by hope | Jun 6, 2022 | Inspirational
Happiness is such an important element of our lives. Most of us strive for happiness, feeling content when we achieve it and feeling discontent when we struggle to grasp it. But so few of us make an active effort to let ourselves be happy. This is bizarre. Sure, there are things we need to focus on each day in order to survive – providing ourselves with shelter and the essentials – catering to those we’re responsible for, and more. But you should also place high importance on boosting your own happiness wherever possible. Here are some steps that can help you to achieve this.
Take Some You-Time
Most of our lives revolve around activities and commitments concerning others. We need to go to work. We need to visit family and friends. We need to care for those we’re responsible for. This is, of course, all-important. But you shouldn’t consistently put yourself on the backburner. Instead, you need to make sure that you’re regularly making time for yourself. You-time involves doing exactly what you want every now and then. This could be anything. It could be sitting back and relaxing, grabbing a hot drink, running a bath, or watching a favorite TV series or film. It could be attending a hobby that you enjoy. It could be going for a walk to clear your head. It could be learning a new skill, such as a language or an instrument. The opportunities are endless. What is important is that you simply enjoy some time doing the things you want to do.
Create a Good Work-Life Balance
Way too many of us have poor management skills when it comes to our work-life balance. This is understandable for a number of reasons. Some of us are deeply invested in our work and enjoy the projects we’re working on, so keep returning to the outside of working hours. Some of us work for companies that set unachievable targets and place pressure on overtime. Some of us want to prove ourselves to maintain our positions and make ourselves eligible for promotion or pay rise. Creating a good work-life balance is still important in all of these scenarios. When you work too much, you impede your personal time for activities such as relaxation, socializing, and generally disconnecting. This can result in issues such as burnout, depression, anxiety, and more. It really is important that you set yourself strict boundaries when it comes to your work. Stick to your ascribed working hours and make sure to clock out when you’re meant to. Discuss boundaries with your workplace and ensure you’re only contacted outside of working hours for emergency purposes.
Build Your Own Confidence
Confidence can play a major role in happiness. The more confident and comfortable you feel in yourself, the happier you are likely to be. Now, we live in a world that is built to constantly chip away at your confidence. Companies constantly portray dream worlds and lifestyles to make us discontent with our own to the poi t that we pay for their products. It’s up to you to weigh up what will make you feel more confident and is genuinely worth the investment and what you don’t really need and could happily get by without. You could tackle image issues with a healthy balanced diet, exercise, skincare routines, hair care routines or specialist treatments like finasteride. You could tackle confidence issues such as shyness by challenging yourself and pushing yourself slowly beyond your comfort zone. There are all sorts of steps you can take, as long as they are right for you.
Work On Your Relationships
Our relationships with others have a huge sway on how we experience the world. You can always work on yours to improve them and to leave yourself and the people you regularly engage with happier. Make sure to learn how to properly and healthily resolve conflict. Distance yourself from those who drain you or make you feel bad. Spend more time with those who make you feel good about yourself in a healthy way. Practice introspection. Always work to improve yourself and your ways of communicating. This will help you to grow as a person and can improve your day-to-day existence immeasurably. If you are having ongoing issues with a particular person but don’t want to walk away from them, you could benefit from counseling or pairs counseling.
These are just a few starting points, but each can make all the difference when it comes to improving your daily existence. Give them a go and incorporate them into your lifestyle where necessary!
by hope | Sep 22, 2021 | Inspirational
It’s so vital that you do what you can to take care of your mental health. If you don’t, you may find that you end up not being able to live your life to the fullest and experience way more stress than you need on a day-to-day basis. If you want to help yourself, then this is the guide for you.
Talk about It
Talking about the way you feel can help you stay in good shape when it comes to your mental health. It can help you deal with the times when you feel troubled, and it can also help you get things off your chest. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about how you feel, this is understandable, so look into other options instead. It may be that you keep a journal or try and meditate when you have some spare time. Either way, if you can focus on yourself and how you feel from time to time, this will help you more than you realize. If you have lost someone recently, it may help to talk with someone at Memorials.com, as they can help you choose a suitable urn or even keepsake.
Source: Pexels (CC0 License)
Eat Well
Your brain needs a mixture of nutrients if you want to stay healthy. A very good diet for your physical health will be perfect for your mental health, so make sure that you keep that in mind if you want to start taking better care of yourself.
Don’t Drink too Much.
People often drink alcohol because they think it helps them with their mood and relaxes them. Some people drink because they are fearful or lonely, but you have to remember that the effects are always temporary. When your drink wears off, you may end up feeling worse, and you may find that it affects your brain and the rest of your body as well. Drinking is undoubtedly not a good way for you to be dealing with any complicated feelings that you may have, so avoid it if possible.
Keep in Touch
There is nothing better than catching up with someone, but this is not possible all the time. You can give them a call, you can drop a note off, or you can chat with them online if you want. It’s a good idea for you to try and keep the lines of communication open as this will help you get the support you are looking for when you need it. You may even find that you can unload some of the stressed and anxious feelings you are noticing as well.
Ask for Help
Nobody is superhuman at the end of the day. Sometimes people get tired, or they get overwhelmed by what they feel. If this sounds like you, then you need to know when to ask for help. You need to be able to turn to someone, and you also need to know that there is nothing wrong with this.
by hope | Sep 6, 2021 | Lifestyle
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Do you sometimes feel that you’re getting mixed messages about conducting your relationship with your partner? You’ll often hear the culture screaming something in your ear, but your instinct is saying that you should do something different.
If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. It turns out that there is some pretty toxic relationship advice out there. Here are some examples:
Spending Long Time Apart
Spending a long time away from your partner is usually a sign of a serious problem in the relationship – or, at least, that’s how many people see it.
But does it have to be that way? It turns out that spending time apart is actually quite a healthy habit. It gives people time to process the irrational beliefs about their partners and see them more fully as human beings.
In many cases, we can allow ourselves to be consumed by the person we are infatuated with. It is an intoxicating experience and can lead to sleepless nights. All we want is to be close to them.
Unfortunately, when you take this approach, your personality changes. You become somebody different from who your partner fell in love within the first place. Eventually, one person begins to feel suffocated.
Feeling Attracted To Somebody Outside The Relationship
People get into a lot of trouble for feeling attracted to people outside of the relationship. We want to believe that we only have eyes for our partners and never look at anybody else. And the same works the other way: we want our partners to only think of us.
We know from our own experience, though, that this isn’t realistic. Everyone is capable of finding multiple people attractive, regardless of their relationship status.
The trick here is to process these feelings healthily. Don’t bottle them up. Instead, accept the fact that you are attracted to somebody else and then let it go. Try to avoid suppressing feelings or anything like that. And have a conversation with your partner about what you are experiencing, and you might be surprised that they are feeling the same way now and then.
Having The Ability To End It
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In our romantic culture, we believe that relationships should be as permanent as a vasectomy. They are for life.
But this approach leads to all kinds of problems. For one, it eliminates fear in the other person. If they think that you will stick with them forever, no matter what, they won’t worry if they treat you badly. They may behave terribly, knowing that you will stay by their side.
But if they think that you have the power to end it, they will “behave themselves,” and the hope is they start to work on themselves. Self-awareness is a powerful thing and sometimes in a relationship the partner is the one to help push them in that direction. Becoming more mindful and watch what they say and how it affects you. And hopefully, they will make every effort to improve their lives so that they provide you with value. This is healthy empowerment. We get comfortable from time to time, and having someone there to push us even on a relationship level can be a good thing.
Allowing Conflicts To Go Unresolved
Lastly, we believe that we need to resolve every conflict in our relationships to succeed. You shouldn’t go to bed on an argument – or so the saying goes. But it turns out that just letting go of conflict is okay too. You and your partner can disagree on things. You don’t have to agree on everything. Many of the most successful couples allow conflict to rumble on for decades. But don’t forget to manage that conflict in healthy ways rather than let it fester. Think about what matters, and when it comes down to it, not having a picture-perfect relationship doesn’t mean you don’t have a good one. Even a great one.
by hope | Sep 3, 2021 | Lifestyle
The last few years have been a rollercoaster for the world. Looking more specifically at the work landscape – so much changed almost overnight.
Those who were used to being plugged into their laptops 24/7 at a desk become required to work from home. Companies closed and had to let staff go. Food services had to pivot, and that was just the start.
Work for millions of people is something they have to do, not something they love – or want to do.
That sparkled people to discover what they are passionate about and how they can make it happen. More people are switching to freelance or small business owners than ever.
But that comes with its different stressors.
Photo by Boitumelo Phetla on Unsplash
So how can you, whether you are in the office or at home, find your zen?
Start Well
If your mornings are high-speed, messy, and rushed, then your day typically follows that path. It isn’t easy to switch to a different morning routine, but it will give you a huge benefit.
Over the space of a few weeks, start to set your alarm a little bit earlier. Of course, you need to go to bed a little earlier too.
Getting up earlier will give you more time to eat breakfast leisurely, drink tea or coffee, pack bags, or even check emails.
The more relaxed you start the day, the less likely you will be on the back-foot all day.
Gratitude
It might seem impossible to be grateful for a job you dislike, but it is an essential part of feeling that zen.
While the job itself might not bring you joy, the money you get paid probably covers some essential bills.
In a time of uncertainty, having a job that appears secure and comfortable is a blessing.
Think about the time that you have outside of work – what you can do with your time.
Being grateful for what you have is a big deal and will give you a feeling of joy.
Do fun stuff
Outside of work, make time to do some fun stuff. Putting love and energy into the time you spend outside of work will give you more calm and joy to add to your job too.
Look for classes in the area that cover topics that you have always wanted to learn. Go bike riding in the local park—Master the art of illustration.
The world is at your disposal, so begin to recognize and understand you can let loose when you aren’t at work.
Fears
Much of being unhappy in work stems from anxiety and fear. Tackling those fears head-on can give you more control over how you approach your work life.
If it is a manual job, you feel it isn’t safe enough or that the management doesn’t focus on your well-being.
Just remember that you have the power to call a personal injury attorney, to join a union, or search for alternative work – you have options.
It can be beneficial to talk more about any anxiety you have with work with a therapist, a life, or a work coach.
Reframe the faces
If you resent your bosses, co-workers, and subordinates, that will reflect in your work, your demeanor and will likely lead to animosity.
The faces of the people at work aren’t there to upset you or to attack you – they are all there to do a job too.
Working collaboratively, setting the business or daily goals as your own, and work with people not against them will make the workday flow with ease.
Reframe your current feelings for those you work with to people you share some things in common.
Side project
Side projects can be so much fun! Take some time to think about what you want to achieve in life – general goals. It might be that you wish to publish a book, or perhaps you want to own a food truck eventually.
Don’t hold yourself back – dream big.
Then consider what you might need to do to reach those goals. Start small so that it doesn’t cut too much into having time to relax or impact your work.
Doing a side project that makes you happy and gives you joy will make the jobs you don’t want to do so much easier.
And finally, before and after work, even on the busiest of days, take time to take some slow breaths and shake the day off.
The best way to get that calm moment? A Daily Dose of Hope, of course!
by Hope Zvara | Nov 2, 2020 | Inspirational, Working With Hope
What you say matters. Words matter. You matter. And in a culture full of broken language, continuous slang, emoji’s, and texting, the art of words is slowly being forgotten.
The world is like it has never been before. Our knowledge base, our insights, our technology is all on the up and up; but what is on the down and out, is our language, our words, which tell our brains what to think and how to see the world.
Words hold vibrations and considering we are all made up of energy, what level of frequencies do you want to surround yourself with?
You may be what you eat, but you are what you say.
Mantras & Affirmations
For thousands of years, ancient eastern cultures have seen and acted on the power of words and vibration through chanting and mantra. Much like an affirmation the pitch, tone and combine words hold a very powerful energy and vibration when said correctly and continuously, changing the brain and your outlook on life.
What is a mantra? “A mantra can be a single syllable such as “ram”, a number of syllables, or a whole verse. One of the most often used definitions of a mantra is something that protects the person who has received it. It is not something we can find in a book or buy it somewhere.” (The Heart of Yoga, T.K.V. Desikachar)
Mantras have been and still are used to help people break bad habits and at the same time create new ones. They are often given by a teacher to a student for a specific reason and to achieve a specific result. A mantra is used to do penance and show forgiveness. Mantras are used across cultures and often used today as we know them as prayers, songs, and affirmations.
Affirmations are positive words or phrases that are used to affirm something. Internally they offer support and encouragement to the one possessing the affirmation.
Words Carry Energy through language and vibrations
Like mantras, affirmations reaffirm the power words hold, the power of the vibration they possess. And when you speak with broken language and do not speak clearly are not able to attract that energy, and are putting out a completely different energy. In a Sanskrit mantra, one wrongly spoken syllable you could go from speaking something positive and inviting to something horrible or silly. Mantras ask the mind to dance with them, getting the mind all caught up in its harmony that soon the mind forgets what it was so wrapped up in and at the same time has transformed it’s thought patterns to a higher vibration.
Considering our brains are wired to prefer the negative, using a powerfully positive affirmation can help one align with their desires, hopes, and dreams. Or simply see life as a great experience, rather than a horrible one.
When we speak in slang, fragments, and slurs we diminish the power of words, we torque the energetic vibration of what we speak, write, and say. And although it may sound cool or be much quicker to text and write, the consequences are fragmented, and I think we can all agree that our world’s current state and this current generation is in major need of a realignment and a re-connection with life itself.
Affirmations are powerful attraction statements, often used with the starting phrase “I AM”. In stating such a phrase at the beginning of the affirmation you are saying to the Universe that this is what YOU ARE. And when you say, do or visualize something repeatedly, it becomes you and you become it.
I used mantra and affirmations during my recovery and continue to use them today, especially as I continue to get to the bottom of old mindsets and negative belief patterns that are not only unhealthy for me but for others and are often what is keeping me from abundance in my life.
Repetitive, Negative Self-talk is Unhealthy
Jole Osteen said, “What follows the “I am” will always come looking for you…. Many times, we are using the power of ‘I am’ against us.” What are you looking to create in your life? You get a free preview of that creation by discovering your current “I am” beliefs”.
How often do we all say things that solidify our future, outlook and what we attract?
I am always rushed
I am so tired
I am always broke
I am a dummy
I am stupid
I am fat
I am no good
I am under qualified
I am never going to make it
I am always last
I am I am I am…
And I can pretty much guarantee that those people will most likely never receive what they have already told the universe and their brains that they shouldn’t EVER have.
Positive Transformation
Kristen Butler with the Power of Positivity has talked about the I AM transformations.
Because here’s the thing, ‘I am’ will always come looking for you, it’s like a magnet so what are you attracting? Is it what you want to attract? And are you willing to make a change in something as small as what you say? What if just changing that could change your entire life?
Let’s play a game.
I am always broke………. becomes………. I AM always full of abundance
I am a dummy………. becomes………. I AM smart and intelligent
I am fat………. becomes………. I AM fit
I am never good enough………. becomes………. I AM good enough
I am under qualified………. becomes………. I AM highly qualified
I am never going to make it………. becomes………. I AM going to make it, I have what it takes
I am always last………. becomes………. I AM exactly where I need to be
The power of affirmations is vital to the success and well-being of all people personally and professionally! And it is because of this and my own personal experiences with affirmations and transformational mindset that I created the powerful course series: Monumental Clarity. In this series, I created a powerful opportunity for those truly ready and willing to make changes they can reap the benefits and go take action.
Clearing Mental Clutter is a rapid result mini-course that propels those participating in a new way of looking at life, and living life and speaking about life. Clearing Mental Clutter is designed for those looking to break bad habits and set new ones. Those that are sick and tired of being sick and tired of feeling like nothing goes their way and who realize that a big part of making a change is that they must look at themselves first.
Clearing Mental Clutter is designed for those who like me have struggled with a negative self-image, lack in their personal and professional lives, and despite all the right efforts still, are lacking. Those that are ready to live happily, whole, and healthy, breath, body, and belief (mindset) every single day.
The affirmations I use in these courses are designed to help you get to the heart of the issues keeping you from all you desire, as one builds into the next.
I used to fight affirmations because my brain was so tied up in negativity and self-loathing mindset that I wouldn’t allow myself to even mentally say such words because I didn’t want me to succeed.
But here’s the thing, you should want it FIRST for anything to change. And affirmations cost you NOTHING, not a penny, just the willingness to make a small change in what you say and how you say it.
How to create powerful positive affirmations
1. Use the I AM statement
Use the “I AM” statement at the beginning of your affirmation to claim what you say and attract that to your life.
2. Use words that are positive and are specific
Think about where you struggle and what you need to work on and then use a positive phrase to help you in that area.
3. Say it, write it, read it!
The more you use, see, and say your affirmation, the more powerful it is. Who cares if someone thinks you are silly? They won’t be thinking that when you reap what you have sown here with your positive I AM affirmation now, will they?
4. Catch yourself.
When you catch yourself thinking or saying those negative affirmations, STOP yourself immediately and out loud say “cancel, cancel, cancel” and then repeat your positive “I AM” statement. Don’t allow your brain to absorb those hurtful words even for a second.
5. Once you start, don’t stop.
If you suffered a back injury, you shouldn’t stop the exercises to strengthen your back just because it finally feels better-right? The same goes for your new play on words. Keep up with your I AM statements and slowly work to change how you think, speak, and command to the world around you.
If you are ready to clear the cobwebs in that head of yours and take a real first step towards everything you desire and everything that is waiting for you. Let’s do it together, I can help! LET’S TRANSFORM TOGETHER.
I AM READY CLICK HERE!
