1. Participate in Drama: Release and walk away. Never give energy to drama; what others do is their karma, how you react is yours!
2. Take Blessings for Granted: Appreciate what you have before it turns into something you had. Someone, somewhere is praying for what you are taking for granted.
3. Focus on Taking Rather than Making or Giving: Our true beliefs form an aura we broadcast to the world; we are always communicating whether we intend to or not. We are at our greatest when we are connected and supported and that occurs when we in turn support and reach out to others. Ambition, goals, and drive are terrific, but they should always include a healthy dose of concern for, and awareness of, the needs of others.
4. Live an Unbalanced Life: We have many roles we play in life, we must take care to not neglect important areas (see footnote below for 6 major areas of life). Scott Peck in “Road Less Traveled” (15 years on NYT bestseller list) laid out 4 tools of self-discipline, “Balance” was the 4th and most difficult.
5. Accentuate the Negative; Complain, Criticize, and Condemn: Talk about a recipe for misery! Thoughts held in mind attract in kind, what you focus on expands. If you knew how powerful your thoughts were in creating your experience of life, you’d never think another negative thought.
6. Be Content to Drift through Life: Everyone goes pretty much the same distance in life, just a lot of folks sail in circles and then wake up later in life and wonder why they never got anywhere. While I’m all for recreation, relaxation, and rejuvenation (even saints must sleep and priests must play), you can’t hit a goal you don’t set. Goals focus your energy and call out the best in you. As JFK said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”
7. Assume Learning Stops With Schooling: That which is not growing is dying; entropy is the law of the universe. Happy people commit to a life of continuous learning and make a concentrated effort to find sources of inspiration, to daily grow in self-awareness.
Closing Quotes:
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abe Lincoln
“Smile! Happiness looks gorgeous on you!” – Unknown
“All we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” – Charles Kingsley
Footnote: Six Major Areas of Life to Balance/Set Goals:
Career/Financial
Family/Personal
Physical/Health
Education/Mental
Social/Community
Spiritual/Creative
As always, I share what I most want/need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier