Self Improvement is redefining and reinventing our self each day. →

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For Emerson an essay on life would not be about happiness. He said on that subject:

”The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well".

For others their meaning for life will point to different experiences and maybe one of the ones they choose will be happiness. Life is defined different by each person even if they don’t know the answer as to what happiness is, their search for an answer is what their life is about.

The experiences each person has brings with them connections to the past and links to the future. When we look back at our experiences we see them through the lens of all our experiences and we see them differently each time. The ability to adjust, evolve, develop skills, and embrace change as we progress through life determines just how much we achieve both inside and outside of work

One thing is certain. Change happens*. Breathe in the Amazing and hang on through the challenges.

*Transform yourself | Continuously Improve | Become better than you are now |Recognize Resistance

Count Your Blessings, Name them One by One, Day by Day - Every Day →

Counting your blessings and naming them one by one will turn your whole world around. The challenge is of course to do it often. Every day.

Why every day? Because if you just do it once or twice a year it will likely be because your have forgotten some of them and feel you need to remind yourself but if you do it daily then you will meet life’s challenges feeling blessed and will expect to continue to feel blessed.

“When I started counting my blessings my whole world turned around”- Willie Nelson

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” - William Faulkner

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank

10 Ways to live a Positive Life →

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Being around positive people has been shown to improve self-esteem and increase your chances of reaching goals. Surround yourself with people who will lift you up and help you see the bright side.

Positive thinking renders a positive effect on health as well; it lowers stress and improves your overall wellbeing. Even when you fall sick, your body recuperates faster.

10 Ways to live a Positive Life

Care About Others

Be Thankful for what you have

Accept Imperfection

Live in the moment

Build meaningful relationships

Spend time with Happy People

Be Creative

Compliment others

Be healthy

Care for yourself.

"There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing." ~Aristotle

Caring Unconditionally means no strings attached. →

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What might look black and white on the surface to you is probably quite different from the way the other person looks at the same set of facts or circumstances. After all, how we view a situation is always colored by our prior experiences, our upbringing, values and other factors.

Don’t try to impose your view on others. Don’t make your help or caring conditional.

True unconditional love should come from the act of giving it to the other person, not from what you receive in return. It will have no strings attached and continue on even if the relationship ends.

The road ahead leads to connections as well as destinations →

The road ahead seems to be just uncertainty where surroundings blend into themselves. Winter sky and snow covered fields leave a calmness and simplicity for the road but we know that sooner or later it unless it changes it may turn to feelings of depression and nothingness.

We need connections to face the uncertainty and nothing points it out as fast as everything blending into a blur all around us. We must keep an open mind for any social interaction that we might encounter. The most important connections come when we least expect them.

At least we are out there forging ahead with a willingness to meet new people. Of course, we are shy, reserved, and a little worried but we can put on a smile when a social connection becomes available.

Be thankful for the road your traveling on because if you on a road you will find new things, new impressions, and as intended all roads lead to connections.

Balance your confidence with humility →

A person can be both confident and humble but the balance needed to achieve that, is being teachable. Confidence is needed to find a job but unless you are also seen as teachable, your confidence in your abilities could be seen as pride.

C.S. Lewis said "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man”

It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone. 

Being teachable is not so much about competence and mental capacity as it is about attitude. It is the desire to listen, learn, and apply. It is the hunger to discover and grow. It is the willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn.

Why do we strive to excel? Is it for our "self-image" or is it to give thanks for our abilities and to help others? In our search for excellence, and accomplishment we can become trapped.

Humble people just don't feel the need to boast about themselves but instead, let their actions speak for their ideals. To be humble is not to think less of oneself, but to think of oneself less.

Nothing good comes from rusty connections: don’t become rusty →

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Are old rusty connections still in place if some of them have some worn thin for lack of use? Are they really of any value if they are rusty and are not used? The more important question is are these questions related to our own life situation?

Allegory” has the ability to freeze a story that might seem to be just a story for the moment while infusing it with spiritual context.

It uses symbolic fictional figures (the rusty pipes) and actions of truths and generalizations about human existence.

Don’t yourself be the pipes in his allegory. Stay current with your connections even if you can’t make personal contact

Charity with a motive is not "good works" →

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Charity sometimes is needed by those that are down and out, but when help is found it often comes with conditions.

At least a thank you is necessary and proper of course but does the giver have the right to expect a thank you? Is expecting a thank you mean you are somehow better than the receiver? Does expecting the receiver to accept a message of morality or advice a fair exchange when help is offered or does it subordinate the receiver to being judged in need of the advice? Expecting more than a thank you for help offered was commented on by George Orwell who said about this: “It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level.”

Being rich does not mean a person is better the those that are not rich. Be thankful if you have an opportunity to help someone else.