Good Bye 2009...Hello 2010!

As the clock strikes midnight tonight, many people all over the world will be cheering and celebrating a new year. For many, a new year symbolizes more than just a change in calendar digits. The New Year symbolizes the possibility for a better tomorrow. Many people are inspired to create New Year’s Resolutions such as being a better person, losing weight, finding a better job, or spending more time with family just to name a few. I think everyone, regardless who you are, can always find something they can improve to make them a more well rounded individual. So if you’re thinking you want to have a New Year’s Resolution but aren’t quite sure what you want it to be, here’s some suggestions I thought of…

Volunteer
Speaking for myself, I’ve felt great internal satisfaction each time that I’ve volunteered. It feels really good to give back to the community and help others if you have the ability to do so. I have volunteered at food banks packing up boxes of food, I’ve also collected clothes for Dress for Success who provide work clothes and career development to disadvantaged women and I’ve organized and/or participated in multiple disease related fund raising events. I have to say that all of these activities have given me more fulfillment than a day’s pay. So if you are looking for a small way to make a big impact in your life, as well as someone else’s, I say volunteer. This is one place you will always be needed and they will always be happy to see you.

Make a personal date
Do something just for yourself, by yourself once a week. Something as simple as a candle lit bubble bath, a good book and warm blanket, an old classic movie, a long walk...just take some relaxing time out for you.

Take a risk
And I don’t mean something little like eating chocolate when you’re on a diet. I mean a big risk that scares you and might even make you think you can’t do it…then…you DO IT! Something like, apply for a promotion, change careers, join an activity group etc. So think of one thing that has always held you back because of fear, and then overcome it. There’s a saying I love “The only things in life you regret are the risks you didn’t take”. So, TAKE IT!

Create a Bucket List
A bucket list is a list of all the things you want to accomplish or see in your life before you…well…kick the bucket. I have an ongoing list that I keep on my computer and honestly, over the years it has come in handy. Sometimes if I’m looking for something to do, I refer to my list. I have things as little as parks I’d like to go hiking in, to places I want to travel to sky diving. So create your list and then get to doing them and check them off one by one!

Challenge yourself…
I firmly believe if you aren’t continuing to challenge yourself, then you aren’t growing as a person. I read somewhere once that challenging yourself develops a healthy self esteem. So think of something you’ve always wanted to tackle and then take it on! It could be anything from a home improvement project to learning another language or a book that’s a tough read (I have one of these right now that I am trying to get myself to tackle. It’s called House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves). I feel I challenge myself every time I write for my blog. Of course, the world won't end if you do not challenge yourself, but the building blocks of success can be found in tackling hard projects.

Get a hobby
I believe many people lose their hobbies as they get older. I think sometimes life just gets in the way and your hobby takes a back seat. But having a hobby is a great way to meet new people and do something you really enjoy. It can be anything from joining a sports league like softball or bowling to knitting or scrap booking, taking yoga or picking up that instrument you used to play when you were in high school. Like they say, in order to be interesting, have some interests.

Create a vision board
If you’ve ever read the book or watched the DVD The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(book)) then you know what I’m talking about. The Secret is all about The Law of Attraction which says that our thoughts, both conscious and unconscious can basically attract the things that you want. It suggests having a vision board where you display all the things you wish for your life and have it in an area that is visible to you every day as a constant reminder of what you desire. So think about the things you want for your life and then display them on a vision board and see if The Law of Attraction can work for you.

Read a self improvement book
There’s so many out there that I have found beneficial. I mentioned my favorite book in a previous blog, The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav but there are so many amazing, well written ones out there. Self improvement books are a great way to experience personal growth. If you’ve never read one, you’d be surprised how much you can take away from reading a book of this type and incorporate it into your life and your personal development. Some books can be a tough read for some people so if you decide to try this, maybe it could also be the challenging thing you do for yourself.

Practice compassion
The world can use more compassionate people. I try to be compassionate of others and try to treat others how I want to be treated. I love the quote by Gandhi “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” If everyone practiced compassion, the world would be a much better place. The next time you’re out, think of this and see where you can incorporate it into your own life. It can even be something small like saying hello to a stranger, holding the door for someone or lending a helping hand to someone in need.

Tackle your weakness
Think about what your weakness is and then improve it. Are you a terrible speller or awful at math, do you curse too much, do you not have a large enough vocabulary? Whatever your weakness is, figure out how you can work on it and then challenge yourself to overcome it.

Set goals
They could be long term or short term, big or small but everyone should have goals. So define your goals in life and continually evaluate your current situation to make sure you are still going in the right direction to reach your goals.

Well, as 2009 comes to a close, so does this blog. I hope that you find something valuable listed here that you could use to enrich your own life. I wish everyone a HAPPY and HEALTHY New Year filled with lots of LOVE, LAUGHTER and HAPPINESS. 

As Benjamin Franklin said “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.”

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas is my favorite time of year, not because of all the presents but because of the energy that seems to exist at this time of year. As much as I think the gift giving part of the holiday season has become too commercialized, I love the Christmas music and the gorgeous decorations in all the stores. I’m not one of those people though that makes myself crazy buying gifts, to me that loses the whole purpose of the holiday. I don’t make myself stressed out running all over the place or go into debt to buy tons of gifts. To me, the holiday is about spending the day with my family, eating too many desserts, listening to Christmas music and watching all the kids go crazy ripping open their gifts. Another thing I love about this time of year is New York City. Every year I go into the city to see the tree, look at all the decorated store windows, watch the people ice skate in Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park and sometimes fit a Broadway play into the day’s festivities. It’s a great way to spend a day during the holiday season.

I was trying to recall my favorite childhood memory from this time of year. I think it would have to be the family vacations to “The North Pole”. For a few years as a child, my parents brought me and my sister, along with 2 other families, which totaled 13 people altogether. The North Pole was really upstate New York but as a kid I really thought I was going to the place where Santa lived…there was even an actual pole in the middle of the “resort” made out of snow! I don’t’ remember a lot about those vacations but I remember staying in what I think was a log cabin, seeing Santa and his elves walking around, doing lots of kid oriented activities like decorating a Santa hat with my name in glitter and making various Christmas things out of those fuzzy wire pipes. That was a really nice vacation for us kids so I have to say “thank you” to my mom and dad for giving up what could have been a more “adult friendly” vacation to make memories for me and my sister at “The North Pole”.

Now, switching gears but staying in the Christmas theme, I thought I’d share some interesting fun Santa facts. Here in America, whenever we think of Santa, we think of a red and white older man with a bushy white beard and big belly who “Ho, Ho, Ho’s” down the chimney with presents in the middle of the night. Although this symbolic image is known around the world, many countries have a different image associated with the tradition of Christmas and gift giving. In Italy, La Befana is a good witch who dresses all in black and brings gifts to children on the Epiphany, 6th January. In Holland, Sinterklaas sails in on a ship arriving on the 5th of December carrying a big book which tells him how the Dutch children have behaved during the past year. Good children are rewarded with gifts and his assistant, Black Peter, takes the bad ones away. In Germany Saint Nicholas also travels with an assistant, known as Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus, or Pelzebock, and comes with a sack on his back and a rod in his hand. Good children receive a gift, but naughty children are punished by the assistant with a few hits of the rod. In many Spanish countries; Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and South America, the children wait for the Three Kings to bring their Christmas gifts. In France, Father Christmas or Pere Noel brings gifts for the children. Switzerland has the Christkindl or Christ Child who bears gifts. In some towns children await the Holy Child and in others, Christkindl is a girl-angel who comes down from heaven bearing gifts. The Scandinavian countries celebrate with an elf, called the Julenisse or the Juletomte who bears gifts. And in England Father Christmas, a more serious and thinner version of Santa Claus brings gifts. North America is really the only country that associates the red and white jolly man with his sled and reindeer flying throughout the night of December 25th.

Do you know how the St. Nicholas image came to be this image? Well, depending on your age, you may already know this, but truth be told, I had no idea until I researched it. The American Santa was done mainly by Coca-Cola, the soft drinks company. Coca-Cola was struggling to sell cold drinks in the winter season and wanted to figure out a way to associate their product with the holiday season. Santa Claus had this enormous task facing him every Christmas Eve to go around the world distributing gifts to children everywhere. Obviously from all the flying and climbing in and out of chimneys all night, Santa would get tired and thirsty, so what better idea than to have Santa taking a break in his rounds to enjoy a Coca Cola? The scene with a red and white, round belly Santa drinking a Coca-Cola became synonymous with the winter season advertisements.

So as I “wrap up” (pun intended) my blog, I thought I’d share this short but nice Christmas poem I came across.

Christmas Poem ~ by Oren Arnold
Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas Day! I hope that everyone has a place to keep them warm, enough food to keep them from being hungry and family/friends to enjoy their day with.

I am INFJ…what are you?

I am INFJ…Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging. Know what this means? Well, neither did I until my Vice President came to me a few years ago asking me to observe my fellow colleagues using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessment. I was like….Sure! Absolutely! Yes, of course I know what that is! And then I quickly went online to gather as much information as I could to familiarize myself. Of course my VP realized I wasn’t a psychologist, nor remotely close to being able to accurately analyze their behavior, but he was looking to get a raw assessment of his team. So for an entire week during their annual sales meeting, I had to sit in the back of the room and secretly study their behavior using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessment. The reason I needed to “secretly” observe is so they didn’t change their normal behavior. For those of you that don’t know, like me, MBTI is a questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Many companies use the MBTI as a tool for leadership training and development.

There’s lots of literature you could read if you wanted to learn about the MBTI assessment and how to use it. But for the purpose of my blog, I’ll simply say that, basically it’s observing behavior using four attitudes: Extraversion-Introversion and Judging-Perceiving as well as four functions Sensing-Intuition and Thinking-Feeling to determine how people take in information, make decisions and deal with the outer world.

Here’s a link to my good friend Wikipedia if you’d like to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-briggs

So anyway, after doing this assessment of my team, I was really interested in learning more about my own personality type. I came across this online version of the test and my results were quite interesting! I have to admit I was shocked at the accuracy of the results as I feel this is spot on to my personality. Now, I know many things can alter a test’s results such as your mood at the time of taking it, having it in paper form rather than online etc however, given that the results indicated that I am “little more than one percent of the population”…I’ll go with it! I always knew I was an original! :-).

Take the test and see what you can learn about yourself! I believe this is an abbreviated version of the true test but it’s still fun to take. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Here is a summary of my personality type:

Idealist Portrait of the Counselor (INFJ)

Counselors have an exceptionally strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others, and find great personal fulfillment interacting with people, nurturing their personal development, guiding them to realize their human potential. Although they are happy working at jobs (such as writing) that require solitude and close attention, Counselors do quite well with individuals or groups of people, provided that the personal interactions are not superficial, and that they find some quiet, private time every now and then to recharge their batteries. Counselors are both kind and positive in their handling of others; they are great listeners and seem naturally interested in helping people with their personal problems. Not usually visible leaders, Counselors prefer to work intensely with those close to them, especially on a one-to-one basis, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes.

Counselors are scarce, little more than one percent of the population, and can be hard to get to know, since they tend not to share their innermost thoughts or their powerful emotional reactions except with their loved ones. They are highly private people, with an unusually rich, complicated inner life. Friends or colleagues who have known them for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that Counselors are flighty or scattered; they value their integrity a great deal, but they have mysterious, intricately woven personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Blessed with vivid imaginations, Counselors are often seen as the most poetical of all the types, and in fact they use a lot of poetic imagery in their everyday language. Their great talent for language-both written and spoken-is usually directed toward communicating with people in a personalized way. Counselors are highly intuitive and can recognize another's emotions or intentions - good or evil - even before that person is aware of them. Counselors themselves can seldom tell how they came to read others' feelings so keenly. This extreme sensitivity to others could very well be the basis of the Counselor's remarkable ability to experience a whole array of psychic phenomena.

Mohandas Gandhi, Sidney Poitier, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Goodall, Emily Bronte, Sir Alec Guiness, Carl Jung, Mary Baker Eddy, Queen Noor, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela are examples of the Counselor Idealist (INFJ).

A Day To Give Thanks...

So on this day of thanks, in spite of the current economic situation which I am feeling firsthand, there are still many things that I am thankful for…

~I am thankful for the childhood my parents provided to me. Because of it, I am a well balanced, secure and stable person.

~I am thankful that I have the knowledge and strength to consider a career change which could drastically change my future.

~I am thankful for my very large and very expanded family and the close proximity we all live to one another. I can’t imagine how life would be without all the love that fills our homes every holiday season and all year long.

~I am thankful to have so many lifelong friends from as early as grammar school for which I know, are true friends who will always be there for me.

~I am thankful for my health because I am all too familiar with how quickly this can change in a person’s life.

As you feast on your turkey with all the trimmings today, remember to give thanks to all the people or things that enrich your life.

If you’re going through tough times and having difficulty finding anything to be thankful for, look around and find at least one simple pleasure that puts a smile on your face and give thanks for that one thing. My simple pleasure is my loving and loyal dog :).

Some fun random Thanksgiving Day facts….

*U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863.

*In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November.

*Approximately 46 million turkeys will end up on U.S. dinner tables this Thanksgiving.

*Minnesota is the United States's top turkey-producing state

*U.S. farmers will also produce 709 million pounds of cranberries

*The U.S. will also grow 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes and produce 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins.

*Since 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the President, according to federation spokesperson Sherrie Rosenblatt. "There are two birds," Rosenblatt explained, "the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties." Those duties pretty much boil down to not biting the President during the photo opportunity with the press.

*Pilgrims were familiar with turkeys before they landed in the Americas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Attitude ~by Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

A belated Veteran's Day blog

Since Veteran’s Day was just observed this week, I thought this blog would be appropriate. I recently watched a documentary on an American soldier who was called back to duty in Iraq. I have to say, it was a heart wrenching documentary to watch. He already served for 3 ½ years in Iraq and was being called back again. The camera followed him for days prior to leaving American soil, then through basic training, with a final destination in Iraq. Once in Iraq, the soldier gave the viewer a glimpse of what his daily life was like while stationed overseas. This soldier was stationed in Baghdad. The poverty stricken streets and the barricades he lived within were as scary as I had imagined. Not that I was expecting to see The Ritz Hotel, but their living quarters were nothing less than the most basic of amenities…and as shown in the video, even the basics weren’t always guaranteed. The soldier commented on how he mastered the art of showering with a water bottle because they no longer had running water in their barracks. As I was sitting in suspense the entire time he was being filmed walking through the sandy, gloomy streets of Baghdad, it was hard to remember I wasn’t watching a drama series and in fact, this was someone’s real life. Wow, the dangerous situations all soldiers put themselves in! And to think most of them volunteered! It really takes a special type of person to enlist in the military. I personally, couldn’t do it and wouldn’t want anyone close to me to enlist either.

I realize it’s important to have a military to preserve our security however I don’t necessarily agree with our military going to war to resolve conflict. I know there are so many ways to debate the issue of war that it’s a dichotomy of opinions. I’m not going to delve very deeply into my own, often contradicting beliefs on this either, because it will be a never ending blog leading to no definitive right answer. I’ll say just this. I don’t claim to know all there is to know about the war, government, the military etc. but I don’t necessarily see how invading another country to infiltrate their government (as corrupt as it might be) and impose our belief system on them, is the right way to go. I realize the fact that there is no simple answer however, attacking these countries, risking so many of our young soldiers lives, spending exorbitant amounts of our money and essentially going to war for peace ,simply cannot be the right answer.

I think if every President had to enlist in the military prior to even considering becoming a president, they might not act so quickly on emotions when sending our troops into combat. That should be a prerequisite to becoming a president…makes sense to me.

I also think more should be done for those who serve our country, especially if they go to war. I decided to look up the number of homeless soldiers living in The United States. The National Coalition of Homeless Veterans is quoted as saying “Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country. According to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999), veterans account for 23 percent of all homeless people in America.” There’s really nothing I can say about this other than it deeply saddens me and more should be expected of our government as it relates to the welfare of our soldiers.

I’ll end this by simply saying, to all the men and women who have served, continue to serve and who will serve our country...THANK YOU for having the courage and bravery to do so!

??How Stuff Works??

This is a great site I just came across. Every topic you ever wanted the answer to "how does it work"? Everything from acne treatments to NASA rockets to programming your DVR to food and on and on and on, are all answered on this site. Worth checking out!
in reference to: HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works! (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Art of a Great Quote

Some of my favorite quotes come from Emerson, Nietzsche, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama. What makes a quote famous? Sometimes I think it’s the author of the quote and other times it’s because the quote holds significance in its meaning which the reader is able to interpret into their own life. I love quotes. A great quote is like a priceless piece of art but the art isn’t a picture, it’s words that, when put together create an eloquent statement in my opinion. The best quotes are those that get passed on throughout generations and become a type of reference to use in your daily life. Why do some quotes carry on through many lifetimes? Well because they’re TRUE! If you take the time to really read and understand some of the very many famous quotes, you’ll see just how true and fitting to life they really are and this, in my opinion, is why they will stand the test of time.

Here is a compilation of some of my favorite quotes from various authors…Enjoy!

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~Dr.Seuss

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~Winston Churchill

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ~E.E. Cummings

"Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ~Thomas Edison

“Don’t make someone a priority when you’re only their option.” ~Author Unknown

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." ~Eleanor Roosevelt

“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.” ~Maya Angelou

"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work." ~Thomas Edison

“Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” ~Garth Brooks

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.” ~Mark Twain

“Well done is better than well said.”  ~Benjamin Franklin

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

"Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted." ~Albert Einstein

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes.” ~Gandhi

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” ~John Powell

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

“It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.” ~Author Unknown

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~Dalai Lama

“Be the change you want to see in this world.” ~Gandhi

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“There are no facts, only interpretations.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

“No matter where you go, there you are.” ~Confucius

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." ~Socrates

“We must be our own before we can be another's.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” ~Albert Einstein

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” ~Maya Angelou

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. ~Gandhi

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” ~Robert Byrne

Recommended reading

I read a lot of books, some fictional but mostly Philosophical, New Age, Alternative Beliefs or Inspirational type books. Of all the books I've read over the years, The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav is by far one of the best, most interesting books I have ever read. The book became very popular over the last few years with endorsements by Oprah and multiple appearances by Gary Zukov on her show. I believe Oprah said this was her #1 book and recommended that everyone read it in their lifetime. I can't quote her exactly but it was along those lines. I read Seat of the Soul many moons ago, before it became a best seller but continue to pull it out of the bookshelf and reference it from time to time just because it's so packed full of valuable knowledge!

If you like thought-provoking books (which I do), then you will definitely enjoy this one. Gary Zukav takes the reader on a self discovery to teach you how to reach your authentic self using the perceptions of our five senses. He talks about how your everyday intentions and choices are what create your own reality. Overall, the book is a spiritual discovery into your soul.

I highly recommend this book...whether you are spiritual or not, you will gain a lot from reading it!

in reference to:

"Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, Gary Zukav"
- Seat of the Soul, Gary Zukav, Book - Barnes & Noble (view on Google Sidewiki)

What is happiness?

Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. Wikipedia

Lately, I find myself continually asking this very question....What is happiness? What does happiness mean to me? What does it mean to others? I tend to be one of those deep thinkers, although only those closest to me know this about me. For as long as I can remember, I've never been the type to just accept an answer as fact without actually looking at that "fact" from all possible angles to make sure it makes sense to me. A deep analyzer, if you will. Oh how life would just be easier if I was able to just accept things for what they were without always trying to figure out the "how", "what" and "why" of it all. But I digress.

So back to the topic at hand...happiness. Of all aspects of life, happiness is the one common emotion or state of being that everyone attains to achieve in their lifetime. People search high and low for decades, often chasing “happiness”. There are philosophers, doctors, scientists, and religious leaders just to name a few, which spend their lifetime trying to define happiness and quantify happiness. What if everyone in the world was happy or not even happy as an emotion, but happy as a state of being at all times? I wonder how different the world would be. Would there be less crime, less judgment, less jealousy?

When I was younger, I didn't ever question what happiness was...why is this? I had a great and stable childhood, lots of friends and family and my biggest concern was getting good grades in school. My biggest decisions back then were when to study, what extracurricular activities I would participate in and when the next friends sleepover was. Oh the naive mind of a child! If only that innocence could be put into a bottle and preserved! So could this be the reason happiness was just my state of mind and never questioned?

But the older you get the wiser you become right? Or is it the older you get the more corrupted you become? Oh well, anyway, our innocent minds quickly move away from sleepovers with friends to career demands, bills, illnesses, stress, heartache, death, and the list goes on and on. This isn't something that can be avoided no matter who you are because...well, this is LIFE and many people experience many of these, simultaneously. So with all the daily stresses, suffering and pressure one can experience in their lifetime, how does one remain happy? Some believe they would be happy if they had more money or hit the lottery, others if they had a significant other, some think their happiness lays in a bigger house or nicer car, for others it's having a baby or a closet full of clothes, for some it’s discovering the meaning to life. These are just a few that I thought of but of course there are millions of reasons or excuses a person can have for why they aren’t yet happy. Whatever a person's reason is, often times the person remains unfulfilled and unhappy because they haven't yet attained this one elusive thing that they believe will bring them happiness. Which brings me to this quote by C.P. Snow: "The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase, if you pursue happiness you'll never find it."

For the most part, I am a very happy person by nature. However, being the deep thinker I am, I have exhausted myself over the years, trying to pursue or discover what my own happiness means to me. Because, I believe it is different for everyone. But like I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, I tend to look at everything and figure out the “who”, “what” and “why” of it all and I don’t think you can actually do that with happiness. I mean, you can look at a loved one and know they bring you happiness by being in your life and you can find something so funny that you laugh so hard it makes your stomach hurt and realize, that’s happiness. But I still wonder…if you had to give someone an illustration of what happiness is, what would your picture look like? Is happiness love? Well, then how do you illustrate love? You can’t just draw a heart. I don’t think anyone really knows how to define happiness. I think happiness, love, faith, hope…they’re all the same…they mean a lot and carry a lot of weight but  they’re hard to explain and define, and it’s not necessarily something you actually see, but more something you feel inside and believe in.

Overall, at the end of my life, I just want to make sure that when I am on my deathbed, I can look back and easily define what my life’s purpose was and say, "wow that was a fulfilling life". My blog headline, "LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH" is also my mantra. My other mantra is "Life is too short to sweat the small stuff". I try to live by these every single day. Of course, sometimes life difficulties get in the way and I forget my mantra, but overall I always find myself coming right back to these phrases. And believe me, in my life, these phrases have really been tried and tested, yet I remain loyal to them. I've come to realize that my own pursuit of happiness needs to reside within myself. I've also come to realize that what I perceived as happiness when I was a little girl might not look the same as I had expected. So the idea is to change your expectations or better yet, not have any expectations in order to experience true happiness. Happiness is not a purchase you make, a place that you visit or an item you wear. True happiness can only exist deep within ourselves, finding contentment with who we are and our own meaning to our life. It's being comfortable in your own skin, confidant in yourself that even if you fail your own strength will pick you back up, it's appreciating the small things in life like love and laughter...these things can't be bought or sought externally, they can only reside within.

On that note, I will end this blog with a few of my favorite quotes as they relate to happiness:

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." -- Aristotle

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." -- Mahatma Gandhi

And lastly, "Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. " -- John Barrymore

Therefore, my door, will always remain slightly ajar....