Journey to Believing

I've probably read or perused most self-help books out there searching for the quick fix. Whether it was a failed relationship, low self-esteem, trying to learn from other's mistakes - I've "researched" it all. If you look at my bookshelf it's filled with titles like: Oprah's "Guide to Life", Dr. Phil's "Life Strategies" or "Self Matters", "Codependent - No More", "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living", Travis Stork's "Don't Be That Girl" and the list goes on. Frankly, anytime I felt an uncomfortable emotion I needed to fix it...I hated being out of my comfort zone. I'm self help's #1 fan. Hey, if you don't like yourself than why would you want to help yourself...?After reading a lot of interesting concepts and ideas - I really learned a lot. I started taking some of the advice in the books and making lists of long term goals, writing letters to the people that "jaded" me, visualized a world of Shangri-La, made some lifestyle changes, inspected the "clutter" in my life, talked to people about their life experiences, investigated life coaching, took a counselling course, set standards for myself and focused on choosing happiness.
Choosing happiness can be exhausting by times. The days that you get up and feel like telling someone off because it's 5:20am in the morning and you have to shovel as there's been an unexpected snowfall and your driveway guy isn't there yet..Or, when you are running behind and EVERYTHING just isn't going well - it's hard not to focus on letting these things ruin your day. It's achieveable just takes energy. When my life was chaotic was a time that I didn't have the energy to be calm and content. It was the time when I wasn't sleeping well, wasn't eating well and therefore didn't have the energy to be 'happy'..
Since I've been focusing on living a better life - things have changed drastically for me. I've been able to finally have a clear head (not be running under constant stress/anxiety), give energy to the things that I love and able to believe that anything's possible.
Some mindset's that have helped me:
- If you believe that something won't happen - it won't
- If you wait long enough you can see the good in anyone
- If you focus on the past - you live in it
and finally,
- Don't take yourself too seriously:)