Archive for the 'Happiness' Category

October 19th, 2007

How To Have More Fun

I was just looking through the pictures I’ve taken with the new camera I got (it’s an early Christmas present because my other one broke while I was on vacation a few months ago).

I found this one that me girlfriend took of me 2 weeks ago when we were shopping for pumpkins to carve.

Pumpkin thing on my shoulders

As I flipped through them and noticed this one, it occurred to me that most people don’t know how to have fun. If they do, it’s usually in the wrong way.

For example, kids my age in college don’t think they can have fun unless they’re drinking at a party.

Conversely, older folks don’t think they can have fun because “those days are over”.

Well, not really!

You don’t need ot be anywhere special to have fun. All it takes is a bit of creativity and the ability to not care what others think of you.

Speaking of that, why DO you care what others think? Most likely you’re never going to see them again, and if they get mad - that’s their problem, not yours. Right?

Listen, I used to care what people thought about me and it did way more harm than good. Since I do a lot of “unorthodox” things in my life (which I now take as a huge compliment when somebody says I’m weird) I tend to get a lot of “looks”.

What I realized though, is that I’m getting looks from people who are fatter, less happy, and more poor than me. They hate their life, don’t do anything to change it, but yet give those who DO want to change it, some pretty weird looks.

For example I get a lot of comments at work about the books I read. I’ll bring in a book on say, wealth building, and I hear “why do you read that stuff” and “isn’t that boring”?

!?!?!?!?!?!

This is coming from people who are 30-40 years old and still work at a restaurant full-time!

By the way, no offense to those who are working in similar jobs. But it’s up to you to change your life.

Back to the main topic, since I went on a little tangent there.

When my girlfriend and I go out, I make it a point to make her laugh as much as possible. This often consists of doing things such as the picture above. I did this while others were around, and of course I got “the look”. But I loved it because Katie and I were the only ones having fun.

By the way, that pumpkin thing (not sure what’s it’s called) was really heavy! I’d guess that thing was at about 25 pounds - although it fit pretty comfortably around my neck.

My main point is this. Life is short, you don’t get a second chance.

If you want to live your life miserable all the time, go ahead - just don’t expect me to ever converse with you for any length amount of time.

If you have fun while making yourself look like a moron to others, who cares! I would guess about 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999% of the people who see you doing things like this will never see you again - let along even remember it the next day.

The next time you’re out with your spouse, friends, children, etc. make it a point to have more fun than usual. Obviously don’t cause a big scene, but do something a little out of your comfort zone and get people to look.

Then take a second to think about exactly how you feel at that moment. You might be a little nervous, but I bet you’ll like the feeling.


Like The Post? Bookmark It!
[Ask] [Bloglines] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Furl] [Google] [MySpace] [Reddit] [Squidoo] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »

By Jeremy in Happiness  .::. (Add your comment)

June 9th, 2007

Find Out If You’re Susceptible To Depression

It’s commonly known that you should go to the doctors for regular checkups. Depending on what your getting checked for, you might need to go every 4,6, or maybe even 12 months.

Why do people go for checkups? Because they want to know if there’s a possibility they might be coming down with some type of disorder, cancer or disease.

Unfortunately, there are few tests that can tell you whether or not you’re about to come down with a bout of depression. You have to go for expensive and nerve-wrecking blood tests to see if you have the genes that make you more susceptible to it, but since it’s usually caused by the events in your life - there is no way to catch it before it starts.

However thanks to a man named Martin Seligman, a famous psychologist, just by observing your life a bit more closely you can tell how easily you can fight off a bout of depression.

Optimist Or Pessimist?

By paying attention to the way we think and act, we can gain further insights as to our inner cognitions. By understanding them we can figure out how easily our body can deal with stress - which is what causes depression.

Research has proven that optimists have the ability to fight off bodily stress much easier than pessimists. This stress includes physical stress from exercise, internal stress, mental stress, and all other kinds of stress.

Here are 3 things you can look at to see if you are less or more likely to develop major depression in your lifetime.

  1. Rumination - This is simply ruminating over things that have already happened. Do you mull over events that occurred a few days ago, even if there’s nothing you can do to change the circumstances? If so, you have a much greater chance of developing depression.
  2. Helplessness - How easily do you give up on projects or other things you’re trying to accomplish? If you show helplessness, that is, if you learn to become helpless after failing at something a few times, you have a much greater chance of developing depression. An example of this would be starting a blog and quitting after 2 months.
  3. Pessimism - Do you find yourself looking at the bad aspects of every situation? If something bad happens, do you focus on how bad it is or do you try to find the positives in the situation? Do you complain a lot? Do you feel as if you’re never going to achieve your goals or complete a task you want to complete? If you find yourself doing any of these things, you have a much greater chance of developing depression.

Throughout the next week, try to keep these ideas fresh in your mind. Come back to this post and refresh every other day or so. Then live the next week without trying to change anything, and see if you display any of these qualities.

If you do, there’s a good chance of you developing depression if you go through a rough patch in your life. You should then start to develop systems for what you should do in each scenario.

If you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts about your future, immediately turn that image into something positive. If you feel as if you want to give up on exercising, a project your working on, or anything else, please don’t. By sticking with it you may actually be strengthening your self-esteem and lessening your chances of developing depression.

At this website I try to teach you about things that will improve your life to the maximum. I think learning how to combat depression is a very important thing because the opposite of having the perfect happiness is being depressed!

Please take the next week or so to see if you have these qualities. If so, don’t be upset that you do - it’s part of who you are. Instead of being upset that you weren’t born with an optimistic view of life, be optimistic that you found this website and know how to change yourself!


Like The Post? Bookmark It!
[Ask] [Bloglines] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Furl] [Google] [MySpace] [Reddit] [Squidoo] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »

By Jeremy in Happiness  .::. (Add your comment)

May 7th, 2007

The Top 5 Ways To Appreciate Life More

Everybody goes through a period of time in their life in which they think they’re worthless, their life is horrible, and nothing will ever go their way. For some people they might experience this for days or weeks, others for just a few moments.

The majority of people really don’t think about exactly how lucky they are to be alive. We wonder through life with a thick cloud of fog covering our eyes, going through the motions of life day in and day out.

On your quest for finding the perfect life, happiness should be one of your top priorities. Learning to appreciate life is a very big aspect of that. You can be a happy person but until you take the time to appreciate the life you have, you will never reach your highest potential of happiness.

There are many ways in realizing that you have a great life, but below I will outline what I think are the 5 easiest and simplest ways of realizing this important truth.

The Top 5 Ways To Appreciate Your Life More

  1. Things can always get better - You may be having a rough time in your life right now, but you need to sit down and think about the fact that you’ve had many other amazing times in your life. Whether you’re poor, unhealthy, just lost a job, or lost your spirituality and connection with God, things can always get better. The goal of this website is just that - improving your life to the point where it’s your dream life. No matter where your life stands - there is always a way to make it much better.
  2. Get a pet - In my opinion, pets are one of the best forms of healing therapy available. Have you ever noticed that when you’re upset or sick, your pet seems to notice and acts more loving towards you? Having a pet can get you through some very rough times because no matter what, they’re always there for you. Dogs are called “a mans best friend” for a reason. Having a pet is like having a permanent emotional support system on call. By having a pet you can appreciate the fact that you have support no matter what you did or what happened to you.
  3. Watch or play with a baby - When you look at a baby, especially one that’s laughing or smiling, you can’t help but feel happy. There’s something about the innocence of a baby that sends a vibrant positive energy throughout the entire room. If you learn a little about the process of having a baby, you will be amazed at what a miracle it is to have a baby, and yet it’s done so frequently.
  4. Look at the stars - If you really feel that you don’t appreciate your life and need to get a deeper understanding of it, just go into the country somewhere and gaze at the stars. When you look up and see the thousands of twinkling stars, you begin to ponder philosophical questions about your life, how amazing it is that the stars can be billions and trillions of light years away and yet you can see them, and what kind of magnificent energy it takes to create something like the universe we live in. Make it a priority to get into the country and do some star gazing every once in awhile. If you’re lucky like me and live in the country already, do it every time you’re outside at night. It will put you in a blissful state.
  5. Watch a bug - If all else fails, just watch a bug for a minute or 2. Yes that’s right, I want you to go outside and watch a bug for a minute. This may sound ridiculously strange, but think about it. If you need to do this you’re probably in a state where you don’t fully appreciate the life you have. Well, would you like to be the tiny little bug you’re staring at? They don’t experience the joy you can experience, they don’t experience a sense of accomplishment, love, well-being, or the ability to directly enhance their lives. They live for one thing - to make children. Even if that doesn’t show you how great of a life you have, you’ll probably start laughing when you realize that you’re staring at a bug in the ground.

In the next few days, make sure you spend a few minutes out of your day to realize how great your life really is. By utilizing my top 5 ways of appreciating your life better, you will be a much happier person and appreciate your life in so many more ways.

Your perfect life awaits,

Jeremy


Like The Post? Bookmark It!