Posts Tagged ‘personal development’

Choosing Happiness (and why it’s not as easy as it sounds)

Sunday, July 10th, 2011

When personal development and self help gurus talk about choosing happiness, they make it sound easy. The conventional wisdom typically goes something like this: If you’re not happy, well then start doing what makes you happy. Start making changes to improve your happiness right now.

But happiness is not black and white, there is plenty of grey area in there. Happiness is not an absolute. There is not a point you get to and find out you’re suddenly happy, and most likely, if you’re unhappy, it didn’t happen suddenly – it’s probably been brewing a while. Happiness is a constant, living, breathing work in progress.

I have spent more time that I would like lately thinking about this topic. And I have questions… How much happiness is “enough”? At what point does being “mostly happy” become not enough that you need to make a change? Should you suffer through periods of unhappiness […]

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Feeling stagnant and lacking direction

Monday, November 8th, 2010

There have been times during the years of keeping this blog that I have been literally bursting with ideas for things to write about. Sadly, this is not one of those times. At the moment I have an excuse, which is that I’ve been slammed with work since I’m back in an office and my company has had, in simple terms, a change in management. But prior to this, I didn’t have a whole lot going on, and was still at a loss for new ideas. Except for brief moments where great thoughts pop into my head (which typically fade into oblivion before I can get them out), I feel rather stagnant lately.

I suppose I feel like I am at a personal crossroads these days. Though I’ve said it before, and I’m not sure why it seems to be lasting so long. Something inside of me just seems to be […]

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Conquering my fear of dancing

Monday, October 4th, 2010
Salsa Dancing - Dance All Night

Salsa Dance – “Dance All Night” photo by ted.sali

Something I have never liked doing, nor been any good at, is dancing. Any time I go anywhere where there is dancing, whether it’s a wedding or a nightclub, I always get a little pit in my stomach, wondering if I will inevitably get dragged onto the dance floor. I have other irrational fears like this, but finally I am working on overcoming this one.

Yes, just this past week I started my first lesson of salsa dance classes. It was hard for me to make the decision to sign up, but I finally did it. I have actually considered it several times over the past few years, but fear always got the best of me. Finally this time I just decided to make it happen.

Interestingly, it wasn’t all my […]

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Compromising

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

I had written this article about compromise almost a year ago, and realized that I never even published it. It was sitting in my drafts, so I guess no time like the present to dig it up and send it out to the world!

I’m not trying to give any advice here, this is about me sorting out things in my personal life, things regarding lifestyle and prioritizing. And even though this was originally written a year ago, a lot of it still holds true.

In general I am a pretty happy person, I am laid back and easy to get along with. But also, I am prone to over thinking and overanalyzing, and as anyone knows, both of those things can get to you. I feel lucky to be where I am, I have a roof over my head, things in my house, a girlfriend, and I […]

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Thoughts on manifesting the things I want

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

I have been thinking a lot about my life lately. About things like abundance, positive thinking, manifesting desires, and living the life I want. I am by nature a person without a lot of certainty, I am always double thinking, over thinking, second guessing, and oddly I know a lot about what I don’t want but not a lot about what I do want.

Just recently I read this post by Steve Pavlina and it made me realize, even though I am great at dreaming and I want a lot out of life, I am not a great manifester. Which subsequently got me into an email conversation with a friend of mine who is currently in the process of manifesting the perfect life for herself.

It started with me writing an email, asking her if she thought I am inadvertantly manifesting scarcity in my life because of what I […]

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How to Send Back Food at a Restaurant

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Photo credit: juicyrai

I found this article about how to send food back at a restaurant over at Bohemian Revolution, and I think it’s great advice. For a lot of people, this is trivial information, but it’s always good being reminded that it’s ok to send food back if you are not happy, and that there is a way to do it without being a jerk.

How to send food back at a restaurant

It’s not that I don’t like people

Monday, August 10th, 2009

The other day Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Noncomformity posted a really interesting article about social networking for introverts. It really struck me because I tend toward being introverted myself. And in one of the comments, someone said something that really resonated with me. Nicole from Just Make It Better noted that someone she knew would say

It’s not that I don’t like being around people, it’s just that I prefer to be around the ones that I like.

And that pretty much explains me.

I am good at conversation and I enjoy being around people, the catch is I have to like them to have a good time. In the past I have been told that I can be a bit standoff-ish or unfriendly, to which I say, I am neither, it’s just that I have to know you first. Chris says in his article that […]

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It’s how you do it

Friday, August 7th, 2009

I’ve found another blog I like, so I figured I’d share it. I’ll give another little shout out on Monday regarding what led me to Nicole’s blog, Just Make It Better, but for now I want to pass this article along.

I won’t waste my time paraphrasing what she wrote, but I will say she’s right on regarding what she says about being yourself and doing what makes you happy. And she also points out a couple of the traps that we (myself included) fall into when it comes to following the rules even if it doesn’t benefit us.

It’s not how it’s done, it’s how you do it.