Tag: happier

Strategies to improve your life this year

Photo by Alex Green on Pexels.com

Whatever your definition of “the good life” may be, it’s vital that you enjoy & get meaning from the day-to-day while on your journey. This is something we all have in common, regardless of the particular path we’re on. Your daily experiences (your tasks, your schedule, the places you spend your energy & time) are what make up your life.  And in my book, that’s all we’ve really got.  Life.

“Attention is a tangible measure of love.  Whatever receives our time and attention becomes the center of gravity, the focus of your life.  This is what we do with what we love: We allow it to become our center.  What is at the center of your life?” –Wayne Muller

Are you ready for some inspiring & practical ways to rev up your capacity for joy, fulfillment & meaning? Ready for some tactics to improve the quality of your day-to-day life? I think I hear you shouting “Hell yes!”

8 STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE

  1. Cultivate Optimism. Being positive can often be seen as naivety or “Pollyanna” behavior.  In actuality, optimism increases job performance, creativity, ability to weather stress & self esteem.  Optimism can be used in how you talk to yourself in the face of adversity, explain past events & think about the future.  In the quest for the good life, positive expectations can be self-fulfilling.  Cultivating your ability to be optimistic is beneficial to your health & your success.  How cool is that?
  2. Be Present. Take a deep breath.  This is the here and now.  Stop ruminating over the past or worrying about the future for a moment.  Tell the voices in your head (“your committee”) to be silent. Enjoy your ability to create your experience this very second.  If you’re washing the dishes, wash the dishes.  If you’re writing a blog post, write the blog post. If you’re playing with your kids, play with your kids.  It’s harder than is sounds, but worth practicing every day.
  3. Clarify. When you are clear on what is important to you, there comes an incredible sense of freedom.  You no longer live in a world of social comparison.  You are running your own race.  Goals, big decisions & small habits are surmountable & invigorating because you have a clear picture of what you want your life to stand for.   Clarity does not come easily.  It also evolves throughout your life, which requires gracious flexibility.  But it is worth it.  Spend some quality time getting clear.
  4. Give Out. Mentor, contribute, practice random acts of kindness, express gratitude. Make a loan, give your time, be fully present for your family, change the world. There are a million ways to give of yourself. Do it big, do it small, just do it.  It’s one of the most positive equations in the world: You give of your time or resources, which improves someone’s quality of life, which makes you feel needed & valuable, which in turn improves your quality of life. We’re all better off.  Magic.
  5. Connect. We are social beings.  We crave connections to others individually, to our communities, to our world.  Pay special attention to your family, your lover, your adored friends, your colleagues & your neighbors.  Explore & strengthen your connection to a Higher Power.  And be open enough to enjoy the spontaneous connections that come from making a new friend on vacation or sharing a witty remark with your seatmate on the bus.  Genuine curiosity & kindness are an amazing way to foster connections, new & old.
  6. Find Flow. Flow is being in the groove, totally engaged in your present activity, challenged but succeeding with clear goals & feedback.  It’s a glorious state to be in.  For some it’s gardening, writing, cooking dinner with your partner, intense conversation, or crunching numbers. Though it requires more energy than passive ways to spend time (reality tv, idle gossip, video games) seek out the activities that challenge, engage & satisfy.  Find your flow.
  7. Celebrate. We need play & whimsy in our lives.  A healthy dose of joi de vivre fuels your creativity & feeds your spirit.  Celebrating is a wonderful way to share love with others & incorporate more play in our lives.  Who in your life has done something big lately?  Did you celebrate?  What about something small, but personally important?  Did you celebrate?  Celebrate with traditions, with heartfelt compliments, with notes in lunchboxes, with surprises, with big evenings out, or with cozy evenings in.
  8. Love Yourself. Your body is the vehicle that carries you through your life.  Love yourself by treating your body with respect & care.  Fuel it well with fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains & lean protein.  Move it daily.  Don’t smoke, don’t abuse alcohol.  Meditate.  Help yourself age well by staying flexible, protecting your skin from sun & exercising your mind.  Sleep well.  Beware the ease in which you critique yourself & indulge in praise instead.

I want to make sure you know that these strategies are useful even when you already feel perfectly content. If you’re “happy”– wonderful.  That’s a great space to be in. Try increasing the quality or quantity of one of the strategies you already enjoy or tackle one that’s a bit less familiar. Think of them as ways to “stay happy”.

I hope you like these tips.

Thank you.

Pen pals

Have you ever thought of sharing your opinions and views to an unknown person. In this present world sharing any information with an unknown person is nothing less than inviting a trouble, but there was a time when people used to share their opinions, emotions or feelings to an unknown person. This was accomplished by writing letters. One used to write letters to those whose name, gender , age, caste etc were not known. The only thing they knew was address. This was the most exciting thing youths of those days used to do. By this they also made friends of their own choice. The friends made are called Pen friends or pen pals.

This practice started from the early 70s and prevailed as a trend for almost 2 decades. Those days there used to be a column in the newspaper, which had the addresses of those people who were interested in having a pen pal. From late 80s people started having pen friends from foreign countries too. Many people were really interested in reading different views and opinions so they had many pen friends. This practice also helped in gaining the knowledge of things happening in other places. Just imagine how different it is to know people like that, you know make friends with people you don’t know and it is your choice to carry it on or to end it.

In late 90s computers were made accessible and Electronic mail came in and started spreading its magic throughout the world. The ritual of handwritten letters were vanishing. Then mobiles made communication more efficient because of which writing letters to even the loved ones were stopped completely.

Pen pal are the purest form of friendship, why not start the trend once again. Lets once again start writing letters to our relatives and friends who are far. You know writing letters is something so personnel, one invests time in it thinks a hundred times what to write and how to write. After scrambling tons of thoughts and papers (does not mean you waste paper, please do not waste paper) the last draft is ready , the anxiety of posting it and then waiting for the reply is another feeling. In this world where everything is fake let us make friendships real. When you friend receives the letter, they would feel you in the letter. When the read it in their mind it would be as if your voice is reading it, which would definitely give a feeling though for just sometime that you are around them narrating your story.

Really how did this wonderful tradition come to an end!!

let us not end it, let us find new friends once again, make Pen friends and lets keep up the friendship for life. Lets share each others happiness and sorrows so that we don’t feel alone and always be feel happy of having a friend somewhere who is always there to listen to our thoughts , opinions and problems and to show that we care about them. May be by doing this we can make a much happier world to live in.

The Art of Meditation

Meditation is a very important tool to manage stress and reducing anxiety and depression. It is a conscious effort of allowing your anxieties, fears, and anger to calm down so that one can order their own mind , eliminate the stressful thoughts and enhances physical and emotional well-being. It helps us in attaining peace of mind and soul and also helps us tune into a positive mindset.

Meditation can give us a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health. They also lead us to a state of self realization, where our mind is away from the anxieties of the past and the anticipations about the future. With emotional stability and calmness, one ends up feeling more confident and is able to face life. It makes people empathetic and thus able to understand others’ emotions, actions, and behaviors. It also improve our physical health by reducing strain on the heart, lowering blood pressure, improved blood circulation, less perspiration , improved data retention and focus , improved sleep patterns and deeper relaxation.

Types of meditation and relaxation techniques include:

1. Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation practices require you to concentrate in your present. It ensures stability and control of the present state without getting disturbed by what comes or goes. We establish an embodied presence and learn to see clearly and feel fully the changing flow of sensations, feelings of both pleasantness and unpleasantness, emotions and sounds. For example : close your eyes and start breathing, neither long breaths nor too short ones. Breathe like you naturally do. Just that you are conscious about it, not controlling it in any manner. While you do so, you are sure to feel multiple sensations. What we want you to do is to just feel them, coming and going, not attracting any neither repelling one. You just rest and relax, without any judgement. When you practice this discipline of mindfulness meditation, and while you are onto exercising the breathing routine, your thoughts start mingling and flowing in the process. The intention is not to get involved with the thoughts or to judge them, but simply to be aware of each mental note as it arises.

2. Transcendental Meditation

This is a technique of detaching oneself and promoting harmony and self realization. It involves sitting up with your back straight. In this method, we use a mantra such as a word , sound or phrase repeatedly silently to narrow your conscious awareness and eliminate all thoughts from your mind. We focus exclusively on your mantra to achieve a state of perfect stillness and consciousness. It curbs insomnia, gives more power to our body and mind and increases productivity.

3. Walking Meditation

In this meditation, practitioners move slowly and continuously while staying aware of the body and mind. It encourages us to focus on each footstep in order to be fully present.  We must take deep breaths , use good posture , take deep breaths, and experience the motions of the body. This allows us to cultivate a a sense of mind- body awareness by focusing on your body’s posture.

4. Mantra Meditation

In this type of meditation, we silently repeat a calming word , thought or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts and helps us concentrate on that one particular sound. In every moment that we pay full attention to the mantra, we are not disturbed by any other thoughts, memories, or sensations. This helps reduce stress and improves our concentration and well-being.

Meditation is a simple strategy that can help obtain better health and a happier life. It takes time to learn to meditate but the more we practice , the quicker we learn and the more benefits we get and hence this will certainly have a big difference in our life.