How To Be Happy

We all think we are happy when we shop, have a drink, meet a new love interest, finish work on a Friday but can this happiness be sustainable? Happiness comes from knowing yourself well and never lying to your self. We now live in a World where simple pleasure and happiness appears to be missing from our lives and I don't mean having fun by indulging in an instant fix, I am talking about truly being contented with what we have and who we are.

Materialism is toxic for our happiness. As a rich materialist, once upon a time, I was never as happy as those who could not care less about getting and spending, I was always trapped in a lifestyle, stuck on the treadmill of keeping up with the Jones leaving little time to think about anything but myself and my needs.

There are two things that don't cost money that make us happy, one is thinking about what we are grateful for which amplifies our happiness and forgiveness which sets us free from pain and leaves us feeling much lighter. Life has to be more about fun and less about stuff if you want to be truly happy. We have to set ourselves attainable goals and make sure we keep firmly in mind that everything we get in this World, has a price tag and we have to be willing to pay the price, otherwise we are not serious about life, just window shopping.

When I was rich I had everything money can buy but in the currency of blessing, I was bankrupt. I was always trying to impress others, buy them, buy things for them and often I could not tell if they wanted to be with me because I was fantastic or just because I had more money than them. Now days I always try to follow my heart and dream big, even if it means doing something that most people would think was "crazy." I used to get really stressed a lot of the time, always worrying about how I looked, what others thought about me, never really feeding my mind, just my ego.
Exercise, well being, learning to relax and do only the things I enjoy, has helped me become centred in a big way, so nowadays I never let money rule my thinking or my happiness.

The fact is I do have a choice each and every day to do what I want to do. I can either enjoy myself fully or get stressed out and complain about why things aren't different.
Your happiness is all about perspective and attitude.

It's crazy how a simple mind-set switch can completely change everything. You think money is the key to happiness and the answer to your prayers but believe me, if you are spending your life paying back debt, for stuff that did not take you forward you will never be on top. Currently almost half the population are drowning in debt after living it up with a lifestyle they just could not afford in the first place and 3.5 million say they need to take out a loan to pay for Christmas. Pay day loans may be the instant fix in the moment but are crippling long term, as lenders rub their hands with 4000% interest rates and for what? One day?

If you cannot afford to be a sheep any longer, running aimlessly with the flock, keeping up with the Jones, stop stressing out, sit back, relax and do something unique without money, like enjoy the time to rest and recoup. Spending quality time with family and friends is way more important than shopping for stuff you cannot afford and don’t buy into giving gifts, let your gift be laughter, gratitude and forgiveness.

For most it will be hard to change the habit of a lifetime because we only know what we know, until we know something else, so don’t let change become an obstacle when in reality you have no choice but to change.

The thing about obstacles is that they are rarely as big as we make them out to be in our head, so try not to let anything get in the way of reaching your goal to be happy, debt free and healthy.

How To Change The Way You Think

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Life to me is like a book and we all read it. Happiness is a true blessing and we all need it.

Happiness comes from escaping your denial by learning to smile because we are all here for just a while.

Life is never about fitting in it’s about being your self. The past can reflect who you are today but may not reflect who you are in the future because it’s not always about how long you try but about how hard you try.

If you spend your time around wise people, you will become wise. If you spend your time around people who are rich, you will become rich. If you spend your time around people who are stupid, you will act stupid.
Happiness is never stopping to think you are.
If you take a look deep inside your soul, you will simply find what you need to fill the big black hole.
The only reason to look down on someone is to help them up.
As Gandhi once said “an eye for an eye and we are all blind”.

A budget lifestyle is all about changing the way you think in order to pursue happiness by recognising, material wealth is not the key to reaching your goals. Only true personal happiness poor, will help set you free from tradition, the human condition because when we are financially poor, we have no choice but to look deeper for the meaning to life.

We only know what we know, until we know something else, so if we begin to change the way we look at our life, our life will change. We have to do the work, no instant fix, payday loan, Chanel bag or cream cake will make you happy long term because the more you have, the more you want, and it’s a treadmill.

Once we know something else, we have choices and choices give us options. Ask yourself this question. Would you be happy if you got a call to say you had won the lottery? Now ask yourself this question. Would you still be happy if they rang back and said they had made a mistake and you had not won the lottery? If you believe that money and shopping will bring you instant happiness, you have got it wrong, trust me I know. Of course money is a necessity in this World we live in but it is not the main ingredient we all need to be happy or survive, that comes from giving more than we take. We have to always learn from our mistakes in the past, to help us do better in the present, to succeed in the future.
The biggest mistake we all make is lying to ourselves about who we are and what we want. Its so easy to convince yourself when you are thinking about making personal changes, like going on a diet because you are fat and your health is at risk, to leave it until tomorrow but remember tomorrow never comes, so you will always be fat.

Its time to take back control of your life before its to late and start to get real about what you really desire. You will always think you are happy if you constantly live in the moment, the instant fix but you have to remember whilst ever you are stuck, you are not moving forward.