I have been very lucky in life. I have been blessed with an amazing family and incredible friends. I have had experiences many people have never had. I have seen places many people will not ever get to see. After reading How We Choose to be Happy, I was inspired to make a list of my dreams. The list below is in no particular order, and I am sure it will continue to grow. Who knows if I will be able to do all of the things listed below, but I figure if I share my aspirations with others I will be able to hold myself accountable to making sure that they happen.
1. Go backpacking through Europe
2. Graduate college
3. Become an Ag Ed Instructor and FFA Advisor
4. Serve as a WLC presenter for a summer
5. Go bungee jumping
6. Get married
7. Visit China
8. Have 2 or 3 kids
9. Live in the moment
10. Jump off a cliff into a body of water
11. Live in Montana
12. Adopt a retired greyhound
13. Become a motivational speaker
14. Fly a plane
15. Go zip lining
16. Take a tropical cruise
17. Live in NYC for a year
18. Get a tattoo
19. Spend a summer working on a dude ranch
20. Visit the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahama's
21. Take a hot air balloon ride
22. Go white water rafting
23. Hike the Grand Canyon
24. Go horseback riding in the surf of an ocean
25. Stay passionate about the things I am involved with
26. Go sky diving
27. Make a difference in the lives of others
28. Write a movie script
29. Learn how to dance
30. Visit the Amazon
31. Be happy in the things I do
32. See the Sahara Desert and tour Africa while I am there
33. Live in a different country
34. Scuba dive along the Great Barrier Reef
35. Celebrate New Year's Eve in NYC
36. Learn something new each year
37. Attend a Super Bowl
It seems like a large list, but one thing that I have noticed about myself is that when I am doing things that I do not normally do, I feel fully alive. By having this list of dreams, I have things to constantly look forward to. We will see what happens and what I actually accomplish. I am confident I will get to do a lot of these things and I am excited for them to happen. My one hope is that I have someone who wants to do them all with me.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Choosing to be Happy
A few days ago I started to read the book, How We Choose to be Happy. No, I am not creating a habit of reading self-help books. I read this book because I knew it would challenge some of the opinions I had. The book did just that. I am not saying that I have a completely new opinion on happiness, but this book talks about 9 choices of extremely happy people. It's a collection of stories from people all over the world who are very happy people. Over a three year study, these are the 9 choices these people made. The book was an easy read, and it literally only took me 3 days to read because I found it to be very intriguing.
1. Intention. This part of the book focused on how we need to have an intention to be happy. Without it, we really can't conquer the 8 other choices that happy people make.
2. Accountability. This part focused on how we need to take complete control over situations that happen in our lives. We can't blame people, where we are, or something else beyond our control. If we hold ourselves accountable, we are able to look at the bigger picture and choose how to make the best out of the situation.
3. Identification. The section focused on how happiness is not on the surface. For example, if you have nice clothes, a nice car, or a nice house, it doesn't mean you will be happy. It also focuses on how we need to identify what is best for ourselves. It's what we need, rather than what we want.
4. Centrality. This part of the book talks about how we need to centralize the things that mean the most to us. This allows us to live out our passions and follow our hearts. It's about doing what we want and not what others want. The book had us create a list of our dreams and talked about centralizing how to live them out.
5. Recasting. This section was about overcoming those situations that make us extremely unhappy like the loss of a loved one or experiencing something beyond our control like a house fire, and how to cope with these events. Recasting is all about thriving during a difficult time so we don't lose those moments of happiness we will never get back.
6. Options. This part simply is about weighing out options during situations when we feel disappointed. It helps us become more aware that we have other opportunities in life and how to overcome roadblocks.
7. Appreciation. This part of the books was perhaps my favorite. It talked about loving yourself and knowing when to put yourself first. It also talked about how we can celebrate others and appreciate those around us. In life, we are told to put others before ourselves. This part of the book challenged that thought on how we become happy by learning what things we need to be happy and not only acknowledging those things, but appreciating those things.
8. Giving. This was all about giving during the toughest times. It talked about a woman who had a dream to become a dance instructor. Through many battles, she eventually opened up her own dance studio. She was highly successful in pursuing her dream. She was so good, that ultimately her students wanted to do what she did and open up their own dance studios. She discouraged them at first, but then thought of how nobody discouraged her from going out on her own. She learned to feel satisfied with helping others who had helped her.
9. Truthfulness. Being honest is often a hard concept because it so easy to tell lies, even simple white lies. But this part focuses on how happier people are the ones who are honest with themselves and honest with those around them. It makes life easier too because then you don't have to remember who you told what to. The majority of this part focused on how we need to be true to ourselves first.
Most of the symmetrization's may not make complete sense, but reading this book as a whole was a good decision for me. It challenged my views and helped me learn about what I was or was not doing to be on the right path to happiness. I haven't considered myself to be an unhappy person, but this book helped me learn to be happy even in those tough situations and how happiness truly is a choice we make. I feel like everyone deserves to live a life of happiness because it's never fun being sad or depressed. Yet we all have those times where we want to blame others, not be honest with ourselves, or help others. This book helped me overcome some of those challenges many of us are often faced with.
1. Intention. This part of the book focused on how we need to have an intention to be happy. Without it, we really can't conquer the 8 other choices that happy people make.
2. Accountability. This part focused on how we need to take complete control over situations that happen in our lives. We can't blame people, where we are, or something else beyond our control. If we hold ourselves accountable, we are able to look at the bigger picture and choose how to make the best out of the situation.
3. Identification. The section focused on how happiness is not on the surface. For example, if you have nice clothes, a nice car, or a nice house, it doesn't mean you will be happy. It also focuses on how we need to identify what is best for ourselves. It's what we need, rather than what we want.
4. Centrality. This part of the book talks about how we need to centralize the things that mean the most to us. This allows us to live out our passions and follow our hearts. It's about doing what we want and not what others want. The book had us create a list of our dreams and talked about centralizing how to live them out.
5. Recasting. This section was about overcoming those situations that make us extremely unhappy like the loss of a loved one or experiencing something beyond our control like a house fire, and how to cope with these events. Recasting is all about thriving during a difficult time so we don't lose those moments of happiness we will never get back.
6. Options. This part simply is about weighing out options during situations when we feel disappointed. It helps us become more aware that we have other opportunities in life and how to overcome roadblocks.
7. Appreciation. This part of the books was perhaps my favorite. It talked about loving yourself and knowing when to put yourself first. It also talked about how we can celebrate others and appreciate those around us. In life, we are told to put others before ourselves. This part of the book challenged that thought on how we become happy by learning what things we need to be happy and not only acknowledging those things, but appreciating those things.
8. Giving. This was all about giving during the toughest times. It talked about a woman who had a dream to become a dance instructor. Through many battles, she eventually opened up her own dance studio. She was highly successful in pursuing her dream. She was so good, that ultimately her students wanted to do what she did and open up their own dance studios. She discouraged them at first, but then thought of how nobody discouraged her from going out on her own. She learned to feel satisfied with helping others who had helped her.
9. Truthfulness. Being honest is often a hard concept because it so easy to tell lies, even simple white lies. But this part focuses on how happier people are the ones who are honest with themselves and honest with those around them. It makes life easier too because then you don't have to remember who you told what to. The majority of this part focused on how we need to be true to ourselves first.
Most of the symmetrization's may not make complete sense, but reading this book as a whole was a good decision for me. It challenged my views and helped me learn about what I was or was not doing to be on the right path to happiness. I haven't considered myself to be an unhappy person, but this book helped me learn to be happy even in those tough situations and how happiness truly is a choice we make. I feel like everyone deserves to live a life of happiness because it's never fun being sad or depressed. Yet we all have those times where we want to blame others, not be honest with ourselves, or help others. This book helped me overcome some of those challenges many of us are often faced with.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)