Start Improving Your Life
Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, things are bad, but at least I’ve got my health?” There’s a lot of truth in that old sentiment, and staying (or getting healthy) is one of the best ways to start improving your life.
Healthy does not necessarily mean you have to turn into a body builder or aerobics instructor. There are many simple things you can do that make a big positive impact on your well-being, and what benefits your body usually benefits your mind. Start simply. If you aren’t getting any exercise at all, just jog around your living room for fifteen minutes a day. Do a few of those calisthenics we all remember so well from high school. Walk around your neighborhood, and if you can find some hilly terrain, be sure to take it on. Walk backwards up a hill to find all kinds of muscles you didn’t know you had. Yoga is very popular right now for stress relief as well as keeping your body in condition. If you don’t feel you’re ready to sign up for a class, you can follow along with TV shows or find videos on the Internet.
Don’t forget to breathe! Take some deep breaths several times a day and be aware of your breathing as you go about your daily activities. Keep your body hydrated by drinking lots of water. If you find plain water too dull, add a bit of juice. Soon you’ll find you don’t care for soda as much any more. Not only is that good for your body, it’s great for your pocketbook.
Keep your mind sharp. Learn to play a musical instrument. You can find electronic keyboards that teach for around $150. If you already know how to play the piano, take up guitar. While some video games are mindless, many are stimulating and require memory or puzzle solving. Start a journal to keep your thoughts organized. Write fiction to expand your imagination.
Declutter your life. Get rid of things you don’t use — and never will. There is a glorious feeling of victory that comes with winning the battle over junk. You may not be able to get rid of everything, but give it your best shot and be sure to properly organize what’s left so that you can help keep things in their place. Donate or recycle what you can, and get a good feeling from helping others and the environment.
These are just a few thoughts to get you thinking of other ways to improve your life. Keep your body, mind and home healthy. Often, the biggest improvements come from the simplest ideas.
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Things Are Only Fair When Looked At Properly
In your quest to start improving your life you can come across obstacles that you view as unfair towards someone in your place. This feeling that the odds are unfairly stacked against you is frustrating, and causes many to quit before they get to a point they are content with. You have to view these seemingly unfair items in a different light.
What Is Unfair To One Is Fair To Another
Anytime you feel that life is treating you unfairly, realize that there is someone else who is viewing what is occurring as fair. You need to seek the mindset they have, to see why they feel that way, and to see whether you can either emulate their mindset or see how your thinking has been a bit unhelpful. Perspective is a key part of what you bring to any new event, and you can also work on adjusting your perspective toward things you see as unfair now.
Monthly Rent Example
Let’s say you are paying rent for an apartment monthly, and see a friend who pays very little(property taxes) per month for their house, that their parents paid off already, looking at this situation as unfair makes you weaker. You want to look at it with an attitude of strength, and also account for the thoughts of your friend. They don’t have the struggle you have, so they see something else as the new struggle, since we as humans tend to always have something that causes us worry or concern.
Maybe your friend doesn’t like the thought that his friends think of him as spoiled, or that he has to stick with the house and can’t leave to another state. There is much we don’t think of as a possible problem when we only look at what we think is unfair.
Ditch The “Unfair” Label
Give the world around you a good hard look, and toss out anything you have labeled as unfair, or look at it in a different light until that label disappears. Until you see everything as fair in a certain context, you will be resisting what is, and less able to produce similar results of your own.
Armen Shirvanian writes for Timeless Information on topics including mindset development, social interaction, communication, and competition. He has also created a compilation eBook that has thorough discussion about 11 valuable quotations. You can check out his articles and eBook at www.timelessinformation.com
Improving Your Life – Be Happy
Sometimes when I feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives. And then thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?” Then I pause and observed for awhile… I figured out that maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.
So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step one to improving your life is to love yourself.
My theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.” To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.
Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”
When we discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life lit it has never done you any good, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.
I believe that life is about finding out about right and wrong, trying and failing, wining and losing. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure, in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy or prone to depression
How to be genuinely happy in spite all these? I tell you… every time you exert effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, fail on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.
Imagine life as a big score board like those which are used in the NFLs. Every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that board at the end of each game and think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.”, instead of looking at it all blank and murmur “Geez, I didn’t even hit a score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!” and then walk away.
Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest Formula 1 car, nor getting the employee of the year award, earning the highest 13th month pay, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life doesn’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best. So, how do you become genuinely happy? Every one has his own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching as much best selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean success. So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple. You don’t have to have the best things in this world. Its about doing and making the best out of every single thing. When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, you carry with you a flame of strong will power to persevere that may spread out like a brush fire. You possess a willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.
When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely happy”.For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will receive love ten folds back.
Again, throw me that same question “how to become genuinely happy?”. I’ll refer you to a friend of mine who strongly quoted- “Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to life’s aches and pain. But most of us don’t know that the best kind of laughter is laughter over self. Coz then you don’t just become happy… you become free.”