Tag: Happiness

NOW IS THE TIME TO TRY 💪

One of the greatest pieces of advice that took me years to understand came from one of my grandparents. I am not sure which, but it was a simple warning. “Life goes by quicker the older you get.” As a young man, I thought that was the stupidest thing I heard. After all, a year is a year, a day is a day and even an hour is always 60 minutes. Sitting here just shy of 50, a whole new appreciation for that line has taken place. There are so many things in my life that seem like they occurred in a different lifetime. Not to mention hearing songs that you thought were released ‘a few years ago’ on the oldies station.

When we are young, very few of us give serious thought to the future. Sure, we have plans and things we would like to do or accomplish. Seldom do we take actions to make sure those goals are achieved. One of the greatest blessings in my life has been my open-heart surgery and brief flirtation with death. It was as if the creator was reminding me, “Hey kid, it can be over without any warning.” Far too often it is. People we loved are gone often unexpectedly. “If I had only known.” we hear ourselves saying. If we confront a hard truth, don’t we all know? Raise your hand if you are completely unaware that someone can seem to be in amazing health and be gone the next day. It would be my guess very few of us have our hands up. We all know this fact.

It might not be the start of your life, but you are being told – there are only so many tomorrows. This is not fatalistic. It is true. The clock is ticking and it doesn’t run backwards. Every second in life is precious. It is time we start viewing them that way in the present and not just in reflection. Whatever you want to someone to know, tell them. Whatever dream you want to chase, chase that dream. The worst end we can experience is one filled with regret.

We may prefer not to dwell on the fact that the end is ever approaching, but I think some casual attention on the matter would serve us well. Could this be the last time you spend with your friend? Unlikely, but a possibility. Something as simple as fully appreciating the food at that restaurant you love in case they close unexpectedly. Life is full of ends and beginnings. Let us cherish each and every one of them.

THE FALL BEGINS 🍁

Do you know that feeling when you are on the top of the rollercoaster and it is just about to drop down? You know you are just seconds from having your stomach temporarily relocating in your throat. This is the same feeling I get when fall comes. I know we are only a short time away from freezing temperatures and nasty driving conditions. I am doing my best to find creative ways to embrace the cooler weather, but on any given day I would rather be sitting on a beach under a palm tree. Still, my beautiful lady loves fall. We are even planning a fall wedding in the future. I am going to have to learn to like it. Although, celebrating our anniversary in the Maldives would not be a bad plan.

The reason I bring this up, is that we all have challenges in life. It is our perception of them that determines their degree of difficulty. I know this intellectually. It is time I start applying it emotionally. Therefore, I have decided to be grateful for the cold weather. When I made this decision, a lot of positive things about that season came to mind. I tend to stay home more. For me, this means more time with the most beautiful woman in the world (I might be biased) and delicious meals she creates. It gives me time to write more. There is no better way to strengthen our resolve than when it is challenged. It is easy for me to be happy sitting under that palm tree, but what about when it is below zero and I have a snow shovel in my hand?

Will this have me looking forward to the temperatures dropping? Not at all. What it will do is strengthen my ability to find what I should be grateful for in any situation. It will allow me to finally complete my fourth book. We will reach the milestone of 1000 days straight putting out content. Whatever is challenging you in your life, find ways to put it to work for you. I would love to hear how all of you do this.

UNIQUE IS BETTER THAN BEST

This quote pretty much explains itself, but let us take a little deeper dive into it. So many of us are trying to be the best at something. That is good. Improvement in one’s life is a virtue. What we often fail to understand, is that being the most authentic version of ourselves will put us in our own unique category. In addition, if we truly want to be the best, we need to feel free to be ourselves.

Being ourselves should be one of the easiest things we do. Unfortunately, it is not. In a world that is pushing you to conform, being yourself can be viewed as an act of rebellion. It is easier to not ‘ruffle any feathers’ and do what is expected of us. That way everyone is happy, right? Wrong. We are not happy. When the world is full of people who do not feel free to be themselves, and are frustrated with the person they feel they have to be, bad things can happen. In the best case, they do not treat people as nice as they could. They also do not bring as much joy as they could, because they are not happy with themselves.

This is why it is so important to surround ourselves with people who love us for who we, while encouraging us to become better versions of ourselves. You may wish to be like that stunning actress or talented ball player. Do you know what they could never be? You! It is you the world needs. You are the only person who can be you. It is that you who might be needed to inspire, encourage or motivate someone. They might only respond to your voice, to who you are. Trust me when I tell you that the best thing you can become is who you truly are.

GET YOURSELF ONE OF THESE!

Last post we discussed the importance of having ways to cheer yourself up. I would still love to hear any ideas you have for that. One of our readers (lbeth1950) mentioned she loves to call her best friend.

This reminded me how important it is to both have and be someone who brings joy into life. Do you have one of those friends you just feel better after spending time with? Are you one of those friends for someone else? It is vital we keep a group of people around us who brighten our spirits.

It is also important to have friends in all avenues. What I mean is to have friends you can call, friends you can message online, but most importantly, one’s you can physically connect with. Sometimes these friends will change avenues. My friend Curtis I enjoyed having coffee with and solving the world’s problems. He, and his wonderful family, moved to Las Vegas. Now it is more of an online friendship.

The point being, if you have a great friend, keep them even if you have to make some adjustments. One of the best ways to assure you have a group of amazing friends is to be one! Make sure whenever you have an opportunity to bring joy to the life of another you take it!

TIME TO CLEAN… YOUR MIND 🤯

Today is Friday the 13th. Many people view this day as a scary superstition. Do you know what I think is scary? Walking around with a dirty mind. No, not that kind of dirty mind. One that is filled with negativity and unnecessary worry. We are all a little guilty of that at times. If we look around at the world we are living in, it is no wonder. News, some things on the internet, even members of our social circle can have us seeing the storm in every rainbow.

What is the big deal about having dirt in your mind? Not much if you clear it out. If left to fester long enough, like real dirt, the consequences can start to mount up. It will affect your mental health. You may find yourself more on edge. You might experience brain fog or have difficulty concentrating. This can only add to the negative experiences in your life. Keep it up long enough and you will see physical results. You will feel tired and run down. You might develop ulcers or have a depressed immune system.

How on earth can you clean your mind? It is not like you can stick a cleaning brush in your brain. Consuming any kind of bleach product is not recommend, despite what you may have heard. Above we have some really good ideas. I would like to touch on a few. I would love to hear your suggestions as well. We can all benefit from sharing our ideas.

The first is to take a hard look at your social circle. I devote an entire section to this in my book, Living the Dream. It amazes me how many people tell me social media is negative. What they see is only drama and negativity. The same is said for what they hear from people. I stare at them blankly and ask them who controls what they see on their social media page? If there are people and pages that do not bring you joy, get rid of them! Better yet, add pages that bring joy to your heart. That could be things that make you smile or even just hobbies you enjoy. As for people? Keep your circle small. If someone is a constant source of drama, limit or eliminate the time you are around them. Better yet, spend more time around people you find uplifting!

Above you will see other amazing suggestions. These range from meditating to going for a walk in nature. I would love to not only hear which one is your favorite, but if you have any suggestion or ideas which help clear your mind.

TAKE CARE OF ALL OF YOUR HEALTH 🏥

I want to talk about your health for a second. Not your physical health. Not even mental health, which finally is getting the attention it deserves. I want to talk about the health of your spirit and how important it is to pay attention to. Have you ever “Woken up on the wrong side of the bed”? You know those days you wake up feeling irritable and you might not even know why? I am sure it is a feeling we all have.

I get up for work 6 days a week at 4am. Let me tell you that I cannot recall a day I felt like jumping out of bed looking forward to going to work. For someone who loves to have a social life and enjoy time with his beautiful bride-to-be, getting up that early is quite a task. However, I also light keeping the lights on and getting gifts for the afore-mentioned beautiful lady. By the time I get to work around 5, the coffee has kicked in and I am usually in pretty good spirits.

This morning was different. I woke up and felt beyond irritable. Like I was mad at the world. This is a very rare state to find myself in. As I sat up in bed, it was apparent that something in my spirit was quite disturbed. I made a decision that I rarely, if ever, make – I called into work. I knew if I were to approach my coworkers in such a state, or if my boss made a questionable comment or decision in regards to me, I might be tempted to say or do something I would regret and be unable to take back.

I am not advocating calling in sick every time you do not feel like going to work. For the year, I believe this is only the second time I have called in sick. What I am telling you to do is to take care of your spirit. Not doing so can not only create some of the negative situations I mentioned above, but it can affect your mental and physical health as well.

SET YOUR OWN THERMOSTAT 🌡

One invention that has always amazed me is the thermostat. A device that takes the temperature of your house, compares that to a desired temperature and makes adjustments as needed. This could mean turning on the heat if it is too cold, or if you have central air, turning that on to make it cooler. How amazing is that? When you think in the 19th century that would involve hearing aunt Margaret complain she is cold and throwing another log on the fire. Now, you can even make adjustments to your thermostat via your cell phone! Even if you are nowhere near your home. This is crazy cool when you stop to think about it.

Here is a question. Would you allow your neighbor to control your thermostat? Unless you are close to your neighbor and have the same hot and cold tolerance, your answer is probably a resounding ‘no’. It seems insane to let someone else determine how hot or cold your house would be. How much energy you would need to expend and pay for.

As foolish as it would be to let our neighbor determine the temperature in our house, we do this very thing with our personal thermostat. What on earth is a personal thermostat? It is the level of joy and peace in our lives. Far too many of us let outside circumstances determine this. If good things happen to us, we have a good day. If things do not go so well, we are grumpy or depressed. As the wise Mr. Aurelius points out, we should not let outside circumstances to distress us. We must realize our power to revoke whatever reaction that has us feeling negative.

Take control of your own personal thermostat. Set it for “An enjoyable day filled with peace”. This is not to say you may not have to make adjustments, just like the thermostat in your house. Hear some bad news? You may have to ‘turn on the furnace of happiness’. This could mean listening to some music that makes you smile. It could be spending time with someone you love. The boss treat you harshly or unfairly? You might need to ‘turn on the air conditioning’ and cool yourself down. This could be hitting the gym or going for a walk in nature.

It is time to control your own internal thermostat. Just as it would be foolish to let your neighbor control the temperature inside your house, it would be equally foolish to the outside circumstances to control your inner well-being. Take back your power and take back your own thermostat.

FEEL GOOD TODAY! 🤗

Today is one of my last days of vacation. I’m looking to get the maximum amount of feeling good out of the time I have left. I’m going to use these for brain chemicals, and the behaviors that go with them, to accomplish that.

Looking at this list, I would love to know what your favorite is.

IT IS ON TODAY! 😋

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It is the opening day of the Wisconsin State Fair. I have loved state fair ever since I was young. In fact, I have gone every year since I was born in 1975. In 1996, as I was making my way through the self-improvement journey I was and am still on, I decided to make a change in my life. I recall standing in the center of fair park, in an are they smartly call ‘central park’, and watching the people go by. It was then a thought occurred to me. “If I am so happy every time I come here, why don’t I come here more often?” That was 1996, and I have been to every day of the Wisconsin State Fair since.

The idea behind this was simple. If I have a lot of fun on one day, wouldn’t I have 11 times that much if I went every day? So far it has proved to be so. Attending with different people, doing different things keeps it fresh and exciting. You learn where all the deals are so that you do not spend so much. Not to mention, the memories you create last a lifetime. I am sure there will be more memories created this year that will be talked about years later. Above was a fun picture that I took with my lovely Margie. Last year, my mother and I relaxed with an iced coffee listening to a band playing tropical music.

Some of the best things are events we did not even know about. Here is my mother and I celebrating the 75th birthday of Smokey Bear, who tragically may not be there this year. Still, like the tropical band, fun foods and drinks and places we have never seen, every year there is some fun surprise waiting for us. This makes the excitement leading up to the Wisconsin State Fair even more exciting. Who knows who we will run into and what we will do? Even we do not!

Whatever it is in your life, find something you love and go all out with it! People often ask me how long I will continue to go to the fair every day. Until it ceases to be fun I suppose. Until then, I am going to cherish every ounce of fun that I can out of the experience. I suggest you do the same. Find something you can look forward to every year. Maybe a fishing trip with the guys, or a shopping trip with the girls. Then again, maybe a fishing trip with the girls or a shopping trip with the guys. Whatever works! Grab some friends or a loved one and start making plans!

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is my birthday! Celebrate with me by using one of the many wonderful tools and strategies we discussed on this site. Spend some time on self-care, pursue your purpose, or best of all, spend at least 5 minutes in total gratitude. Feel free to look back and pick something that speaks to you.

Feel free to share whatever you pick and what you plan to do. One of the greatest gifts I receive is the engagement I get from the community here. I look forward to hearing from as many of you as I can. Spend some time with those you love doing what you love as you celebrate the birth of this soon to be best-selling author.