Category Archives: Happiness

Pursue Your Other Interests…

Dchildhood memorieso you remember that something special you wanted to be when you grew up?  Go back to when you were about eight or nine years old.  This was the time in life when you could dream of becoming anything you wanted to be – Superman, the Bionic Woman, or world’s smartest kid. Heroes aside, my dream was to become the world’s greatest teacher or artist. I absolutely loved reading, writing and spent hours drawing my favorite Disney characters believing that one day I would become famous. Despite this sweet dream, I pursued a completely different career.

Fast forward to the present. There are two loves still competing for my attention.  Growing and learning more about my current field or on more creative pursuits. My childhood dream is alive and well.  Yours may be too.  So how do we find time to do both in an already packed life? We’re hard at work, raising children and taking care of family.  We are always trying to keep up with all of life’s demands that seem to get bigger every day. Perhaps to lessen the busy tug we tell ourselves that its too late to go back and start tinkering with our earliest hobbies.

Friends, it is never too late to start again. To pick up a paintbrush to create something, find a marker to draw again and begin doing something that you always wanted to. I just met an accomplished professional who just started to take drum lessons.  That’s awesome.

tree houseHere are some steps that you can take today to get started:

  1. First spend time to reflect on your earliest dreams – what captured your heart? what did you always dream of doing someday? Write these down
  2. Make a list of the ways you can get these interests started again.  Want to build an old skill? Look into a reading up on the topic – how about going to an art store to buy some supplies if your dream involved some creativity – Sports dream? Look into a joining a gym to get the gears moving.
  3. Look for open time slots that can be dedicated for your other life “purpose” – I get up extra early so that i can read or write for 15 mins – with a hot cup of coffee nearby.
  4. Network – find people who excel in your “other” interest area. How did they get good at that speciality? Do they have a website or blog? I just recently signed up as a member of a new communications organization that offers lots of benefits – webinars, meetings, whitepapers – all of these are tools that can help build my own skills and personal interests.
  5. Set specific goals according to a timeline – set benchmarks for when you want to complete certain tasks – don’t leave these goals open ended – set key dates so you can track your progress. By next month i will have completed my first two steps…

enjoy your weekend!

Look for the Good…

This past Friday I headed into work via the New York subway. There wasn’t anything different about this particular morning.  The same usual crowds were hustling and bustling to reach their destination on time. As I stood waiting LOOK FOR THE GOODfor my train to arrive, I noticed a young man standing on an adjacent platform across from me.  He was adjusting the height of a standing microphone. Though he was getting ready to strum a sharp-looking guitar, he drew absolutely no attention.  He blended in along with the rest of us.  After all, New York is a melting pot of people. I felt as if I was the only one who noticed he was even there.  After making a few adjustments to his guitar strap, the man started to sing.  And sing he did.  His voice replaced every sound in the station with an incredible rendition of the Drifters classic “This Magic Moment.” I couldn’t believe how utterly amazing he sang.  His voice was incredible and hit the highest notes with ease. In a split second…every eye …all the attention…every look was on him…intently listening to his beautiful voice sing…

“This magic moment…So different and so new ..was like any other until I kissed you …And then it happened… It took me by surprise… I knew that you felt it too…By the look in your eyes..This Magic Moment…watch it here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul041CSNJto

After listening to the man sing for just a few seconds, I couldn’t help but start to smile.  I started to sway a little bit in rhythm with the uplifting beat of the song.  And you know what? Lots of other people were smiling too.  In a breath, this man took the cold feeling out of the air and filled it with a beautiful melody that changed what we were all were thinking about.  People were no longer peering impatiently into the tunnel to see if the train was arriving.  The atmosphere felt happier.  The platform didn’t feel quite as “tight” as before.

My train arrived and I hopped. My morning was changed.  I felt less hurried and hummed the song words all the way to work. “This Magic Moment…da ya da da da…I can’t say for sure if the reason why my day turned out so happy was due to the cheery way it started.  Maybe the appearance of the young singer in my morning had nothing to do with my happy disposition. I like to think it did.  I believe that it had a whole lot of positive influence on how I went about doing everything on my to-do list. How I greeted every person and how I felt when I got home.  A happy memory…a magical moment memory… had been planted in the start of my day and I held on to it.  I chose to keep that magic moment feeling.

And what is the inspirational truth I would like share with you?  That there is a whole of GOOD out there waiting to be noticed.  Happy sounds to listen to…smiles we can find or share ourselves.  Friends, choose to look for the good…for those things in your day that bring a smile or a happy thought. There is so much Good that cuts across every one of our days.  Look for them in your day and when you find a few …when you notice one special thing..that person helping the mom to carry the carriage up the steps..or the person who scoots over to make space for you to sit down…or any other good…hold onto it for a bit. It’ll change the lens through which you see things.  You’ll feel happier.  And you’ll want to do some good yourself.

Look for the Good friends.  Keep Looking for the Good.

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