“A good laugh or a good sleep are the two best cures for anything.” If you don’t find these pictures funny, I hope you sleep well tonight.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, however, if you laugh well and often you will not need the apples.
Month: Nov 2018
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The majority of people in first world countries want everything this world has to offer. It’s the driving force behind the most powerful economies in this world. Governments know this, and that’s why you never hear them advising people to stop spending unless there’s a recession that was caused by overspending.
Personally, I believe balance is the key to a happy life. If you have a spend what you’ve got or borrow what you can afford to pay back mentality, it will lead to a long and happy life.
Below is a list of wants I’ve created that I would always like to have. If I receive everything I want, I will always be happy.
I want to be healthy enough to avoid visiting the doctor but not so healthy that I take my health for granted.
I want to be clever enough to interact with other people and not feel stupid.
I want to be stupid enough to realise I still have a lot to learn.
I want to be rich enough to buy the things I need.
I want enough understanding of sadness to realise it, too, will pass.
I want to be able to speak well enough to be understood.
I want to be able to listen well enough to hear what everybody else is saying.
I want to be powerful enough not to abuse the power I’ve been given.
I want to like my job enough to always do it well.
I want to see well enough not to need a guide.
I want to be smart enough to add up without using my fingers.
I want to party just enough to enjoy the party, not to hear about it the next day.
I want to appreciate my home enough not to want somebody else’s home.
I want to write well enough so people will understand what I’ve written about.
I want an imagination that’s good enough to imagine everything is possible.
I want an imagination that’s realistic enough to know what’s real and what’s imagined.
I want to be in just enough debt so that I can always get deeper into debt.
I want to be brave enough to accept my appearance as it is.
I want to believe enough in my God that I don’t mind if other people don’t believe in him.
I want to know when enough is enough.
I want a house that’s big enough in which to live comfortably.
I want to like people enough to always wish them well.
I want to be respectful enough of myself that I don’t let other people disrespect me.
I want enough respect for other people to not disrespect them.
I want to be fearful enough to run from a lion.
I want to be brave enough not to run from a spider unless it’s poisonous.
I want to be deep enough to appreciate that beauty is only skin deep.
I want to be wise enough to know what I can change and what I can’t.
I want to be strong enough to accept everybody as they are.
I want a car that’s good enough to get me from A to B.
I want my clothes to be new enough to keep me warm.
I want to be courageous enough to ask for help when I need it.
I want to be open-minded enough to question everything but not so open-minded that people fill me with ****.
I want to be fit enough to walk as far as I want.
I want to be able to eat enough without worrying about my weight.
I’ll always want enough to eat.
I want to be warm-hearted enough to help other people if I can.
I want to live long enough to do all the things I want to do.
I want to be happy enough with my life that I enjoy living in the moment; not in the past or wishing for the future.
But most of all, I want to know that just being me is good enough for me.
“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” ~Lao Tzu
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You are inspired to act by everything you see, hear and feel, and this has been happening throughout your entire life. It began with your parents, sibling, friends and community you grew up in, continued through your education and work experience. You are also inspired by every famous person and famous event you’ve heard about. Each positive or negative experience has driven you to act in a specific way. The most powerful motivating stories are about those people who made a positive difference when everything they experienced during their life should have left them devastated. Maya Angelou is an excellent example of this; So why are you motivated to do the things you do? And will achieving them make you happy? Two interesting questions. Below are a few suggestions that will help you answer those questions.
The goal your motivated to achieve maybe your way of avoiding answering a more crucial question. Are you happy with being just you?
The sum total of your experiences is why you are motivated to act the way you do today.
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Everybody wants to see positive results, however, not everybody wants to put in the effort required to achieve them. This is not unusual because results are what they want, and effort for most people means work, but it doesn’t have to mean hard work if they change their attitude toward the results and effort relationship.
In general, people reward themselves based on the results they achieve and put up with the effort required to achieve those results. They have to spin that attitude 180 degrees, they have to start rewarding themselves for the effort they put in as opposed to the results they achieve.
This doesn’t mean if they do 20 sit ups, they get up and eat a biscuit if their goal is to get fit. It means they put a calendar on the wall and every time they do 20 sit ups they put a sticker on the calendar. Every time they go for a 15 minute walk, they put another sticker on the calendar. If they go for a 30 minute jog, they put up two stickers. Before long the calendar will begin to fill up, this will start a positive behaviour pattern towards effort and reward; with every sticker on the calendar the brain will receive a dopamine hit, this is the brains way of rewarding itself. This means the result of getting fit will be achieved, and the journey to reach that goal will be far more enjoyable.
Keeping fit is one example of how rewarding your efforts will help you achieve the results you want to see; that theory is easily transferred to all areas of your life including your working life. Simply write down the result you want to achieve, then break down what actions are required to achieve that result, then reward yourself each time you carry out one of those actions.
Positive results are driven by the effort people put into achieving them so if they start rewarding their efforts, they will achieve the results they wish to see.
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“He’s not to be trusted.” From the moment those words are uttered by somebody about somebody else, the listener is going to spend their time looking for reasons why they’re not going to trust them, especially if the they trust the person telling them the information. It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not, because people’s minds look for reasons to validate, not conflict previously held information. That’s how expectations are formed.
First impressions work in the same way except the person is making their own judgement about the person they’ve just met. They decide what kind of person they are in the first 7 seconds and then spend the rest of their time looking for information to back it up. It’s no wonder so many people will have a different opinion about the same person. If one party has prior knowledge of the other person, they may have made up their mind before any first impression has been made.
- Every interaction we experience today creates our expectations of future behaviour.
If people were robots and always acted in the same manner, this wouldn’t be an issue, however, in my experience people are complicated, you rarely meet somebody who’s always the same, the majority of people have good and bad days. If you meet somebody who’s having a bad day, your expectations of them is going to plummet; on the other hand, if you meet somebody who’s having a great day, your expectations of future behaviour is elevated. It would seem, expectations don’t have a lot going for them. The quote from Forest Gump springs to mind,” Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”
Our expectations are not always met. Sometimes we base our expectations of what other people will do based on what we would do in their situation, that too can be wrong as often as it is right because we are all unique with a unique perspective of what’s happening in front of us. In any interaction between two people, there’s three perspectives in action, what each person thinks is being discussed and what’s actually being discussed. Below are a few of my favourite quotes on the topic.
- “Peace begins when expectations end.” ~Sri Chinmoy.
- “when you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.” ~Donald Miller
- “Another expectation crashes and burns before take off.” ~Anon
- “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” William Shakespeare.
- “Don’t blame people for surprising or disappointing you, blame yourself for setting your expectations a level they could not live up to.” ~Anon
- “Expect people to be themselves, nothing more, nothing less.” ~Anon
