Ten Things to Make you Feel Better

When even finding a reason to get out of bed and get on with your day is a challenge, you need to be gentle and kind on yourself and accept that perhaps right now, you are only capable of small steps.

Here are some small things you can do to feel better.

1. Buy some colouring in pencils and draw. Or buy a colouring in book and colour in. It is very simple and childlike. But colour carries many healing properties and the distraction of drawing or colouring will bring you to a more present space, rather than dwelling on your situation. Anything creative with colour will be beneficial.

2. Make a list of your best qualities, yes you have some, everyone has goodness in them. Think of things you've done in the past, things that have left you feeling good. It may be things you've done, or it may be things you like about yourself. Maybe you once did a random act of kindness for someone, that no one else recognised needed doing. Or you like your smile, or that you used to be able to make people laugh (and you will again). Acknowledge these positive parts of yourself, without any reference to anything negative you see in yourself, no negativity allowed today.

3. Take yourself to somewhere with birds in their own environment. Birds in cages do not qualify. Simply watch the birds go about their day. Listen to their joy in being alive, how they sing for the pure love of it. Watch the freedom of their flight. They too have to survive and have their challenges. But they still remember to be joyous along the way.

4. Ban yourself from the computer for a whole day and night. Don't even turn it on. Have such days regularly. In the times we now live in, it is easy to forget about life going on outside. Computers are great in many ways. On the surface, they bring us more together, yet in other ways, they isolate us even more. Turn the computer off. Do something that you used to enjoy before the days of computers took over your life. Go for a walk. The exercise will be good for you too.

5. Call a friend who will make you laugh. Don't call a friend who will wallow in your sadness with you, despite their kind intentions. Today is not a day for that. Just call a friend who will joke about nothing with you. If you cannot think of anyone, go for a walk in your local neighbourhood. Think of someone who serves you in your day to day life who is always cheery. Have a brief chat and laugh with them. They will enjoy it too.

6. Dress in something that makes you look and feel nice, perhaps a brighter colour than what you have been wearing. Pay attention to your appearance and take pride in yourself, no matter how much effort it takes. It doesn't matter if you think you are kidding yourself into feeling better, it is a change and change is necessary to alter your current state. And it is an achievable goal when you are down.

7. Visit someone you know with children and hang out with the little ones for a while. Sing some songs, play make believe, hide and seek, anything. If there are no children you know nearby, just watch other children from a distance. Observe their simplicity and joy and remember that you too were once a child and these qualities are still a part of you too. Hop on a swing and lean back, get some wind beneath you and feel yourself glide through the air.

8. Look through old photo albums and remember the happy times. Even if they bring memories that also make you sad, remember the good times too. It is easy to focus on loss, loneliness or lack, rather than blessings that have once been there. If there are no photos, think back to some fun memories and relive them in your mind. Laughing out loud is definitely permitted.

9. Eat healthy food. If you don't have the strength or energy to prepare something for yourself, go out and buy a fresh juice, or a salad or soup. Chat with whoever serves you, smile at them. Healthy food heals both the body and the mind. So does smiling.

10. Have a beautiful bath. Use scents and candles. Make it a special thing, even if it is in the middle of the day. Nurture yourself. If you can, treat yourself to a massage, be pampered. Human touch is something we all need and it is easy when you are down to isolate yourself, hence becoming touch starved. Hugs are always recommended. Hug someone if there is someone to hug. If not, go out and get some human contact. Or pat an animal. We all need to be nurtured and we all need touch.

Every little thing that you can do to change your current disposition will be far more beneficial than it may appear. Any glimpse of happiness or hope, no matter how small, is better than none at all.

Source: Ten Things to Cheer you Up

We are the people that we have been waiting for

Once upon a time, a man sat beside the road, broken-hearted from all the suffering and sorrow he saw in the world. He began to beat the earth, then looked up, and yelled at God, "Look at this mess. Look at all this pain. Look at all this killing and hatred. God, why don't you DO something!?" And God said, "I did do something. I sent you."

Remember, you are the difference that you make in this world!

"Be the CHANGE that you want to see in the world" - Gandhi

Choose not to Fall

You fall it is because you are afraid.

Great video featuring Parkourer Daniel Liabaca sharing his philosophy of life as parkouring.

THE POSITIVITY MOVEMENT

☺ THE POSITIVITY MOVEMENT ☺

Happiness is a Choice! Let's make this world a better place by choosing to be happy and making the people around us happy. Let’s spread the Love and the Good Vibes!

Happiness is our birthright as human beings. There is no doubt that life can be hard — living in today’s world is not always easy especially with the overwhelming amount of negativity around us.

So say YES to happiness! Make a conscious decision to be happy. You can be happy right now. It’s all up to you.

Be a steward of happiness and good vibes! The happiest people are those who have given the most to others. Do a random act of kindness everyday. It doesn't need to be big; it could be a small deed or a gesture that will brighten up someone's day!

• Hold the door for someone
• Compliment a friend
• Let in a merging motorist
• Carry groceries for a senior
• Say good morning to a co-worker
• Phone an old friend
• Bring cupcakes to the office
• … Or just give someone a friendly smile

There are countless possibilities! The smallest good deed is better than hundreds of good intentions without action.


START TODAY!


"Be the CHANGE that you want to see in the world" - Gandhi

People Share News Online that Inspires Awe, Researchers Find

Findings

By JOHN TIERNEY

Published: February 8, 2010
The New York Times

People preferred e-mailing articles with positive rather than negative themes, and they liked to send long articles on intellectually challenging topics.Perhaps most of all, readers wanted to share articles that inspired awe, an emotion that the researchers investigated after noticing how many science articles made the list.

... More emotional stories were more likely to be e-mailed, the researchers found, and positive articles were shared more than negative ones. Longer articles generally did better than shorter articles, although Dr. Berger said that might just be because the longer articles were about more engaging topics.

... “Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion,” he said. “If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer together.”

Tips on Feelings and Thoughts

Excerpt from "Life's Missing Instruction Manual"

"Your feelings are hidden thoughts"

The idea here is to master your feelings, to do so, you have to become aware.

"Your feelings are from your thoughts. Change your thoughts, and you'll change your feelings."

"You can't stop your thoughts but you don't have to listen to them, either"

It takes time to make changes to your thinking habit. So meantime, we take this as you should mute out the noise as best as we can.

Meditate helps us to do that by keeping us calm and peace. Try. It's hard in the beginning, but everything is hard in the beginning, isn't it?

"Be Not Afraid"

"...there is nothing to fear. This will be hard to accept because of your mind, which will terrify you with scenarios to make you afraid."

not be afraid, walk through the fear.

"What to do when you are afraid"

"Whenever you are afraid, uncomfortable, nervous, or worried, do the opposite of what you would naturally do."

"Confusion is the wonderful state before clarity"

"At times in your life you will become confused.
It's okay."

"How you feel really does matter"

"How you feel is up to you."
"Your emotional experience of life is so important. When we feel curious, grateful, loving, or happy, life seems like a precious gift. But if you are ridden with guilt, filled with fear, so angry that no love can enter your heart, or so resentful that joy is only an irritating word, then life is more like hell on earth."

"Exercising your emotional options allows you to experience life on your own terms in the most real way possible. It's like magic. You can create the result first. You can be happy even before you change all of those things you want to change."

Book Review: "Life's Missing Instruction Manual"

I had just finished this 157 pages super easy to read book within less than a week of time. Full of useful and easy to relate topics and life lessons. It was a very pleasure read and it's a very great book that you can read anytime because none of the ideas are longer than 8mins of reading.

Strongly recommend you to start off your positive thinking self help path with this book because it is a easy read that make you think after you read. (I can't help but to think many of the ideas and reflect upon them to help me understand life and myself better)

Over the next few sharings, I will summarize and discuss some of my favourite tips from this book. :)

Break the "Cycle of Doom"

If you thought you can change what your life and you are going through right now by not changing you and your thinking.. you would find yourself stuck in this so called "Cycle of Doom" (Hopper).

It did not work out and you feel suck, why you want to hang on to what you currently have that makes you so sad?

"Change" in your mind is one key. It has to be real change from inside you, it will come naturally once you had worked through the first four steps of the Law of Gratitude.

After You had prepared your mind, your ready to take action.

One might wonder, "how does a grateful person,.. act?" (Hopper)

To RECAP:
A grateful person, who worked through the first four steps now know that
1) There are enough good things to go around in our universe
2) "Whatever is, just is." Face the reality and appreciate what they have.
3) Happy about the present but dissatisfied, always looking forward and believe in good changes in the future. Work hard in a positive attitude.
4) Let go and forgive everyone and everything. Stay out in a distance and look. Love everyone, including him/herself

The last step in the Law of Gratitude, finally, after all the mental preparation and practice. You are ready to act.

LAW OF GRATITUDE #5
Understand the power of giving. By giving, it makes "receiving possible", "making room for more to come" by seeing what you have as a "flowing current, a river of abundance".

Don't let your life be a "Dead Sea" (with a large water body having water flowing in but not flowing out)

Make yourself a part of the "flow of life" and become once again "an inlet and outlet for the abundant universe to work through". (Hopper)

Once again, the choice is in your hand.
Get out from the cycle of being negative or not. YOU are the one who has to take action. Start today with me and take small steps toward the life of happiness!

Make yourself "Free of Debt"

Clear off any emotional debts.

We are in a "cause and effect universe" (Hopper) There are no coincidences in the people and circumstances in our lives. Often we think that these people and circumstances are here to torture us, but in fact, they are often here to teach us.

Remember the law of opposites, we know that there is "a benefit, a learning, a gift, somewhere in that experience with that person and incident. We can find that gift, if we look, but sometimes we need to have some distance from the events to see it clearly." (Hopper)

"When we reach the point where we can be truly grateful for them, when we can really wish them well, then we have cut the chains of resentment that tied them to us and we are free to move on."

LAW OF GRATITUDE #4
One word... Forgiveness.

The next step after forgiving others is to "forgiving ourselves for all the supposed mistakes and imperfections in our life. We need to be able to love that person in the mirror."

Stop the resentment.

After that point where you learn to love yourself, you will be then forgive and express gratitude for everyone in your life, and realize your past is an "incredible gift" to yourself.

Once again, the choice is in your hand.
You had just complete the fourth step. :)

Let yourself be happy and dissatisfied!

We all want to get happiness.

First we have to define the difference of satisfaction and happiness.

Being satisfied doesn't mean you are grateful of what you have. But only means you accepted things the way they are. Many can be satisfied by unhappy. "I hate this crummy job, but it's the best I can do, so I'll stick it out until retirement. " (Hopper's example)

Satisfaction prevent you from growing, expanding, to have more and experience more. We then got stuck and rust.

To "unstuck", you are to be happy and dissatisfied.

LAW OF GRATITUDE #3
Living in the present and being grateful for what we have right now.

"I'm not satisfied with this job, because I know I can do better. I am happy and grateful that I have it because it is giving me the opportunity to earn while I learn, and I am learning what I need to know to create the better job that I really want." (Hopper's example)

Progress comes from dissatisfaction - the constant quest for a better way. Happiness is the ability to look at the present and see it as good.

Make sure you don't set your happiness is coming in the future though! "When I get the job, the raise, the relationship, the house, the success.... then I'll be happy." (Hopper's example)

Focus on NOW, if you can't be happy now, you never will.

Live in the present, what you have, or what you don't have? When you are grateful for what you already have, you open the channel for more to come.

Choose to be happy or not, it is your choice.

NYC cabbie follows mother's advice to be honest, returns over $21,000 lost by tourist

By Virginia Byrne
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, cp.org, Updated: January 13, 2010 1:28 AM

NEW YORK - A Bangladeshi taxi driver in New York City said he returned a lost purse containing more than $21,000 in cash and expensive jewelry because his mother always advised him to be honest.

"I'm needy, but I'm not greedy," said Asadujjaman. "It's better to be honest."

Read more here.

Fight, but don't Argue.

"It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything." - Quotation from the Fight Club Movie



It's so true about the saying "We are Our worst enemy". Like some of you, I spent a lot of my time argue with reality. With all these time I spent complaining about how bad my life is, how the world never seem good enough to me, how there are never enough good things for me, I ended up hating everything. And it just keep getting worst.

Maybe you feel the same way about certain things in your life? Being "resistance" and continue to argue with the reality does no good to anyone. It simply do not help.


LAW OF GRATITUDE #2
Non-Resistance is taking the mental attitude that
whatever is, just is.

From Hopper: "Instead of arguing. apply one of the universal laws, the law of opposites (or polarity). This law simply states that everything has two equal and opposite sides. Every situation that looks bad has an equal amount of good, if you look for it."

Some of us, like myself, probably feel "stuck" in the situation where there is this behaviour of people and circumstances we can't do anything about it. Instead of arguing, we have to learn to apply the law of gratitude. If we have something we want but don't have, or lost something / someone we had, we tend to victimize ourselves, complaining and start crying about it. This lead to the "not-enough" thinking we mentioned in the last blog entry.

Key#1 to free ourselves is to let go and move on, there are always "more" in the world. (Refresh Law of Gratitude #1 if needed). Key#2 is to think like two sides of a coin, the law of polarity tells us everything has two sides. Why do you want to only look at the bad side out of everything.

Lose the bad and keep the good!
You get to choose, increase and prolong suffering by resisting the reality, or move on, get to the good part and be thankful of what you have (and about to have) by being non-resistance.

The decision is always in your hand.

The World is Like a Buffet of Goodness

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! Hope your holidays were great! And shall we start our 2010 with more positive thinking?

Over the next 5 posts, we are going to cover the 5 arguments in the ebook "Power of Gratitude" by Wes Hopper.



LAW OF GRATITUDE #1
Einstein's Question: "Is the Universe friendly to our desires?"

In another word: "Is there enough of good things to go around?"

From Hopper: "Both science and spirituality tell us that everything is made out of the same original stuff. Science called it energy. So how much is there? A recent scientific survey of the cosmos added up everything they could find and determined that only about 4% of the available energy was used to make the entire universe!"

So the answer to our question is YES. We have to start thinking in abundant and stop thinking in scarcity. There are much more energy to go around, and since everything made out of the same type of energy, it means you have the choice of receiving positive or negative power - all created out of the same source.

Thinking how good your life now, instead of how bad it is.

It is your choice to being a victim of circumstances or being a benefice of these abundant power that goes around.

Think abundant instead of scarcity, there are so much more goodness for you out there.

Think the universe as a unlimited free buffet. You are hungry. Do you want to sit and look at your empty plate or you want to go grab some food?

It is your choice.