Tag: gratitude

Inspiration - Motivation · Philosophy of Life

The journey to a happier you.

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There are many gateways that lead us to our individual pleasures but there’s only one true pathway to happiness and the track runs through you. 

The key that unlocks our happiness lies within us and can’t be found elsewhere. Outer factors may contribute to our state of bliss now and again, such as: recognitions and prestigious awards, salary raise, exciting new relationships, fancy gadgets, weight loss, new home, travelling etc. These things can contribute in making us feel great at the initial stage, however, that buzz and thrill does not last very long as we are quick to adapt to changes and those positive things that made us happier at first fast become our new normal and we return to our previous happiness baseline.

Positive psychology shows that a person can truly increase their happiness and overall satisfaction with life which does not necessarily entail winning lottery ticket or material stuff or some sort of drastic change of circumstances. What it takes, is an inner change of perspective and attitude and this is something that anyone can do.

When we fail to settle down and dig deeper to unlock the essence of who we are, we tend to fill our days with activities, going through the daily motions of surviving and are left feeling listless and dissatisfied with life.

If you feel like this, now’s the time to start searching for the missing link and hopefully, the answer will click. The journey to a happier you can often be lonely but you can improve your experience by surrounding yourself with positive and happy people, value yourself and your relationships, keep the beautiful memories and positive experiences closer in mind, achieve goals and appreciate them no matter how small.

  • Train your brain to be more positive: express gratitude, give sincere thanks to others, find the positive sides of negative events from  your past (not the easiest task but you can reevaluate a negative past event keeping your eye on what you learned or how you became stronger, wiser, or more compassionate.
  • Go spiritual and seek to understand one’s inner life better in order to act more wisely.
  • Nurture and enjoy your relationships: Make a conscious effort to stay connected, invest in quality time with the people you care about, offer sincere compliments, take delight in the good fortune of others, seek out happy people 
  • Live in the moment and savour life’s pleasures: meditate, practice mindfulness, adopt enjoyable daily routines, minimize multi-tasking, recollect happy memories and do stop to smell the coffee or the roses. 
  • Focus on helping others and living with meaning: practice kindness, volunteer, play to your strength by building your activities around those things that allows you to use your strengths for greater good.
  • Take better care of your health: get quality sleep, eat balanced and nutritious meals, exercise, relax the mind…

We all want to live happier lives and this is possible. I hope that you found this article useful. 

Feel free to check me on Tiktok below and you can always join my Livestream to make new friends. Hope to see you one of these days.

@beyondexisting.j

You Can #wordsofwisdom #powerful #fyp #foryoupage #motivation #motivationalquote #advice #inspiration #beyondexistingj

♬ Keep Showing Up (Motivational Speech) – Fearless Motivation
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Gratitude, Thanks, I'm grateful 21 Things
Gratitude · Musings

21 Things

jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

A warm welcome to the new year. It is a great relief to step into a new calendar year albeit a continuation of the previous 365 days. It is amazing what the thought of a new year does to the mind. The elation and relief, the sense of new hope, new beginning, new expectations, new challenges…. the festive sense of new.

I look back at the truly difficult months of 2020 and my spirit knows the untold sense of joy and relief and the lessened burden of trepidation that hung over my mien all this time. I make concerted effort to shake it off and to keep forging ahead and the only way to do so is to stay thankful and grateful for the much that I have and for who I am. Gratitude is my new currency because gratitude is the seed of abundance.

I am deeply grateful for life and time

For my sound mind and body

I am thankful for my loved one’s

For wonderful and supportive friends

For a new dawn today, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets

For favour and not famine

For gratitude and no grumbling

For hope for a better tomorrow for humanity

For bigger dreams and new beginnings

For small achievements

For the beautiful buds and cool weather of this Winter season in UAE

For my awesome colleagues

For having a job that I enjoy

For unbridled laughter

For safety and security

For expanded horizons

For the opportunity to teach

For the ability to pause, refresh and restart

For music and the fresh song in my spirit

For beautiful, heart-tugging memories

For finding joy and contentment in small things

Positive Affirmation Challenge

What About You? Affirmation Challenge Day 27

jacquelineobyikocha10 Comments

I am thankful for the blessings of this day. I am grateful for a secure place to lay my head and rest, surrounded by my loving family. Indeed, I am richly blessed.

Many of us take the basic comforts of life for granted. There are countless people who are displaced with no safe place to call home.

These are awesome quotes:

Bernadette

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again.

-Helen Reddy

 

Eugenia

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”
― Maya Angelou

P.S. If you wish to join this positive affirmation challenge running for 90 days, please add your quote to the comments and each day, I’ll share everyone’s quote with their links.

#LawofAttraction, #Manifestation, #Believe #Thepowerofpositivethinking, #positiveaffirmations, #abundancementality, #findinggreaterjoy, #BodyMindSpirit, #ShiftingPerspectives, #FulfilledLife #PurposeDriven

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Positive Affirmation Challenge

What About You? Affirmation Challenge Day 7

jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

I’ll take each day as the gift that it is, live each day with gratitude and the joy of living knowing that with each new day better things are coming. Jacqueline

Mercies, Gratitude, A new day

#Thepowerofpositivethinking, #positiveaffirmations, #abundancementality, #findinggreaterjoy, #Believe

Check Out These Excellent Quotes From Yesterday: 

Mandibelle: You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it is better to listen to what it has to say.” — Paul Coehlo

Bernadette: There is a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen

Roos Ruse: I find that to simply be still is my greatest challenge – and it is God’s good reward.

Oba: When I cultivate the habit of empathy towards me, only then will I be able to empathise with the world around me.

Laura: Learning is a gift. Even when pain is your teacher. Maya Watson

 

P.S. If you wish to join this positive affirmation challenge running for 90 days, please add your quote to the comments and each day, I’ll share everyone’s quote with their links.

Gratitude · Guide To Better Living

These ‘Buts of Life.’

jacquelineobyikocha27 Comments

No, I didn’t mean to type ‘butts,’ just in case you are wondering. In the most sincere part of your heart, do you ever feel that there are times you are simply not grateful enough? Yes, you may be going through the motions of expressing gratitude and all that, yet some part of you seems to be begrudging because of some ‘buts.’

These silent ‘buts’ that we store in our hearts and hold them secretly as a yardstick to measure how much gratitude is worth expressing;No Ifs, No Buts, Happiness Looks Good On You, Gratitude

“But my dreams are yet to come true,”
“But I’m still broke and don’t know when my slim purse will have wads of cash in it.”
“But I’m fat (well that’s mostly your fault if I may say so).”
“But, if only I lived in a better house, drove a better car, have all that I want…
“But I’m doing all the right things yet nothing is going as right as it should.”

The line of buts can become endless if we keep searching. They might seem harmless, but the truth is that these ‘buts and ifs’ are a barrier to our happiness and success. They block us from simply letting go and losing ourselves in the joy of living itself because we are putting conditions on potential good actions in our lives. By our buts, we train our minds to accept virtual happiness and peace of mind only when certain conditions have been fulfilled.

All these ‘buts’ are crying out loud that we don’t have enough, that we are not happy, that we are not at peace and we will only be if…

To turn things around we have to relearn and reprogram our mindset. Count your buts one by one and contrast them with your blessings – even the most mundane of blessings.

Learning to give thanks with a grateful heart can be a tough lesson. There are days that I have truly struggled, but (well this is a good but) I’ve also learnt that by constantly keeping my affirmatives closer to heart, my number of buts are losing ground and it’s a practice worth keeping.

Gratitude, Thanks, I'm grateful

Gratitude · Guide To Better Living

The Time To Write…

jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

All about books, Library, Reading

It doesn’t take much to please me. I’m a cheap thrill kinda girl. One of the simple things I enjoy in life is to sit in a quiet corner of a library and indulge in a book or just to write to my heart’s content but lately, such indulgence has whittled down to such a minutiae degree due to life and its responsibilities getting in the way.

Nonetheless, I have to create the space to satisfy these cravings of mine and I must find the time to write even if I have to steal it from somewhere ‘cos I observed that any week I failed to visit the library at least once, a part of me knows abject discontent. It took me a while to recognize and understand this – during one of my self-help sessions.

For me, this simple act of finding time to write or to immerse myself in a book is a form of therapy on a different level and over the years, wherever I’ve lived, one of the first thing that I do without fail is to locate the bookstore, the nearest library and then the grocery stores.

So, as I sit in this library surrounded by books, the only sound I can hear is the squeaky wheels of the trolley as a librarian shelves the books, I feel a lift in my spirit and can almost feel the trickle of dopamine sending happiness signals into every part of me. My heart knows such contentment. I sip my chai latte and grasp the momentary pleasure with both hands of gratitude.

I’m currently reading Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks.

Health · Lifestyle

Dealing With Stress When Life Becomes Too Much

jacquelineobyikocha29 Comments

Stress, Dealing With Stress, Therapy, Get Grip of Your Emotions

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I think if you manage to live life without feeling any stress, then you’re a superhuman and should be showered with medals and awards. It’s near enough impossible not to be overcome by stress in the modern world. There’s always something to worry about, something to make you anxious at all times. Your stress can build for months, even years, on end before you eventually just crack and it all becomes too much for you.

How can you deal with all the stress in your life before it takes its toll and pushes you towards an imminent breakdown? It’s tough, but you’ll be glad to know some ideas can help you lower your stress levels and cope with life before it gets too much for you. Here are some ideas I think you’ll benefit from.

Find Your Happy Place

Everyone has a happy place. It’s that place where they just feel more relaxed and happy than usual. For some people, their happy place is lying in bed listening to music. For others, it’s spending time with their children or going outside to exercise. We’ve all got that place where we feel comfortable with life. It’s crucial that you find your happy place and retreat to it as often as you can. It gives you a break from the stressors of life and lets you feel happy for periods every day. Even a brief stint in your happy place can clear your thoughts and help you live a more peaceful life.

Go To Therapy

The mere thought of therapy gets some people recoiling and puts them on the defensive foot. I think there’s this misconception that therapy is for people with severe mental problems or something. But, if you’re stressed, it can do wonders for you and your mind. There are many different ways you can go to therapy, as it shows on this site, you can have group sessions as part of a partial hospitalization program. Or, you can go to a specific therapist on your own and talk to them. Either way, speaking about your feelings and getting advice is one of the best ways you can relieve stress.

Stress, Therapy, Anxiety, Peace, Inspiration, Lifestyle
Therapy-N-More

Let Your Emotions Go

Possibly the worst thing you can do when stressed is bottle up your emotions. So many people do this to try and hide the way they’re feeling. Young men are particularly guilty of this, but it applies to us women too. The more you bottle things up, the bigger the emotional explosion will be when you have a breakdown. Instead, don’t be afraid to let your emotions go. If you feel like crying, have a good cry and let it all out. If you’re angry, then let your anger out on a punching bag or pillow. Just don’t keep everything bottled up, it will do more harm than good.

I truly hope that the advice here will help anyone that’s feeling a bit down and stressed. By actively trying to deal with your stress, you’ll go a long way to avoiding a big emotional and mental breakdown.

 

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After The Tremors…

jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

Borrowing the words from Jim Reeves ‘We thank thee,’ indeed I am most thankful this morning for a newborn day.

Grateful, Every Day, A Gift, Life
I woke up to the news of tremors felt in the UAE following the powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake which shook the Iran-Iraq border late Sunday, killing at least 145 people.

Whilst in the lift, my neighbour was happy to regale details of how he felt the ground shake last night and I felt so glad that I, yours truly snoozed through the shake and turbulence, however, that left me pondering at the transient nature of life as I took my brisk early morning walk.

Each day, we take the gift of tomorrow for granted. We make plans for tomorrow with so much assuredness, our daily lives often lived in auto-drive and rat race. That tomorrow just fades into another day with lots of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, whilst we wait for the next tomorrow.

Many have lost their lives in this natural disaster; their hopes and dreams brought to a grinding halt. That’s the way it is…a time to live and a time to die, but as we live, we must endeavour to make the best of each day and appreciate the beauty of life that surrounds us as it is.

Every day, find three things to be grateful for.

Have a great week.

Jacqueline

Featured Blogs

Posts That Caught My Interest – 2

jacquelineobyikocha2 Comments

I recognize that a lot of bloggers – except few – bother to follow a link to read reblogs and now and again, I stumble on posts that I find myself nodding along in agreement as I read them and wish to share.

I offer these few. I found sense, laughter, reflection and inspiration. Do take a peek. I am disabling the comment button to encourage you to visit the blog sites.Image result for images of sharing

Healing properties of lemon

From homeless to Harvard graduate

Time for us all to bloom

Forgetting to be grateful

Crippling effect of poverty

Thank you for stopping by and do have a great weekend.

Jacqueline