Filed under: Life stuff, Living, Uncategorized | Tags: church, feelings, Happiness, heart, people, sing
If you only have 10 seconds to answer this question, what would it be?
At church last week, we shared things that make our hearts sing. I found myself writing down all the beautiful things people shouted out (had to borrow a pen from the lady next to me as I generally don’t take notes during church). One by one, you can see the increasing energy in the room. Here are some of the things people said:
-The election of Obama
-Baby animals
- The sound of rain
-My wife’s smile
-First snow
-Smell of winter
-Shades of green
-Mist on top of the mountain
-When my husband finishes my sentence (though this can go the other way 
- When my 3rd year old laughing over something simple
These are such simple things but sometimes we need reminders.
Great thoughts as we go into this holiday season!
All of us know someone who always seems to be happy. Sometimes you wish you can be like that but sometimes it annoys you to no end that he/she is so happy and you almost wish something bad happens. Let’s face it, it’s not easy being a grown up and walking around happy all day certainly take effort.
As I was waiting in the doctor’s office yesterday, flipping through magazines, I came across an article about happiness from Ladies’ Home Journal magazine (lhj.com): Here are 4 happiness habits shared from deeply happy people. Courtesy of authors of Happy for No Reason.
1. Don’t believe everything you think
· Here are some facts: we have 60,000 thoughts a day
· 95% of those thoughts are the same as yesterday, and the day before
What’s worse is that majority of our thoughts are negative. Bad news. Having negative thoughts stimulate areas in our brain that involves depression and anxiety. One thing to remember is that our thoughts are not always true. We are hardwired for negativity (especially girls). Casing point: if you receive 10 compliments and 1 criticism, what do you remember?
2. Take time out to smell the flowers
We all get busy in our daily routines and often the little good things are overlooked. It’s time to change that. Try to notice every little good thing that you see, feel, taste, hear and smell. This intention activates the reticular activating system (RAS). I am no doc but according to magazine (which sited from doc research), RAS is a group of cells at the base of the brainstem that is responsible for activating your memory system, allowing it to bring important things to your attention.
Have you ever shopped for a car and suddenly noticed all the same cars on the road? Well, that’s RAS at work. So, you can use it to be happier. When is the last time you take a moment to watch the sunset?
3. Think Positive
Next time you are faced with an issue, try to think of it as glass being half full instead of half empty. Find the good side of things and lean on it. Being optimistic can work wonders. So if you are running late, instead of saying ‘ I don’t want to be late!’, say ‘ I am going to be on time’.
4. Appreciate those around us
It is a fact that having good social relationships is one of the key contributor to happiness. For women, these relationships may be more important. (ie. This explains why sometimes I am tired of hearing my own voice when I have yak-fest with one of my friends about whatever issue of the day). The more women engaging in bonding activities, the more oxytocin they release, producing a calming effect and therefore lowering stress. Besides, it feels good to appreciate our loved ones. Doesn’t it feel good to tell them that you love them or is thankful of them? Try it!
5. Find your Passion:
Think about what you love. What is it that you do recharge your inner battery. For me, it is anything to do with people. I am passionate about people and love to learn about their history and culture. It fascinates me and I always walk away with one more learning. For that, I know that my job needs to be around people.
Incorporate your passion into your daily lives. It’s not hard, simply follow your heart!
Tiptoid:
Try to avoid things or people that make you unhappy. Surround yourself with people that make you feel good and things that make you happy. For me, my biggest fan is my fiancé. He always seems to lift me up when I am grumpy.
ps. It’s 1am now and he is sitting in front of me playing his games waiting for me to finish my blog so that we can go to bed together. He doesn’t know it but those are the little things that make my heart smile J
Good night!
I read a great blog about akashic. which is a filing system that records your every thought, word and action. What’s even more interesting is that today, technology can in fact read your thoughts from within the brain. Wild isn’t it? Check out the video from chiefsocialofficer.com. It’s a great video to get jog your mind on this beautiful Friday morning!
This is day one of thinking 100% positive. A great day to start being that this is(was) Easter.
The basic principal is to focus your energy on positive things. Visualize what you want, and good things will come to you. Really! But you have to first believe in yourself. Don’t worry about how to get there, simply visualize being there. The hows will come to you later.
OK, here are the 5 little ways to be happier:
1. Let go of Gudge
2. Stop worrying about everything
3. Set your goals both short term and long term, then act on them
4. Appreciate the little things in life. Have you ever stop the car to watch the sunset?
5. Reach out and give to others
When the gloomy gray sky turns to clear azure blue,
And the snow disappears from the ground,
When the birds start to sing, and our moods start to lift,
Then we know Spring is coming around.
When the first flower bulbs poke their heads toward the sun,
Golden daffodils, hyacinths, too;
When the brown grass turns green, and the wildflowers bloom,
Then sweet Spring makes its showy debut.
Once again we awake from cold winter’s pale dream,
As our minds and our bodies revive;
We rejoice and delight in spring’s colorful sight;
Each new SPRING makes us glad we’re alive!
- By Joanna Fuchs
Filed under: Life stuff
Yesterdat I drove 4 hours each way to visit my manager. Yup. My manage lives 4 hours away. I work in a very big IT company with employees all over the world. My new boss of 2 months is actually the closest (in distance) boss I have in the last 7 years of my work life while working in the same company. It is very good to work remotely from your boss if I may say so myself.
For the last 2 weeks ever since we set the time to meet, I have been dreading the drive. We figure it would be the same amount of time if I fly instead of drive. So, might as well as drive since I would have more flexibility.
A little background about my boss. Let’s call her Emma. So Emma hired me by referrall from a VP (who used to be my boss 3 yrs ago). I was hired (within the same company) without ever meeting with Emma. So 2 months passed by in my very demanding job and Emma and I have been communicating via the phone, email and company IM. Over the last 2 months, I have formed my own opinion of Emma. At first I thought she was very nice. Then shortly after I thought she was extremely demanding, evident by the requests from her and her tone when speaking with me sometimes.
After 4 hours of driving. I finally arrived at her home, home office. Emma lives in a farm, in a beautiful renovated house that looks like a mini mansion. As I walked toward the door, she opened the door and greeted me with a big smile and open arms. I totally had the wrong mental picture of what she looks like. She is more cute and trendy than I imagined. It was so strange to talk to such a familiar voice while looking at such an unfamiliar face.
Emma had gourmet lunch waiting for me when I arrived. We had tomatoe bisque and home made salad with lightly sauted chicken and freshly grated parmasian cheese. We ate in the formal dinning room. After lunch she showed me her beautiful home and the transformation they have made from an old farm house. I enjoyed the tour.
Then we worked for the next 4 hours. As we were sitting side by side in her home office, discussing, working, I began to realize Emma’s working style. You see, Emma is really a gentle person even though she may come across as being too direct. Often just by reading her email, you would assume that she is mad. But she is simply asking you a question without the fluff. Emma talked to me about her expectations of me and I see that she fully wants me to succeed. I realized that all these time when I was sitting on the other side of the phone, talking to her, thinking of intelligent things to say, I should just relax and say what it is.
While in our meeting, Emma’s boss (a VP level manager let’s call her ‘VP’) joined us via the phone. In the middle of discussing a project, VP spoke to Emma in such decending tone that made me uncomfortable to be there. Seeing Emma’s face turned pale, it suddenly made me realize that must be what I look like sometimes when talking to Emma. But at the end of the day, we are all humans, no one is better than another. I can understand reasons why sometimes Emma seem so stressed and may seem pushy, she was probably feeling the heat from above.
I learned from meeting with Emma that, I do not dislike her. She is actually quite nice. Did I mention that she also gave me a business book signed by the auther? Now knowing more of her working style, I will try not to interpret things. There are typically reasons for people to behave a certain way.
All in all, it was a good trip to my boss’ house. The drive home in the dark was pretty bad but I made it home. Exhaulsted, but glad to be home.
