This week is Part 5 of our Time for Happiness Series called How To Live With No Boundaries. Over the past four weeks we’ve covered many facets of happiness and have provided several terrific alignment films to assist in your own journey of discovery. Lets recap the Happiness ground we’ve covered so far. We began this series with our First episode called: How To Leverage Time and Happiness with the Alignment Film: About Time. Then we presented 5 Ways To Practice Happiness featuring … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Practice Happiness
Are you happy? For some of us, we just don’t know. For others, we’re not even sure what happiness means to us or how to recognize it in our lives. That’s the case for Hector in the movie, Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2mgTYdth0w Hector (Simon Pegg) is a psychiatrist who has a steady practice and life filled with predictable routines. Hector is concerned he’s not making progress with his clients. He knows something has to change … [Read more...]
How To Be A Compassionate Listener
Depending on your family or cultural norms, stuffing your emotions can be the proper way to behave; there might be great pressure to prevent you from allowing your emotions to flow. When you freeze your emotions long enough, it can be hard to get in touch with how you really feel, and this creates another set of challenges. Eventually, these emotions need to be released. Many times they can be out of proportion to what is occurring. If you notice yourself emotionally over-reacting to a … [Read more...]
An Example of Power in a Culture of Force
In these modern times, we seem to be living in a culture of perpetual force. It’s a way of living that has become so prevalent that it just seems normal. We see numerous examples in business and our current political process. Force is a strategy that seeks a win/lose outcome. It’s expedient and usually backed up with the justification of “making the tough choices”. When one form of force doesn’t work, we escalate our tactics, creating another forceful reaction. Force commonly results in … [Read more...]
Win – Lose…Winning Formula?
In 2009, writer-director, Quentin Tarantino, released his long-awaited film titled, Inglourious Basterds. Mr. Tarantino took over ten years to complete his film and it was successfully received by selling over $314 million in sales worldwide. When asked at the Cannes Film Festival about the mis-spelling of his movie, Tarantino said, “I’m never going to explain that. When you do an artistic flourish like that, to describe it, to explain it, would just ... invalidate the whole stroke in the … [Read more...]
You Always Have A Choice
We all have times where our current situation isn’t pleasant and no longer seems to be working. This could be a job where there’s no life balance, a marriage dynamic, or your current financial situation. If you recognize situations in your life that don’t seem to be working anymore, remember you have a choice and can always choose something different. Find a new job, go to marriage counseling, or find a financial planning coach. Whatever the situation, you can choose differently. Changing … [Read more...]
Life Doesn’t Have To Be So Serious.
We all know people who see life from the perspective that their glass is always half-full and not half-empty. Their perspective defaults to an upbeat way of looking at life. Are you drawn to people like this or do you see it as a “Pollyanna” approach that’s annoying and not realistic? Your perspective will determine how joyful you are in life. You can choose to moan about reality or take the route Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) did in the classic film, Dumb and Dumber. It’s up to you. We … [Read more...]
Are Your Feeling Out of Control?
We all have periods in our lives where it feels like we’re emotionally out of control. It’s as if our emotions are running the show and others are responsible for how they play out. We’re simply at the mercy of our emotions. We are their victim. If you recognize this happening in your life, try grounding your emotions. Being accountable for your own emotional reactivity is tricky business. What do you do when the emotions just seem to overwhelm you and you don’t want to be reactive? You … [Read more...]
Are Your Emotions Frozen?
Emotional reactivity in our selves and those around us has a cost. It limits our abilities to choose differently. When you begin making your needs a priority, this change can create reactivity in others. You’re no longer predictable emotionally and your new inner strength can be unsettling. When we are anxious about how others will react,we don’t pursue our needs because we’re afraid of getting their reactivity thrown at us. It’s just easier to keep pleasing others. This is especially true … [Read more...]