You ultimately
become what you repeatedly do. If your habits aren’t helping you, they’re
hurting you. Here are a few examples of the latter that will steal your
happiness if you let them:
1. FOCUSING ON EVERYONE’S STORY
EXCEPT YOUR OWN.
Don’t be so satisfied with the success stories
of others and how things have gone for them that you forget to write your
own. Unfold your own tale and bring it to life. You have everything
you need to become what you are capable of becoming. Incredible change
happens when you decide to take control. This means consuming less and creating mor
e.
It means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and deciding for
you. It means learning to respect and use your own ideas and instincts to
write your passage.
If you want your life story to soar to new heights, you’ve got
to clear a path, reduce the time-sinks and burdens weighing you down, and pick
up the things that give you wings. Keep your best wishes and your biggest
goals close to your heart and dedicate time to them every day. If you
truly care about what you do and you work diligently at it, there’s almost
nothing you can’t accomplish.
2. WAITING FOR THE PERFECT
MOMENT.
Don’t buy into the myth of the perfect moment. Moments
aren’t perfect; they’re what you make them. So many people wait around
for the stars to align to do what they’re here to do. The perfect moment,
the perfect opportunity, the perfect state of being, etc. Wake up!
These states of perfection are myths. They do not exist.
Your ability to grow to your highest potential
is directly related to your willingness to act in the face of
imperfection. You will come to succeed not byfinding a perfect moment,
but by learning to see and use life’s imperfections
perfectly.
3. WORKING FOR NOTHING MORE THAN
A PAYCHECK.
Work without interest is imprisonment. Even if you aren’t
super-passionate about your work, you’ve got to at least be interested in
it. When you design a lifestyle in which your work is something you
suffer through daily strictly to pay your bills, you end up spending your
entire life wishing you had someone else’s.
Think about it. This is your life; your work will fill a
large percentage of it. It’s not all about the money; it’s about
you. Ignore the propaganda, especially from people who say, “Don’t let
your work define you.” Reverse this message and mediate on it: “I
will do work that defines me.” When the essence of who you are defines at
least some slice of the work you do for a living, that work generates
fulfillment.
Bottom line: Interest in your work puts quality in your
output and happiness in your mind. Don’t settle for a paycheck.
Shuffle around until you find work that interests you.
4. HARBORING FEELINGS OF HATE.
As Martin Luther King Jr. so profoundly said, “Darkness cannot
drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.” Truth be told, when we harbor feelings of hate,
it eventually gets the best of us. It takes control of us. We
forget why we hate, what we hate, and whom we hate – we simply hate for the
sake of hating. And then, naturally, we begin to hate ourselves too.
Everything and everyone you hate rents
permanent space in both your head and heart. So if you want to eliminate
something or someone from your mind, don’t hate. Instead, disconnect
yourself, move on, and don’t look back.
5. HOLDING TIGHT TO WORRIES AND
FEARS.
Someday when you look back over your life you’ll realize that
nearly all of your worries and anxious fears never came to fruition – they were
completely unfounded. So why not wake up and realize this right
now. When you look back over the last few years, how many opportunities
for joy did you destroy with needless worry and negativity? Although
there’s nothing you can do about these lost joys, there’s plenty you can do
about the ones that are still to come.
You will find that it’s necessary to let some
things go simply for the reason that they’re heavy on your heart and soul. Let go of them. Don’t clamp shackles to your own
ankles. It’s incredibly easy to enjoy more of your life right now, no
matter what the situation. It’s just a matter of letting go of the layers
of nonsense that are weighing you down.
Let go of your worries and fears, of your rage and jealousy, of
your need to always be right and control others. Let go of your
pretentiousness and your need to have everything your way. Underneath all
these layers of nonsense there is a happy, productive person. When you
start peeling them off and simply appreciating everything for what it is, life
can be wonderfully fulfilling.
6. DWELLING ON DIFFICULTIES.
A bad day is just a bad day. Choose not to make it
anything more. Times of adversity will inevitably affect the conditions
in which you live and work; yet you don’t have to let it affect who you are and
where you’re headed. Take note of the setbacks and adjust to them, but
don’t expand on them by making them a bigger part of your life.
Every day brings new lessons and new possibilities. There
is always a way to take the next step forward on the path you’ve chosen.
Events may be terrible and inescapable at times, but you always have choice –
if not when, then how, you may endure and proceed onward.
7. CONSTANTLY SEEKING FLEETING
CONTENTMENT.
There are two variations of contentment in life – fleeting and
enduring. The fleeting type is derived from instants of material comfort,
while the enduring type is attained through the gradual growth of your
mind. At a glimpse it might be difficult to decipher one from the other,
but as time rolls on it becomes vividly obvious that the latter is far superior.
Enduring contentment sustains itself through
life’s ups and downs, because through them your mind remains confident and at
peace. On the other hand, when life’s fleeting changes have the ability
to ruffle your mind into a frenzy, even the most elaborate physical comforts
won’t make you any happier for very long.
8. TRYING TO MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE ALL
AT ONCE.
If you want to make a difference in the world, start with the
world around you. Making a big difference all at once is usually
impossible, and the process of trying is extremely stressful. However,
instantly making a difference in a few lives is entirely possible and usually
fairly easy. You just have to focus on one person at a time and start
with the one closest to you.
Work to make a bunch of small splashes, and let the ripples
spread naturally. If you want to change a person’s mind or mood,
sometimes you have to change the minds or moods of the people around them
first. For instance, if you make one person smile, their smile just might
make others smile too. In this subtle way, you can touch the masses with
your thoughtfulness without stressing yourself out.
9. HOLDING ON TO SOMEONE WHO
HURTS YOU.
Sometimes you have to walk away from people,
not because you don’t care, but because they don’t. When someone hurts you
time and time again, accept the fact that they don’t care about you. It’s
a tough pill to swallow, but it’s necessary medicine. Do NOT strive to
impress them any further. Waste not another second of your time trying to
prove something to them. Nothing needs to be proven. Do not act
with any thought of them ever again.
10. OVER-AMPLIFYING THE
IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS.
Infatuating yourself with someone simply for what they look like
on the outside is like choosing your favorite food based on color instead of
taste. It makes no sense. It’s innate, invisible, unquantifiable
characteristics that create lasting attraction.
Just as some people enjoy the smell of mint, while others prefer
the scent of cinnamon, there is an undeniable, magnetic draw that attracts you
to the qualities of certain people, places, and things. Sometimes it’s
even the scars your soul shares with them that reels you in and creates the
very hinges that hold you together in the long run.
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SOURCES : vtydknow.com