5 Tips To Keep Happy... Even In Wartime
The world is going downhill faster than an Olympic skier. Terrorists lurk around every corner. Climate change will soon melt the tundra and turn Iowa into a desert. Frankenstein foods are flooding the market, cleverly masquerading as innocent potatoes and beets. And everybody is planning a war. Sadam wants to unleash unspeakable biological evils. George Bush II wants to unleash unimaginable military might. Germany and France want to just unleash. North Korea ... need I say more? India and Pakistan want to run a nuclear relay race, and worst of all we won't even know who the good guys and bad guys are supposed to be. And I know why my Israeli friend moved back to New Jersey. Just when we thought it was safe to sit back and take comfort in knowing exactly how bad things are, some fool has to come up with five tips to keep our spirits up in uncertain times. And that fool is me. So here are the tips: Count your blessings. We have so much to be grateful for. Iraq's dime store missiles cannot hit anywhere too important (defined more specifically as "where I live"). Then, of course, there is all the "stuff" we have, like the flush toilet (I would not want to have lived 500 years ago!) and the remote control. We can be grateful for all the variety, such as 32 flavors of ice cream on every corner and at least a dozen flavors of tooth floss. We can count our education, our knowledge and our opportunities. And we have soooo much more freedom than our ancestors. Geez, with all these blessings to count, it gets hard to enjoy living in terror of the big, bad world.Smile at a stranger. If the world shows us a threatening face, why not paint that face with smiles to make it less threatening. Let's face it, if I smile at you, you'll smile back. The more I smile, the more people will smile at me. The more you smile, the more people will smile at you. If everybody follows my advice, at least dentists will be too busy to fear world events.Learn a new skill. Imagine the sense of accomplishment and the power of mastering a new skill. Like mesquite cooking. Like whittling. Like pterodactyl breeding. Oh well, two out of three. And if you learn that skill in a classroom setting, full of other energized new-skill-masterers, you get the bonus of seeing that positive face of the world, complete with smiles and busy dentists.Study history. Bad things happen. Good things happen. That's history. Today will one day be history that somebody reads about. So don't sweat it. (Editor's note: If nobody is left to read about it, scratch this tip.)Volunteer. One of the scariest things about the world today is not just that it seems to be going downhill, but that we feel powerless to stop it. Worse still, politicians and diplomats are in charge. But we CAN take control and send the world uphill right in our own neighborhood. We can help the local animal shelter. We can work at the food bank. (That's my personal favorite, and NO you do NOT get free samples.) We can help little old ladies across the street. We can make a difference right in our own communities where the politicians and diplomats won't interrupt.Sorry about those five tips. If you wish to ignore them and return to the regularly-scheduled misery-wallowing, please go ahead. After all, in wartime nobody really wants to be happy, do they? About The Author David Leonhardt is the Happy Guy, even in wartime (he hopes!) and author of "Climb your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness". Sign up for your free "Daily Dose of Happiness" at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/daily-happiness-free-ezine.html or visit the Self-actualization Resource Center at http://www.TheHappyGuycom/self-actualization-articles.html Info@TheHappyGuy.com
MORE RESOURCES:
A HinJew Target in MumbaiWashington Post, United States - 22 hours agoHindu-derived Siddha Yoga was my path. I came by it in 1980 as a journalist sent by a Los Angeles newspaper to cover California's latest guru sensation, ... |
IndiaGlitz |
Ileana D'Cruz becomes the Yoga girlIndiaGlitz, CA - 2 hours agoIleana has now started preaching Yoga whenever she finds an opportunity. The story behind a naïve girl becoming the yoga girl is that she had started ... |
Defining yoga, one style at a timeCommon Ground, CA - 22 hours agoThat’s the philosophy that inspired Jivamukti Yoga founders Sharon Gannon and David Life, who developed the style in their Manhattan studio in 1984. ... |
Supatha Yoga celebrates anniversaryScarlet Scuttlebutt, NJ - 9 hours agoThis dream included sharing her lifelong passion for yoga, a practice that saved her life and has kept her healthy for more than 35 years. ... |
Beating stress with yoga in HCTimes of India, India - 18 hours agoNEW DELHI: Lawyers found a novel way to beat stress on Monday which saw Delhi High Court premises play host to a Yoga camp. Organized by the Delhi High ... |
Yoga - Google News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Affirmations to the Rescue!
INNER CRITIC UNVEILED! Part 2: AFFIRMATIONS TO THE RESCUE!"Almost everybody walks around with a vast burden of imaginary limitations inside his head. While the burden remains, personal success is as difficult to achieve as the conquest of Everest with a sack of rocks tied to your back.
Change and Transition - 10 Steps to Surviving Change Elegantly
If I say the word "CHANGE" how do you feel? Most people remain fearful, anxious and uncomfortable with change, despite it being a driving issue in our society. It appears that no matter how much experience we have it doesn't get any easier.
So What Is A Limiting Belief?
So what is a limiting belief?Don't you love the current expression: 'does what it says on the can'. The can is, of course, purely metaphorical and 'does what it says' suggests clarity and ultimate intelligibility.
Watch Your Mouth
Ever had one of those mothers, or grandmothers, who would often say, "Be careful what you ask for?"I did and always wondered exactly what she meant by that, but now, I know.Do you realize the power that your words carry with them?Your words have the power to persuade.
Make a Personal Commitment to Change Your Life!
So, is this really where you thought you'd be? You're 25, or 35, or even 50 or ?? and you're not doing the job you thought you'd be..
5 Ways To Use Mind Power To Maximise Your Potential
Why do patients who are given placebo pills report that they feel well? These pills have no healing capabilities. They get well purely because the power to heal came from their beliefs.
Perspective Is Everything
Ever witnessed an incident that needed to be reported to the police? It's amazing how much the stories from each of the eye-witnesses varies from others who experienced the same event!Ever wondered why that is? We each come to an event with a different perspective which is determined byValues AttitudesExperiences Environment Your personality styleValues are the principles you hold as important; the standard by which you determine how things should be. Everyone has values.
How To Reduce Anxiety When Affirmations Dont Work
Have you ever read that you should think positively when you are feeling anxious?Have you ever been told to argue back when you have negative thoughts?*How's that working for you?**Why do affirmations only sometimes produce results?*Because as we argue back to our negative and irrational thoughts, we don't always believe the new things we are telling ourselves.What we really believe is our original thoughts - the thoughts that have led us to feel anxiety in the first place.
Top Tips for the Temporary Move
Question: "It's only three months. Or six months.
How Do You Habitually Treat Yourself?
In order to learn how to relieve ourselves of self-defeating patterns, the obvious first step is to become aware of what these patterns are.The easiest way to do this is simply to become a casual observer of your own behavior and to take stock of how you treat yourself.
Positive Affirmations
Never used 'em. Not likely to start now.
Success, the Only Option
One often hears people say they can't sketch because they don't have 'the talent' even to draw a straight line. When was it somebody told you "Oh, I can't play the piano; I'm such a klutz!"?Such negative programming of the mind often comes from judgmental parents, teachers, relatives or peers.
How To Radically Improve Your Everyday Experience Of Life In Two Simple Steps
Can you do something for me?Tell me?Please don't think tomorrow.What?Yeah, you heard me.
Use Affirmations to Build Self-Esteem
Most of us carry on a running internal dialogue at all times. It is as if our lives are a sporting event on television and there is a panel of psychic sports commentators hunched overtheir microphones doing a play-by-play of the action.
Using Power Affirmations on ePosters
I believe that one of the best ways to stay positive is to create a multi-media "advertising" campaign to condition the thoughts and beliefs into your mind that you choose.For all of our lives, at least for most of us, we have been bombarded with mass media advertising to get us to buy all kinds of products and ideas.
How to Get Rid of Frustration and Self-Pity
I've yet to meet the person who never struggles with frustration. It comes with the territory of being human.
Positive Thinking: Are You Truly Being Positive?
Positive thinking in this day and age is a tool people are trying to incorporate into their lives; from housewives to CEO's. But the question is what is positive thinking and how do our thinking patterns truly affect how we feel and how successful we are?The mind is a neutral party and can be positive or negative depending on what it is trained to think.
A Solution For Trouble? Try This Breath Of Fresh Air!
I just heard the story of a man who hired a plumber to restore an old farmhouse. After he had finished a rough first day on the job he realized he had a flat tire which made him lose an hour of work; then his electric drill quit, and then his truck refused to start.
The Trouble with the Mind
Bernard always had a problem with money.He was always lacking it.
Start Your Day on Your Terms
Most of us start the day like we're trying to catch a train. We wake up, grab a cup of coffee, look at the paper and listen to the news.
|
