Friday, July 10, 2015
Get Happy: Ask Yourself These 4 Questions
Many people think happiness is something that is going to find them, so they spend very little time cultivating it. They allow their lives to become filled with unfulfilling situations and things, and then wonder why they are unhappy. Happiness is something you create intentionally from self inquiry and self knowledge.
“HAPPINESS is not something ready-made. It comes from YOUR own ACTIONS.”
― Dalai Lama XIV via @Terri_Cole (Click to Tweet!)
If you’re uncertain about what makes you happy here are a four questions to get you started.
What do you do in your spare time?Marthe Troly-Curtin said “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” I couldn’t agree more. Do you spend your free time doing what you love? Or do you spend it stressing about household chores or doing things for other people? Happiness starts within you. For it to flourish, you must tend to it like you would a garden. This means using some of your spare time doing things you truly enjoy.
What would you do for free?
I love helping others. I love psychology and connecting with people who are committed to personal growth. You may love cooking or dancing or decorating. Whether or not you make a career out of what you would do for free is irrelevant. You can have a career and an amazing hobby that brings you joy, on the side. Consider what makes you really happy, whether you get paid for it or not, and then do more of that.
What do you enjoy doing so much that you lose track of time while you’re doing it?
Have you ever been so into what you are doing that you completely lose track of time? Some people refer to this as being in the “zone.” This happens when your focus is so intense and you become so immersed in what you’re doing that time seems to either speed up or slow down, depending on how you look at it. This is how it feels to live in the present moment.
What are you compelled towards?
What do you dream about? What gets you excited? Notice what gets your attention and piques your interest. Trust your desires and move in their direction. Following what makes you happy will lead you to the right places.
Too often people ignore their desires. They may feel like they want to take that trip, sign up for a class or reconnect with a childhood dream, but something stops them. People have all kinds of stories and scripts to keep themselves safe and living small. Fear of change is one major reason why people don’t go after what will make them happy in life.
If you answered the above questions, hopefully now you have a bit more insight into what makes you happy, and perhaps what doesn’t. To continue the work we started today, choose one thing that you love and enjoy to add into your routine. As that becomes more of a habit, add another activity that makes you happy to your daily or weekly routine. Continue building out your life so that it becomes full of the actions and situations that bring you joy.
Remember that you get to create your happiness, and there’s no better time to start then right now.
I want to hear from you! In the comments below share with me one way you will commit to exploring your happiness. Try something new, whether it’s a daily afternoon walk or sky-diving lessons. Above all, make sure you commit to cultivating your happiness. Trust me when I say that being happy makes life easier—simply set your intention and follow through. Before you know it, your ‘ideal will be real’ as my pal Danielle LaPorte says.Enjoy cultivating your happiness and as always, take care of you.
Love Love Love
Terri
Daily Bible Quotes
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| Every day is a beautiful day for inspiration and faith from Daily Bible Quotes! | |
| It's 7/10 and here is today's scripture: | |
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Thursday, July 9, 2015
Remedies for Discouragement
When you choose to be real, there will likely be tough choices and eleventh hour changes. There will be misunderstandings, uncomfortable silences, and sometimes, there will be isolation.
When do you feel like giving up? What discourages you, or tempts you to doubt that sweetness is on the way? Now, write down three remedies for discouragement…lunch with your best friend; a visit to church; dusting off your diplomas, re-reading a love letter, swimming twenty laps; warm soup eaten in silence.
My three most regularly practiced remedies for discouragement:
1. Call Candis. She will say something so country-wise and lovely that I’ll either laugh or cry, and either is great.2. Rose hip clay face masks, preferably Eminence. Sometimes exfoliating your face also takes the slough off yer spirit.
3. Review my body of work (go back to grade school stories if I have to,) and remember that I have an agent who’s waiting for me to deliver.
4. Bonus remedy: I read some Abraham Hicks. It’s the ultimate woo woo that is usually bang on my cosmic sensibilities. The basic message: you are exactly where you are supposed to be and all is well. Have fun.
Now practice just one of your remedies this week to keep your stamina strong.
A little preventive soul love is mighty strong. @DanielleLaPorte (Click to Tweet!)
Suicide Watch to Fitness Personality
If you’re struggling, this post is for you.
I know what it’s like to wake up and be disappointed to have survived the night. To want to crawl out of your skin just to escape the pain for a few seconds. To give up.
I also know what it’s like to rise up out of that darkness and experience joy and freedom in spite of mental illness. By sharing my story, I hope to help you realize that there’s another way to live. You just have to fight for it.
From the beginning, I felt like much of my life was not my own. For years, I gave up my power to my clinical depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because I was never shown a way out. I had support from my family. I had access to therapy, medications and self-help books galore. But I didn’t take ownership of my life until it got so bad that I had no choice.I had always thought that asking for help was a sign of weakness, an admission that something was horribly and irreparably wrong. All the time I was struggling through middle school, high school, college and beyond, I held my pain inside. Of course, it came out in bursts when I got too full to contain it, which earned me the labels of “problem kid” and “crazy girl” in school. I self-medicated with drugs and alcohol, and I tried to fill my lack of self-confidence with love from others — usually the ones who didn’t love me back.
My mind was in a constant state of chaos. Finally, I reached a point where I just couldn’t see anything but a future full of the same … or worse.
So I decided to end it. At twenty-one years old, I decided to kill myself.
When I was hospitalized under suicide watch in 2005, all my choices were stripped from me. My schedule was rigid, with no exceptions. My activities were mandatory. My medications were required — and I didn’t even know what they were or why I was taking them. I couldn’t make any choices.
Once I was released from the hospital, I realized I had every choice available to me, even if I didn’t think there was a way to succeed. I could choose to seek help. I could choose to listen to my support system. I could choose to fight. I decided that I would at least try to change my life. And I did try. But I failed a lot.
For years I rode a roller coaster up and down: trying and failing, trying and failing. But the crucial difference was that every time I fell down, I got back up. I stayed determined. And finally I found something that worked: exercise.
When I started working out consistently — for reasons unrelated to my mental health — I realized how much stronger I was getting inside and outside the gym.The behavioral work I was doing with my therapist became more effective because I could focus for longer periods of time. My confidence and sense of self-efficacy strengthened as I accomplished more and more physical goals in the gym. After a good workout, I was more mindful throughout my day — which allowed me to become more aware of my defeatist thoughts, thereby giving me the power to change them.
My entire life changed when I finally realized how revolutionary fitness could be in my life. I knew that I had to share my story because if I spoke up, one person out there might discover movement as their lifesaver, too.
In 2011, I started Strong Inside Out — a site to help people become stronger than their struggle through fitness and positive action. Instead of using shame and guilt to inspire a healthy lifestyle, Strong Inside Out focuses on the mental benefits from movement: hope, confidence, mastery and courage.
Since then, I’ve taken Strong Inside Out on tour to fundraise for the suicide prevention charity To Write Love on Her Arms. I created a mindset-based workout program to help people suffering from depression and anxiety. And I experienced shifts in tons of people who felt just like I did before I chose to live this life.
Even with everything Strong Inside Out has accomplished so far, I still have so much more I want to give. I never would have known I had so much love inside if I hadn’t found my fight through fitness.
I am proof that life never goes so wrong that it can’t be made right again. I am proof that “life sentence” is an opinion. I am proof that strength grows from vulnerability.
If I leave you with one thought before you move on with your day, it’s this:You are worth fighting for! @StrongInsideOut (Click to Tweet!)
Refuse to give up your power to any thoughts, criticism or diagnoses that convince you otherwise.Meditate On This
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Meditate On
One day, when I was studying the Word, the Lord said to me, “Notice
how goodness and mercy follow you in Psalm 23:6.” Then, He brought me to
John 10:4, where it describes how the shepherd goes before the sheep
and the sheep follow him.
In a flash, the Lord opened my eyes to see a divine sequence: When you follow or pursue Him, the good shepherd, His goodness and mercy and all the blessings you need in life will follow after you! My friend, don’t pursue the blessings. Pursue the blesser—Jesus. As you pursue Him, you don’t have to be concerned about the blessings because they will follow after you! In fact, the Hebrew translation of Psalm 23:6 is much stronger and more aggressive. It literally says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall HUNT ME DOWN all the days of my life!” | ||||||||||||||||||
Today's Word with Joel and Victoria
| Today’s Scripture | |||||||||||||
| “According to your faith be it done to you.” (Matthew 9:29, ESV) | |||||||||||||
| According to Your Faith | |||||||||||||
A
lot of people think that when they have a need, God could just
automatically meet it if he wanted to. But Jesus didn’t say, “According
to your need be it done to you,” He said, “According to your faith.”
That’s why it’s so important to have an attitude of expectancy every
single day. If we want God to move in our lives, we have to approach
every day filled with faith and hope. The Scripture tells us in Romans
that “faith comes by hearing the Word of God.” The more you have the
Word of God in your life, the more your faith will grow and the more you
will see Him working in your life.
God
longs to bless you, and He’s given you everything you need to be
successful in life. Remember, all things are possible to those who
believe! Believe in His goodness today and take a step of faith toward
the life of blessing He has prepared for you!
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| A Prayer for Today | |||||||||||||
| “Father, thank You for Your hand of blessing on my life today. I open my heart to You and trust that You have a good plan for me. Give me a heart filled with faith and hope today in Jesus’ name. Amen.” |
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