthy imagination then they themselves will be healthy, and I know half of you are rolling your eyes right now. However, there is science to back this up proving that your thoughts can affect your stress levels and there have been studies to show that it can go for beyond that. The main thing is that if someone does not have something to believe in or even something to motivate him or her then it can cause a decline in mental health. On the surface, escapism can be dismissed at merely consumerism, however I believe it is something else. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to indulge in fantasy. Its like going to Disney world, there’s some people who go there who think it is a total waste of money and time, however there are others who go there to be in another world and to indulge in that world as much as possible. Take a moment to create something, let your mind wander and just make something. There is something purely beautiful about the creative process where something just occurs from a mash of ideas. Indulging in the imagination of others will help to inspire you to create and this will inspire others to create as well. In essence there is more to life then merely life and death. The in-between is filled with an endless array of opportunities. What you could do, or see, or make is entirely up to you but sometimes we need a little spark to remind us what we are capable of. This is the importance of escapism.
By Myk Media5 years ago in Motivation
