Friday, January 3, 2014

A Journey into the Unknown






There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.    -- Albert Einstein


Another new year and lots of resolutions made only to be long forgotten in a short while.  Why do we feel the need to make a resolution on January 1?  A friend of mine emailed me saying he was taking a year-long sabbatical to rediscover his life.  Now that is not a resolution, that is an evolution.  Generally, we continue to live life on auto pilot and in a despondent state of mind. Creating the possibility (achievable, feasible) from the impossible (unbearable, difficult) is not something we are accustomed to doing. We stay stuck in a rut while our happiness continues to deplete. Live a life of abundance, not abandonment.

In a recent world-wide follow-up study based partially on a list of survey questions on emotional experiences such as 1) Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? 2) Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? How about enjoyment? 3) How about happiness? 4) How about worry? 5) How about sadness? 6) How about anger? There were significant declines in happiness in four regions: the Middle East and North Africa (-11.7%), South Asia (-6.8%), the four industrial countries (United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, -3.2%), and Western Europe (-1.7%). Life choice declined in the United States and the decrease in happiness now ranks the United States 25 from the bottom out of 130 countries. However, in the end it's all about seeing the full picture -- from start to finish -- and allowing the mistakes and misfortunes you've lived to be placed firmly in the past. 

 
Begin today and be vulnerable, live into new possibilities and create that change to lead you to a happier life and sustainable success. Allow yourself to move outside of the four walls of your current mindset.

To move from resolution to evolution you must reinvent yourself.  You must revisit your skills, re-investigate your aspirations, and reconstitute your goals. This is often difficult because you are trapped in routine, avoid risk, and simply like being comfortable in your rut. Face fear and challenge the unknown.  

Create a vision for your future.  Who are you and where are you going?  Embrace change, acknowledge the lessons from the past, connect to the present, and put your desires out into the universe and net work. Inquire!  You never know who knows who and who can help you get where you are going.  I was once told to be passionate about what I want and to let others speak on my behalf.  When they do, be ready as the universe has a way of making things happen. BUT, remember to stay focused on what you want, not what you don't want, because you will get exactly what you focus on.

So when you think of making a resolution, which is only the first step in your effort to change, why not go the extra step and make an evolution and advance into the you “you can be”.  Give up complacency, face fear head on and watch your life unfold. See happiness, change the lens--it's dirty, scratched and warped. Put on a fresh lens, leave the past behind and live.  In doing so, you will create a life you are actively living in and along the way it will occur to you, you are happy!  

Martin Seligman, a leading researcher in positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness, describes happiness as having three parts: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Focus on things that "feel good", engage with people that bring you "positive energy" (energy is contagious--both negative and positive--so avoid the negative), and use your strengths to contribute to your "life's purpose" -- the thing that makes your life worthwhile.

Go out and find your happiness. Fall in love with your life!! Surround yourself with positive people.  “Life is about the decisions we make to live passionately or passively.” Life choices are always present, actively or passively, they happen regardless. Live passionately. Actively participate in your life and live in the world of possibility rather than happenstance!

What’s your passion? 

 
I've built my entire work on questions, not answers. It's important not to accept easy answers. Easy answers are always the wrong answers. Questions remain, answers change. Sometimes the answer changes more than once in a generation. And "Why are we here?" is the most important question a human being has to face. Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life. A person who is indifferent is dead without knowing it.--- ELIE WIESEL