Archive for the ‘Inspirational’ Category

Happiness (continued)

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Well. As you can see, the blog is finally up. I’m happy about that :) . I have in one go also added the Fresh News updates that I previously had distributed by email.

As you may remember, and if not, you can simply scroll down, the second News Flash (Happiness) included two presentations amongst which Dr. Martin Seligman’s talk about Positive Psychology.

Now, I would also like to introduce to you Martin’s website www.authentichappiness.com.

Dr. Martin Seligman is the founder of Positive Psychology, a new branch of psychology which focuses on the empirical study of such aspects as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions.

Amongst other things, Martin Seligman provides on his website a free University of Pennsylvania’s Brief Strengths Test.

I invite you to take Martin’s Strengths Test as a way to find out more about his research and the idea of Positive Psychology. If you like you can then leave as a comment your top 7 strengths below (the ALWAYS section). As you can see, I have done exactly that already. Perhaps my top 7 strenghs will be familiar to those of you who know me ;) .

Wisdom

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

This update is inspired by a friend (an Investment Portfolio Manager), who sent around the attached article. Thanks man ;)How Bank Bonuses Let Us All Down
 
The article by professor Taleb certainly rang true in my ears, and as accidentaly as things always happen I ran into the below TED video. Now if you would try and remember a time when you did something wrong as a kid, and right after punishing you, your parents answered your screaming “but why” question with “you’ll understand when you get older”; you might notice that Barry Schwartz takes the challenge of actually explaining the answer to that hard “but why” question…
 
Regardless of whether we’ve “gotten older” or not, do please notice the positive trends that are appearing in this, let’s just call it “time of change”.
 
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html

The Epitome of Neediness

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

OK. No long presentations or video’s this time. I’m sure some of you are yet to see the previous one’s. Please find below a tip from Jamie Smart, an NLP trainer. Perhaps while reading it the second time you may find that it makes sense…

During the 80s & 90s, I thought that the key to financial security was pay increases. I worked hard, switched jobs every 2 years & increased my salary. I noticed that the contractors who worked alongside me earned 2 or 3 times what I did, so eventually I went contract & increased my income further. Then I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, where I learned that “passive income” was the key to financial security. I created Salad & developed a strong passive income stream.

Have you spotted the pattern yet?

I’ll feel financially secure when I get a bigger salary.

I’ll feel financially secure when I’ve got a contract income.

I’ll feel financially secure when I develop passive income.

I was trying to get an internal feeling (security) from external factors (salary, bank balance, sales figures etc). Oops!

 

As human beings, what we most desire is feelings. Feelings of love, success, fulfilment, peace, joy, happiness, security etc. We live in a society that trains us to believe that we need to use external things (money, fame, partners, cars, jobs, achievements) in order to access those feelings. This is a lie.

 

Looking on the outside for something that exists on the inside is a classic case of looking in the wrong place (this is also the structure of addiction, as it happens).

 

1) Identify a goal / change / fix you’ve been believing will make you feel a certain way (Hint: it probably has the structure “I’ll feel A when B happens.”)

Here are some examples:

- I’ll feel secure when I’ve got X amount of money in the bank.

- I’ll feel successful once I’ve accomplished X, Y & Z.

- I’ll feel peaceful when I change this limiting belief.

 

The fact that you can even say this (I’ll feel A when B happens) means that you have an internal representation of the feeling (A). It also means that you’ve been conditioned into thinking that you actually need to have the external experience (B) before you can allow yourself to feel it. Once again, this is a lie!

 

You are already emotionally complete. You don’t need anything in order to feel your feelings.

 

2) Ask yourself “What would happen if I allowed myself to feel it (A) now?”

People sometimes think that if they allowed themselves to feel their feelings now, they would lose the motivation to change, grow & achieve. But that doesn’t seem to be how it works. Happy, successful entrepreneurs feel successful whether their businesses are prospering or not.

 

3) Change your criteria for feeling the feelings you want.

Here are some examples:

- I can feel secure now, because I have awareness. There was a time when all I had was awareness, & now look at me!

- I can feel successful now, because I’m alive. Living is the evolutionary gold star.

- I can feel peaceful now, because I can accept myself exactly as I am.

 

As my friend Michael Neill says…

“Unhappy people want what they want in order to make them happy. Happy people just want what they want.”

 

This is part of why affirmations can be so powerful. When you feel how you’ll feel when you’ve got what you want, it subtly reminds you that you don’t need the stuff in order to get the feeling.

 

Believing that you need ANYTHING in order to feel happy / fulfilled / whole is the epitome of neediness. Knowing that you are already complete is the epitome of abundance.

Happiness

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

Well, I got some nice responses to the first blog, even though I was worried that it might be experienced as vague or even a bit shocking. So thanks.. This time, the info is on a whole other spectrum..
 
Please find below two links to presentations on how and when people experience HAPPINESS..
 
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html
 
Scientifically approached and made understandable.. Is there anything you can add to Martin’s 3 lives?
Note also that Mihaly further explores Martin’s 2nd life..