Happiness - a few commandments for life!

Life is all about making the best of what we could do, in this moment; the sum such a zillion moments make the journey of life, and we owe it to our very existence to make all these moments filled with joy, happiness and fulfillment. That MUST be the basic tenet of life, and for that to be the base, here are six commandments which can be of good help.

Commandment One: Live by the power of gratitude

Gratitude is one of the best ways to live a complete life. Gratitude is by far the most powerful positive emotion that is filled with energy to negate all ill & negative feelings in us. Just take a conscious effort to focus on filling our mind and heart with gratitude – there is no end to what we can be grateful for – you can be grateful to God, to nature, to our parents, our loving kids, our siblings, to our boss, our co-workers, to a handful of people who touched upon our life today, everyday, and possibly even in this very minute.

Think of what and who you can be grateful for, everyday when you wake up in the morning, and you will see the quality of the day improve. It is such a huge contrast to waking up grudgingly for some mean reason, or even no reason.

A thanksgiving state of mind gives you a rush of adrenalin for your mind and body! Make sure you practice conscious gratitude from now!, and you will have the most powerful fuel that will propel your life-rocket to happiness and success!

Commandment Two: Avidly visualize what you want from Life.

Imaging is the most powerful tool in creating a life of your choice. It has worked wonders to all those who have attained unparalleled success and happiness in any vocation they chose to be in! Imaging anything you chose to have and wish to be, and no sooner will you see your vision turning into reality! Sustained visualization gets etched in the subconscious after a certain period of time, and after that the power of the subconscious takes over the actual process of creation of reality as imaged.

Practice dynamic visualization – Imagine what you seek in all the color, shade, be in that situation which is the final outcome – be in the midst of your happy family, in that great getaway, in that CEO job – make the image as dynamic, interactive and colorful, and as real as it can get in your mind. After time, you will see the same in absolute reality and even the colors and shades you created in mind will come to existence.

Combine imaging with gratitude well in advance – gratitude to the cosmic universe to giving all that your want – and you are in the pathway to a great, happy, and successful life – all of which as exactly as you wanted!

Commandment Three: Have you mission statement written.

It is a misplaced notion that only organizations and corporations of the world need to have mission statements written. Individuals – you and me – must write down mission statements for our life, and these statements must be the raison d etre of Life.

Writing down such a statement is not something that is done in a huff. A considerable amount of thought must go into the exercise, and the statement shall clearly articulate the prime intents of what we expect in the journey of life.

There is no age barrier for this – if you are twenty or fifty, such a mission statement brings in a huge sense of direction to what we do. It brings in a sense of purpose, and also makes us set goals towards achieving what is stated in the mission statement.

The mission statement is also dynamic, and can be worked on, after time frames – it can be modified with the times, as long as the core message is in tact – for example, if ‘providing everything for a happy family’ is the mission, the broader statement can encompass anything that serves this mission. The mission can be anything to do with various facets of life – personal, family, money, growing up children, running a business – anything that touches life, and living.

Commandment Four: Link your mission to Goals in Life

Goals are very important to keep life filled with positive action. Like the flowing water in the stream is fresh, the blood of life is fresh when you keep moving towards goals you set for yourself. And these goals are so potent when they are linked to the mission of our life.

Life is fun only when there are goals to it! Living without goals, is just vegetable existence, and it leads to boredom which takes the verve and fun out of life. Goals can be either qualitative or quantitative. And it is good to have a mix of qualitative and quantitative goals. Being happy and Staying positive is, for example qualitative, and reaching a professional position, earning x amount of money, is quantitative as well.

When there are written goals in place – be it personal, professional, monetary, family or whatever – we tend to work around those goals, which bring in so much of direction and power to our life. It is important to have goals for all areas of life, and not just one part of life – that leads to imbalance, and creates pressure on only a few areas.

Life is all about being well-balanced, aimed at being happy, contended, and achieving a few things which we need to; goals facilitate that.

The happiest, contended and successful people are those who have written goals, and worked to make the goals come to reality.

A combination of having a purposeful mission, with goals, and avid imagination makes life so much purposeful and positive.

Commandment Five: Manage YOU well, and manage time well.

It is oft-stated: All of us have the same amount of time in disposal. Yet, we all keep blaming ‘not having enough time’ to do things that are most important. In reality, there is nothing like managing time – what we need to manage is ourselves, and the activity we do.

If we decide to do what is most important in getting to our goals and being happy, and staying positive all the time, the seemingly humongous task to managing the time-monster is so easy… Focus on accomplishment and not activity. Cut off all the time wasters from your schedule – needless talk, bickering, mindless TV watching, useless internet activity – just do a little analysis on how you spend time, and you will see so much time spent on ‘time-eaters’ in your life.

Packing the schedule full of work and no fun is no better self management. To repeat, the goal of life is to be happy, joyful, and not to carry stress and sorrow to the grave. Sprinkle your schedule with a mix of work, fun, family time, social time- built around the broad goals of life.

Once this is done, managing YOU gets better, and managing time falls in place.

Commandment Six: Never spend a moment worrying.

It has been seen that the biggest time waster and the single most deterrent to a happy life is the worry habit – worrying about this thing or that thing, big or small, important or trivia, and sometimes even being worried about nothing at all..! So much time and energy is expended in this habit, knowing well that it is sheer waste of time and energy, and moreover, something that saps the positivity in each of us.

The easiest thing to kill this worry habit is action… when you start wasting even a minute worrying as a habit, just change the pattern and do something… Contrast the worry pattern by a loud laugh, a kick on the wall, a hit on the punch bag, or just something that sets you in motion.

Just resolve that you will never ever waste time by worrying. This is one of the most definitive things you can do to live a happy and successful life. And not just that – your family, friends, co-workers – anyone who is in your circle of influence and concern will feel joy and happiness radiating out of you.

Follow these, and you will see the difference in the quality of your life… now and always.

Happiness - a few tips for a GREAT DAY...!

Have a great day, is a constant refrain we hear. Yet most of us wonder how this is possible in the quagmire of daily chores we immerse ourselves in.

The way the day begins sets the pace and mood for all that follows; till the day ends… But, most of us are in an awful mood in the precious morning hours. Lets work to break that jinx, here and now.

Here are 10 simple and great ways to begin your day in a nice way..

1. Begin the day with some great music you love; let it be of any genre. just that it has to pep you up, and fill your mind. And wear a smile on hearing that. Most morning mood issues are just because we are blank in the mind, and the void attracts negativity. And by doing things listed here, we are just attempting to get positive energy flow into us.
2. Ensure in the first few minutes after you wake up and get done with your usual morning chores, you get going with some brisk activity… can be a jog, some cycling, laughing with your wife and children, reading little of a good book.. Anything that does not keep you idle… Morning idleness is the biggest sinner.. Be extremely active…
3. When you get up from the bed, get up and move around with deliberate gratitude. Count your steps as you do your morning chores, and for each step, say thanks to anyone/everyone you chose – can be your spouse, some friend you touched you, your loving kids… could be just anyone whom you can express gratitude. And there are so many of them, who we come across by the hour, everyday. Just that in our purposeless activities, we fail to see them.
4. Visualize a great day in your mind…. with all details, color and candor of what your perfect day should look like.. that sale close, that great meeting, your best pitch, shopping with your spouse etc.. In most times, what is visualized becomes real later in the day.
5. Start the day with a to-do list creation as the 1^st task… Let it contain not only professional tasks, but even personal and social task.. Including something mundane and as light as watering the tree, or cleaning up the desk… and off-course having fun with your family and friends. End of day, tick off what you have done… it gives you a feeling of achievement, and when you make this list, you will do most of what is important.
6. Take a piece of paper, and quickly jot down 5 things you did right the previous day, and also 5 things that you messed.. include all trivia, like not smiling at the receptionist of your workplace, abusing someone in the traffic snarl… This is one of the best ways to introspect.. and get to being a better person.
7. Make one or two small resolutions for the day… not necessarily big and life changing, but simple ones that will make you a better person than the previous day… like ‘I will smile at every human encounter’ or ‘I will say thanks to all during the day’…..
8. Help in the household chores… Pick up some simple household chore and help your spouse quicken the morning chores.. again anything simple would do.. Most of all, it keeps you active, and also saves time in the family for more things to be done.
9. Close the doors and sing a song, dance a few steps, laugh at yourself looking at the mirror, admire you from head to toe, look at how confident and nice you are as a person…
10. As your kid wakes up, lie down next to him or her, and just catch up with what they think… could be about their friends, school, a fight in yesterday’s gully cricket, some conflict in them… Just start of and run a conversation for just 5 minutes… You will see a different world, and get a perspective of what things are…

By no means are these are not the only ways you can start of… There could be many and you can design a positive start to the day, with any of these as cues….

Have this as a daily mantra… the first hour after you wake up is the golden hour, that sets the ball rolling rest of the day… By making this active and positive, your day can be worth its weight in gold… in joy, happiness, and fulfilment.

( and you can also do all these at anytime during the day to make a great life!!)

Task management - the single question to ask : WHY?

Its natural - most of us struggle to carry out number of tasks, big and small, simple and complex, trivial and important, in the different facets of life, and the journey. And in the quest to be better, resort to a whole lot of task and time management techniques!

And yet, we do not get to perfection. What is more frustrating than the task itself, is the 'how to' of it... we think, plan, make notes, schedule, organize.... yet see that we do not move an inch ahead in executing the task. In all probability, the execution happens not by plan but by force... in the last minute, due to mostly external compulsions.

One question to our self will change this habit and will make us see purpose behind the task, than just venture into it mechanically, using any time management tool.

It is -

WHY?

Ask yourself why you are required to carry out the task. Once you get to know the WHY, the HOW of it will easily fall in place.

For example, you are supposed to make a plan for the next project at work, and have been procrastinating. Ask WHY is making this project plan important? You will get to statements like-

- the plan is a reflection of my ability to manage projects.
- the plan is a crucial link in the event flow for the team.
- the plan asked from me is a reflection of the trust people have in me.

Once such a statement of purpose for the task is conclusively formed in the mind, then it gives enough shots of adrenalin in you, to just swiftly get into execution.

This technique can apply to any task, in any facet of life. And this is a technique that will work.

The way in which you will go about the task will be on a technique of your choice; but if there is no purpose behind the task, then no amount of thinking about the task, how to do it etc will be sheer waste of time, and cause stress, knocking off personal productivity.

So, do you have a WHY for your things to do today?

If yes, great; If no, then please sit down and make sure you have the WHY for every thing you do.

Dialogues within you?

What are the dialogues you have to yourself? Are you aware of the conscious and subconscious internal dialogue that goes on in your mind all day and all night long, throughout this journey of life?

Make small incremental efforts by being aware of the dialogue, and then slowly controlling the kind and nature of dialogue within you! Once we become aware that there are constant dialogues within us "our precious mind", then we also can easily ensure that these dialogues are harnessed to better our self in every way - on the personal, professional and social spheres!

Let these dialogues be powerful, making us better our personality, sending out better vibes in the place we are in, and solution finders rather than problem-brooders! Being happy, being positive, accomplishing things which we want to and just about any small or big endeavor in your life begins with the dialogue within you!

What is called 'powerful positive imaging' is nothing but holding a vivid image of what is desired within... and this image of the desired gets better and clearer - depending on how intense the dialogue within is!

Focusing on the dialogues within, in our minds, is one of the easiest steps to success and happiness in life.

What are the dialogues you have in YOU, right now? Let them be only about happiness, success and winning life, in your own terms!

Positivity, yes have loads of it; follow it by action, ACTION!

There is a whole new age movement on this topic, which I too love and live by – being positive. To use another word, be optimistic in any situation – even be it the darkest moments of life – there is honestly nothing so; it’s all your perception! You can look at the bright side of things if you want to!

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill.

So, for each one of us out here savoring this great journey of life, it is important to stay positive, and look for the brighter side in every situation, every endeavor – it is said that if you have the positive outcome in mind, and do your best, then success or what is desired MUST and WILL come your way!

But, a little more than being optimistic and staying positive is needed for each of us.

And THAT is the most important element that will be a success or outcome determinant - that is ACTION.

ACTION, in even small measures every single day will move you to what you what to want to get!

“You've done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.” – Ralph Marston

So, it’s all fine to stay determined, and look for the positive, be an incorrigible optimist!

But that mindset has to be backed by ACTION, even if in little incremental measures, by the hour, by the day and by the week.

As you look for the brighter side in every adverse situation, make decisions as to what action will usher in the brightness, and change things for the better! By decisions, I mean the decision to act in one way or other.

A tough moment or a challenging situation will come upon you so hard, that the first thing that can happen is feeling ‘incapacitated’ – and if there is one thing that will be of great power to you is to ACT! Look for what you can do immediately, to shake the hell out of ‘your’ inertia – and take the first step, even if it smallest or minuscule right then and there!

Trust me – when you take small steps in ACTION like that – adding up to your incorrigibly positive mindset, the change you see will be a complete transformation – of the situation you are in, of the person that you are!

"Actions speak louder than words." - Daniel Schiess

Remember, a combination of action with a positive mindset is a sure shot change agent, for you, for LIFE!

Conserve your "personal" energies!

It is commonly said that the human potential is unlimited, and we set our limits only as much we can imagine. And its so true - what we think is possible happens, come what may, and what we decide as impossible, in the mind, just does not happen. Not that this is a reflection of reality, but its our all powerful mind that has said so.

May be some of us have also mistook this fact about the power of the mind, and its ability to charter the unconquered.

Instead of imaging, dwelling and imagining what is important to us in the larger canvas and journey of life, we allow the mind to harp on a hundred unimportant, non-core-to-life, and even trivial things - so much that the energies and the power of the unique and mighty mind do not get channelized in a positive fashion, BUT worse, this powerful resource in us, gets drained and wasted, also draining us of our body energies.

This, knowingly or unknowingly we end up doing most of the time - to the extent that if we do a time inventory check, it will end up that we are 'draining our mind' most of the waken hours.

The best way to conserve energies of our mind is to make sure that we do not use it the completely wrong way - on negative thoughts, on trivia, on things that would not even matter few hours, few days and few months down the line.

This, each of us can do by conscious choice and practice and by self questioning our response to any stimuli, be it internal or external. And by making this daily practice, we can make ourself better persons, more focused on things that really matter.

Some of the questions which could be of help in making sure our most potent resource - mind energy - does not end up sapping us are -

1. Would this matter 20 minutes, 20 hours, 20 days and 20 months from now?
2. If i make a choice to respond more gracefully and positively to this situation, how would I be doing it?
3. Is my mind responding to the actual reality of the situation now, or to some imaginary, may not even happen later event?
4. Is the way I am reacting helping to get to a solution to any problem, or am I just aggravating things for the worse, for me, as well as for others?
5. Am I even focused on the right priority, or am I not spending my time in a better way, that I am being forced by boredom to attend to the trivia and unnecessary?
6. Is the way I respond the best thing to do, or would just ignoring it with a smile a more apt solution? I can always talk it over when the heat cools off!

These are just some indicative questions to yourself, and you can tweak it in a way that can be appropriate to what you chose to respond to, in your daily routine.

Ask such questions to yourself, as often as you can.

Conserving the most resourceful weapon you have - your mind - is easy this way.

Great life to you! Everyday, in this wonderful journey!!