lifeinprogress

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Life in Progress Now

Preface

Putting Your Life into Perspective

I am going to make a prediction that this is not the first self help book you have opened in the hopes of finding a magic key or formula or words of wisdom that would forever change the direction your life is going in. In fact there is no magic key, no majic formula that works for everyone. The key to happiness is in our own perception of life and our place in it. Not that there's any one key aspect to life that will magically unlocks the door to a happy life, but when I reflect on all the people I have met along my own personal journey, there is one consistent quality that shines through: You live your life by the truths we tell ourselves every day.

From the time we are born until this very moment, we are shaped by our experiences. It is how we internalize these experiences and the people who influence our lives that shape our perspective about ourselves and the world around us.

Never underestimate the impact you have on your own life and those around you. You can chose to be a role model for yourself, your children, and the world around you or you can chose to be negative and focus only on the things that always seem to be going wrong in your life.

Acknowledgments

1. note from author

I have questioned my own self-worth for years, it has haunted me from the deepest darkest recesses of my brain. It seeps into my soul at moments when I have no reason to dough myself. It is like a shadow that never quit leaves you alone, it follows you just waiting for a chance to sink itself into your heart and you soul. It makes you dough yourself and those around you. I have played devil's advocate in my head over the past years, wanting to desperately find a way, a magic formula, that would shape my perspective into the hopes, and dreams that I always wanted. When we are children we are told we can be anything we want to be but as soon as we try there always seems to be someone there asking us "who do you think you are?" you can not do better, be better, try harder, etc than me. These types of people are so afraid that you will be more than they ever hoped to be that they just can not let you rise above your past and reach for a future built on love, trust, devotion and yes sheer determination. You only wish is to be seen for who you are and what you do, but they all seem so inadequate when you relies you don't even know who you really are or what your true potential could be. So here is my question: How could we ever be good enough for someone else if we are not even good enough for ourselves? Who are we trying to be good enough for? What are we trying for? While I have a feeling you don't have an answer to this, just know you are loved and appreciated more than you could ever know.

2. introduction

3. body

4. end of the note/chapter summary

Preface

Chapter 1

Happiness is the Meaning and the Purpose of Life, the Whole aim and End of Human Existence." -ARISTOTLE

Your life, your choice.

• Recognize your need for change is the first step in putting your life into perspective.

• Recognizing that the direction your life is taking may not be beneficial to reaching your true potential.

• Recognizing the quality of your life could be better.

• Recognizing that different aspects of your life needs to be in balance with your wants, needs, and desires.

• Recognize what is working.

• Recognize the people who influence you in a positive way. Friends, family, the little old man sitting on his porch who waves good morning every day.

• Recognize what is missing in your life.

• Recognizing the people who's negativity hinders your ability to grow and develop into the positive person you desire to be.

• Recognize what needs to be adjusted and look for ways to go about making small changes that will generate big results.

Your life, your right to change.

• Understanding your need for change will help you determine if you only need to adjust a few things or add something to your life. If your life is completely out of control or you just can not find any peace or happiness in it, you may need to look deeper into the reasons why. Understanding what you truly want to change or what you hope to gain out of life is the next step in fulfilling that desire.

• Understanding that little things can make a hugh difference in how you feel about yourself and what you have accomplish.

• Understanding that sometimes it is the simple things in life that makes it all worth while.

• Understanding that no everyone will be supportive in your chose to change things or reach for something more.

• Understanding who you are making these changes for.

Your life in progress.

• Learn from your past mistakes or failures and move on. Turn these moments of defeat into a challenge for yourself to do better or not to make the same mistakes again.

• Learn that sometimes your failures or mistakes are stepping stones to reach your true potential.

• Taken a leap of faith and just do it. You can start out small and go from there. I do not recommend that you make a major life style change unless you are sure it is the right time for you to do so. It is all based on your prespective of the life events that are going on in your life. Keep in mind and try to vision all the steps you will need to reach your end goal and finally vision the end product in your mind. How will you feel, how will your life be improved, how will the change the way you see yourself and those around you.

You live your life by the truths we tell ourselves every day.

• These truths are created by your beliefs

• These truths are as real as we make them

• These truths shape our perspective on a daily bases.

• Theses truths shape our believes, ideas, etc.

• These truths shape our experiences and how we react to them.

Developing self-awareness by creating self-knowledge, reflecting on our strengths and weaknesses.

Stay open to the possibilities around you. Do not close yourself off to the world for very long.

Pay attention to your ????and intuition

Dreams

Hidden meanings

Find what makes you tick.

Vision what you want in your mind first.

• If you want a new job picture it in your mind first.

• If you want a new car picture it in your mind first.

• If you want a stronger relationship with you spouse, children, parents. Etc. picture it in your mind first.

• If you want a better education picture it in your mind first.

• If you want a little more peace and tranquility in your life picture it in your mind first.

• If you want to lose weight, get fit, be healthier, gain weight, gain muscle tone, etc picture it in your mind first.

Say what you want out loud to yourself.

Create a vision board

Write it down and look at it often to keep it fresh in your mind but do not obsess over it.

Do not get upset if someone does not notice the changes you are making at first. Remember they have their own life in progress and may not notice until they look up from their own chaos.

Chapter 2

Clear the Clutter.

I believe that our thought pattern leads to isolation and moments of deep despair. This is often manifested in our outward surroundings through our subconscious. We can at time mask the depression by hiding our true feelings deep within ourselves however; it still seems to find its way out. We can either live in a world of disappointment, chaos, and clutter or we can go to the other extreme and hide our insecurities by over achieving in our domestic, work, and home environment. It is the very nature of our being to want to hide what we consider to be our flaws and to bury our insecurities from ourselves and others. I do believe that we all deserve to feel a sense of accomplishment inn our lives and to find peace and tranquility in our everyday existence.

Starting with our minds, our body, and our spirit.

Establish simple habits that will keep the clutter eliminated.

De-clutter your mind

• Positive thinking can be achieved through positive reinforcement of ideas and beliefs.

• Setting up routines

• Setting aside a few minutes to distress and reconnect with your inner self.

Listening to music or even playing an instrument if you are so musicaly inclined is a great way to improve your mood and bring some tranquility into your life. I know one person who started playing his guitar and noticed a great improvement in his mood and his out look on life. I know for me that I do so much better when I go for a walk and listen to Pandora on my phone. With smart phones today, you do not need a separate MP3 player or other devices. Another friend takes 15 minutes to read the morning paper and drink a cup of coffee.

• Just before you become fully awake think positive thoughts. Think about how you want your day to go. Think about the different steps needed to set these goals into motion.

• Gently stretch and smile to yourself. Think happy thoughts.

• Throughout the day take a few moments to reflect and to readjust your mood or behavior to fit the desired results needed to accomplish you goals. If you find yourself stressing over little thinks or things just do not seem to be working in your favorer just take a deep breath, several deep breathes, and relax. Count to ten and gently roll your neck or drop your hands down to your side and gently shake the stress out of them. Then most importantly take another deep breath and smile as you slowly let the negative energy that has built up throughout the day to escape.

• Do not criticize yourself or your family for how your day is going. Calmly and in a soft voice state the fact that "I know things are getting a little out of control right now but I need us all to take a step back and count to ten".

Have you ever been around a mother of father who yell at their kids all the time and then cannot understand why the children do not respect them or why they have disciplinary issues? It is really hard to respect someone, even a parent when they person does not seem to respect you as a person. It is an outward sign that that person (parent) do not seem to respect themselves. Sometimes the best thing for a parent to do is to rise above the stress and in a calm voice state what you want or need the child to do. This will not happen overnight, it may take several weeks or more before the child starts responding in a softer voice as well.

De-clutter your environment

Finding yourself starts with finding your space. Clutter seems to gain control over our lives. Clutter is always the outer expression of how we feel on the inside. You don't have to feel embarrass another day. Establish a daily routine to clean out your space and help maintain it for easy upkeep and maintenance.

Keep in mind that your home did not become this chaotic or cluttered overnight and it will take time to get it decluttered and clean.

I know you did not create this mess all on your own unless of course you live alone.I want you to quite whining and put on your big britches and just do it. That is right YOU. Not your children, not your spouse, not your cleaning lady, You. We spend so much of our time complaining about why someone else is not cleaning up the mess or helping out when in fact it is often easier and faster for us to do it ourselves. As tired and overworked as we already are, we must set the example for chance. Be careful for this is where resentment and anger will rise its ugly head and set our hearts will ill will and anger.

I want to you to use your energy towards changing your environment and not to waste in towards anger and resentment. Once your family realizes that you are no longer yelling at them to help and they stare seeing a change in their environment thanks to you them will be more open to the changes taking place and will start taking pride in their home as well. Which will translate into them offering, yes I said it, offering to help. All your hard work will not go unnoticed or underappreciated.

You can start with something as simple as your car will help set you on the right track. Starting with some easy to follow motivation you can start by cleaning out your car and keep it that way.

You only need to start 15 minutes a day to get started declutter our mind, body, and spirit. Decluttering our environment is easy when you establish simple habits that can be done anywhere.

Car

Our car is often a second home to many of us. We use it to >>>>>>

1. Don't eat in your car. If you do, then bag up the trash as soon as everyone is finished. The bag the fast food came in is a great bag to hold the trash. When you get out of the car, find a trash can, there are trash cans all over the place. Even if you pull into a carwash just to throw away your trash it is still faster than letting it build up.

2. Every time you get home empty the car of things you put in it before you left. Book bags, coats, jackets, toys, etc.....Not only will this keep your family safe from flying objects but it will be less >>>>. I have the habit of putting the top back on my soft drink when I am driving. I will strap my purse or backpack into the seat as well. If anything was to happen I would not have all this flying all over the place.

3. Trash cans are often located near gas pumps, while you are filling your car up with gas take a few minutes to pick up. Making it into a game will challenge your children to participate and teach them valuable skills for keeping their own life decluttered through positive interaction.

4. Keep things limited in your trunk and confined in in clear plastic bins or zippered bags. Keeping them straed in will help keep them from sliding around in your trunk. Bungee cords are great for hooking things into the trunk.

5. Establish a day for going over your car. Fill it up, clean it out, vacuumed it out, wipe it down and shine it. What ever day works for you but keep in mind Fridays can be a very busy day at the car wash since most people will be cleaning their cars for the weekend.

Home

Office

• De-clutter your body

• De-clutter your soul

Be your own source of inspiration.

Being true to yourself, even when you do not know who you are you

Finding yourself while being all things to all people

Chapter 3

Putting yourself in perspective

1. Who are you?

2. What do you want out of life?

3. When do you want these changes to occur?

4. Where do you want to be in the future?

5. Why do you want to change, revaluate, or ? yourlife?

Chapter 4

Looking Back, Looking Forward.

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."

~ Confucius

• Seeing how far you have come.

If life we tend to forget just how far we have come in our development and growth. It is easy to look at the now but it is important to remember that we have all reached goals or milestones in our life that at one time or another where only dreams or thoughts.

Realize

Understand

Create

• What works for you.

Finding things or patterns that work for you will help you reach your goals and streamline the efficiency needed to obtain those hopes, dreams, ambitions, and

Realize

Understanding that the flow of new ideas

Creating new ideas from the old ones is not giving up, you are simply modifying your ? to fit the flow of new ideas into your game plan.

To put it simply, Your Life is a Work in Progress...

• What does not work for you

Realizing what does not work for you is equally important in understanding why you have not reached your goals in the past or what maybe sabatouceing your success.

Understand

Create

• Who inspires you.

Finding someone or something that motivates you will help keep you motivated and inspire you to reach your goals. Realizing the story behind there success will help you gain a understanding that truly successful people to not let their past dictate their future. They use their life evens as a catalyst for achieving their success.

Realize

Understand

Create

• Who does not inspire you

Realizing and understanding that there is no one true way for everyone. There are examples all throughout history where people have experienced the exact same life events and yet there are those who rise above it and are successful in their own life.

Realize that no everyone will have your best interest at hearth.

Understand that everyone has issues of their own.

Create

Examples

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth."

1. Who

2. What

3. When

4. Where

5. Why

Chapter 6

Look inside yourself and realize that you are enough.

Turn up the silence

Turned down the voices

Learning to be happy in your own company

Questions to ask

1. do you enjoy your alone time

2. how much along time to you require a day

3. how much along time can you find yourself

4. how do you feel when you are alone

• Low points

• high points

5. do you need others around you

6. are you happier surrounded by people

7. do you enjoy spending time with others

8. do you need others to feel complete

Seaze the moment, day, week, month, year,

Learning to embrace your fears in order to fully embrace the life you desire.

Empty out the clutter

Tune out the negative

• self negativity

"I don't believe I have special talents, I have persistence ...

After the first failure, second failure, third failure, I kept trying."

~ Carlo Rubbia, Nobel Prize winning Physicist

Do not let negative thoughts ruin your day. Try instead to use these negative thoughts in ways that motivate you and challenges the way you think about yourself and others.

Thoughts of negativity rear its ugly head every day.

"Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophy."

~ Sumner Redstone

Life is not fair. Try teaching that in school and you will quicky see yourself out the door.

Well I'm here to tell you life was never meant to be fair. It is about the strongest link. Survival of the fittest for resources and ??

You can be happy even when things in life do not seem fair. There is something to be said for looking on the brighter side of life. While negative energy attracts negative ??Positive energy even in a negative situation will still attract a positive outcome. You may not see it right away but it is all in how you perceive it.

EXAMPLES

I've already made my choices so now I just have to live with it. We all make bad choices from time to time, some just more than others. But you always have a choices in how you handle theses decisions and if something is no longer working for you then you need to think of how to make it work or change the direction you are going in. Sometimes just changing how we look at the choices we made can change how they appear. Are you in a bad marriage? Do you fight with your spouse or feel unappreciated? Do you feel unloved or desirable to your spouse? If you could change one thing in the mornings and one thing before you go to bed at night it can chage your whole experience.

In the mornings before you get fully awake say thins to yourself.

"I am going to look lovingly at my spouse with not hate or animosity in my heart I am going to breathe in the essence of his smell and I am going to breath out all the hate and anger and mistrust". Do not tell your spouse what you are doing or why just do it.

I have made too many mistakes in my past. Your past is just that, the past. It is not your future and while it is the past that shapes us into who we are today, the past does not dictate or rule our life unless we allow it to. You can turn your life around.

I do not deserve to be happiness. Everyone deserves to be happy. No one is more deserving than you. That is not to say that you should only think of yourself but rather what will make you a happier person so you can live a life of peace and tranquility.

I'm not good enough. Even if I try, I'll probably fail.

My parents really screwed me up by...

I can't change because I always find a way to mess things up.

I always make the "wrong" decisions in life.

Wrong guy

Wrong girl

Wrong line of work

Wrong

Things never work out for me, no matter what I do.

I'm not smart

Good enough

talented

• negativity from friends

• negativity from family

• negativity from our

• negativity from outside influences

Lighten your load

• learning you do not have to do everything yourself

• learning when to ask for help

• learning how to ask for help

• learning how to shared responsibilities

• learning how to motivate others to help yourself

• learn how to motivate others to help themselves

• encouraging self worth an understanding

chapter 7

Body and soul.

Engaging change in order to transform yourself. The only person you can change is yourself. You must let go of everyone else's expectations.

• Balancing act

• Regeneration

We are the choices we make today but we can change where we are headed

chapter 8

Choices

Crossroads

Taken the first step

1. Challenging yourself in small ways

2. Challenge yourself in big ways

chapter 9

change

1. experiences

2. feelings and emotions

Shift in perspective

1. Old goals

2. New goals

3. Results

chapter 10

1. new you

2. Same place

3. Stay or move on

One step at a time

1. Slow down

2. Breath

3. One step at a time

4. One moment at a time

5. One day at a time

Chapter 11

1. fill your heart with joy

2. Remain enlightened

Keep your sights on your dreams, goals, etc.

1. Persist

2. Slipping

3. Learning

4. Moving on

Challenge yourself daily

1. Little things make a big difference

2. continue to redefine and shape the quality of your life

steps

Wake up early

Smiling in infectious

You are not starting late in life. You have the rest of your life to catch up to where you want to be.

References

http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/OnFailingG.html

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/wellness/The-Pursuit-of-Happiness.html?233848381&utm_campaign=googlenews&utm_source=googlenews&utm_medium=xmlfeed

all share: they belong to a community. Of course, everyone belongs to a community - even the unhappy - so I should go a step further and say that the key is to not just belong to, but to identify with and become engaged in your community.

There's a great deal of literature to support the idea that people are happiest when they feel a sense of belonging. It's no secret that we are the most social species in the world, and a great deal of our development and evolutionary path has been dictated by our incredible ability to socialize. Additionally, people want to not only feel a sense of belonging, but also a sense of importance and meaning; having influence in their community provides them with both. It also stands to reason that when people exert effort to better their community, they receive all the wonderful gifts that come from giving and improving the world around them.

What is most interesting about this idea is the word itself: community. Unless that awful party game/question came true and you're currently marooned on a desert island with only your top five albums, you belong to a community. Therefore, defining your community is the first step in truly engaging with it.

- See more at: http://livehappymagazine.com/blogs/documenting-happiness/community#.dpuf

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