What is purpose?

“‘I have done my best.’ That is about all the philosophy of living one needs.”
— Yutang, Lin

To put it simply, your purpose is to live authentically — be who you really are at your core, and you are living your purpose.

So it is not about getting that star job. It is not about getting that dream home. It is not based on circumstance.

It is everything and anything that you do, and doing it with joy and authenticity.

Honor your emotions, don’t dwell on them

“In dealing with emotions, the first step is awareness. Identify the emotion, but don’t identify with the emotion.”
— Stephanie Noble, “Emotions as Honored Guests”

How do you deal with your emotions? Do you let them overwhelm you, giving them added energy? Do you try to ignore them, forcing them to get your attention by whatever means possible?

Emotions are a normal, natural part of being human. Each emotion you feel — happiness, joy, love, frustration, anger, sadness — is trying to convey a message to you and has a purpose for your present journey. In order to learn from them, you must honor them enough to acknowledge their presence. However, it is important to realize that you don’t need to become the emotion in order to understand it.

My personal technique to deal with the more negative emotions is to become aware of the exact emotion I am experiencing. I allow myself to feel it. I allow myself to understand where it is coming from. And then I quietly say to myself, “release”, to keep the emotion in motion and out of my being (emotion = energy in motion).

Be the neutral observer to your own emotions and you will neither let it take over your life right then and there nor later when it ends up boiling over from years of neglect. Deal with each individual emotion until you understand why it has come to you at this time. You don’t need to be a victim or hostage to your emotions any longer. And you will probably surprise yourself at the wisdom your emotions hold.

See what is great!

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”
— Anne Frank

Whether it is a person, a house, a job, a country, you name it, I recommend that you see what is great. It is so easy to slip into the mode of seeing only the things that need improvement, or that are no good about each one.

There is usually one thing we could do to improve and work on. People are not perfect, houses need repairs, jobs have their up and down moments, countries go through trying times. However, I feel that it is so much better for us to focus on what is good already.

Doesn’t it make you feel better when you think about all the things that are already working out? And when you focus on all the good things, it increases that “happy” vibration and attracts more “happy” things to focus on. Yes, be aware of the other side too, but rejoice in what is already great.

Are you waiting for someone to fix it for you?

“I was waiting for someone to fix my life for me, when I realized that if I wanted to be happy, it was up to me to go out and make it happen.” (…or something like that — from Desperate Housewives, Dave Dash/Williams character)

This resonated so much with me last night when I was watching Desperate Housewives… How many of us are waiting for someone to come along and “rescue” us, make us happy, or waiting for that lottery win?

Authentic happiness comes from you creating it. Just like the character Dave said he had to do for himself, you need to train yourself to find the way out, find the positive side of things, create the next steps for your life.

With that you will be putting your life back in your hands and you will have the power to create your life the way you want it to be. “If life is an illusion, why not make it an empowering one?”

Supercharge your life

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
— Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Here are a few ideas to supercharge your life:

* Focus on what you WILL do, not what you can’t do.
* Prioritize. Be proactive by putting first things first.
* Purposefully act, don’t react.
* Face difficulties with courage.
* Be willing to make mistakes, learn from them and move on.
* To prevent being overwhelmed, ask yourself: ‘What one thing am I willing to do differently today?’
* Communicate with positive language. Watch your thoughts and patterns of inner talk, and listen to yourself when talking to others.
* Teach and lead by example.
* Spend time with people you admire.
* Be bigger than your story
* If you feel yourself getting into victim mode, ask yourself what the payoff is.
* Feel and own your personal power. Know that you do have a choice.
* Celebrate your results!

Misery is manmade

“There is no stress in the world, only people thinking stressful thoughts and then acting on them.”
— Dr. Wayne Dyer

Misery is not supposed to be the norm of life. Take out the stress and drama in your life and you will see that it is actually all good and can even be fun. Joy and love is what you are truly all about. It is the natural state of your being. Allow yourself to be the true you and see what a difference it will make everyday in every aspect of your life.

It doesn’t matter what you are doing — work, school, daily chores — have fun with it by adding a smile or laugh. Spread the joy of life around you to others who have forgotten that life is supposed to be fun. See even the most mundane of tasks for what for what it is — a stepping stone on your journey to the greatest life for you.

Busy-bee syndrome

“Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, they never get around to what they want to do.”
— Unknown

Do you feel happiest when you are busy, productive, or working on a project? What happens when you have quiet time? Some people use work to avoid dealing with unhappiness or challenges in their personal lives, such as an unhappy marriage.

In order for happiness to be authentic and last, it must come from more than work. Balance in joy comes when we are with our families, learning new things, helping others, and yes, even when we are in quiet solitude.

See if you are experiencing the busy-bee syndrome, avoiding all that life has to offer and resolve to bring balance in your life through joy in everything and everyone.

Finding the good

“When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always be worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.” — Unknown

Get in the habit of asking, “What’s good about this?” Training your brain and heart to ask and search for the good will help you to set a new way of viewing the world automatically, no matter what the situation or circumstance. And you will also find that happiness finds you no matter what the circumstance when you put out that pattern or habitual frequency of thought.

Choosing Happiness

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” — Aristotle.

Did you know that 1 out of every 5 women in America are on some sort of anti-depressant?

Well, some might argue that we have no control over how happy we are in life — due to genes or circumstances. But scientific research now shows that while 50% of our happiness is actually genetic, and 10% is based on circumstance, 40% is due to habitual thoughts and behaviors. That’s great news! That means by making changes to the limiting beliefs, thoughts and actions in your life, you can begin to change how happy you are!

Begin now to choose happiness in your life. No matter what circumstance you find yourself in. Happiness is a state of mind and you have the freedom to choose happiness. It may seem too simple to be true, but it works.

Make it a habit to be happy. Start for even 5 minutes everyday and then longer as you start to enjoy the feeling. But remember you must truly desire happiness and choose happiness. Your life is what your thoughts make of it.