21-Day Happiness Challenge

Today I had an email from Mindvalley entitled "The Story of the Most Viral Happiness Article on Facebook".

I always open emails from Mindvalley because their content is consistently excellent, but this definitely intrigued me. 

The email told the story of the blogger and writer behind the PurposeFairy.com blog, Luminita Saviuc.

"Over the summer a few years ago, Luminita wrote a blog post on happiness. It was a casual post called "15 Things To Give Up To Be Happy". The post stayed on her blog attracting a few visitors for many months. And nothing much happened as she continued her amateur blogging career while working at Mindvalley as a course designer. 

But then something weird happened.

That post began to touch a nerve. People started sharing it and sending it to their moms, friends, lovers and co-workers. The 15 Things Luminita suggested we give up to be happy - seemed to resonate with a LOT of people.

In a few short weeks the post got shared 1.2 MILLION times on Facebook. Making it quite possibly the most shared personal growth article on social media.

And more than that - she was asked by Penguin books to turn the ideas into a book."

"Now Luminita's book is coming out soon, and she's launching another 21 day challenge. This time on happiness. And open to you. 

She calls it the 21-Day Happiness Challenge."

http://purposefairy.leadpages.co/21-day-challenge/ 

The original article she wrote was: http://www.purposefairy.com/3308/15-things-you-should-give-up-in-order-to-be-happy/ 

I have decided to sign up for this challenge.  After all we all deserve to be happy! 

It starts on 1st March (less than 48 hours from now).

Let me know if you have decided to join in too!  

Why I Was Terrified of Tony Robbins

We all have our fears.  Some are greater than others.

Some of those fears are a mere inconvenience, but others can severely restrict how we function or move forward in everyday life.

So initially the title of this 5-minute video from John Assaraf surprised me.

Until I listened to what he had to say.
In 2000 John was looking at himself as a comparative beginner alongside Tony Robbins who was already an established and successful motivational speaker and coach.

I look at the work done by both Tony Robbins and John Assaraf, from which I have learned so much.  I am currently in that place of being afraid that I am not good enough or able to do what they do.

Yet I know that with dedication, hard work, continual learning and especially knowing how to overcome the tricks that our minds play on us, we can retrain our brains to recognise these fears, reframe and release them and so move forward to take action.

I have been following Neurogym (of which John Assaraf is the Founder and CEO) for several years.  Over the past year or so I have been following the Winning the Game of Money program.

This has opened up my knowledge about brain retraining and is a subject I shall return to frequently.

This video, though, ended with a call to sign up for a encore presentation of his Winning the Game of Fear program.  Although I have been aware of this and followed some of the short videos which accompany the program, I have decided that it is time that I take full action on this.

I have plans to make quite dramatic changes in my life.  It is exciting yet scary at the same time.

However I know that with the right help, education and support I can and will move forward.

I think John's words are giving me another kick in the right direction:

"Fear is one of the silent killers holding most people hostage."

I am not prepared to be held hostage any longer.  I wish to fly!


Have you used any of Neurogym's programs?  Do let me know what you think about them.  I look forward to your comments.

You Can Change - Motivational Video Ft Secret Entourage

Fear is the green light not the red light.  

If you feel fear then you need to do it.

You are in control of what happens.

You can change.  

This week in my teaching I have had some quite difficult classes.

Some of the students have been rude and argumentative.  They have disrupted the lesson so much that they have prevented other students from learning.

The concepts that I have been teaching have not been particularly difficult, yet because of the disruption, it has been difficult to convey them properly, making sure that each student understands them.

At the end of the lesson I have felt discouraged, worn out and yes a little fearful about whether I can manage the behaviour enough to have a lesson where the students really learn.

Do I need to change the whole structure of the lesson, or just some of the elements?

Do I need need to change the way I teach and react less to the behaviour which some of the students probably design to upset me and cause disruption?

The answer is definitely 'yes' within certain parameters.

Am I afraid of that?

Again the answer is 'yes'.  

It means more work and more trial and error with this particular group.  

It will demand more time and effort when I am planning my lessons.

I will need to continue my own professional development, researching, studying and putting into practice strategies and ideas to break the cycle of poor behaviour.

And the further fear?

That the demands of the education system and the inspection regimes are such that I am not supposed to get this wrong.  That each student should seemingly be on an ever upward learning cycle.  That it could affect my appraisal result, my ability to teach.

Yet I feel the fear and so I need to do it.

For the sake of my students and their learning.

For the sake of the education system.

But most of all for my own sake.  

For the knowledge that I have done the very best I can and that at some later stage, some of my students may have cause to thank me for the way in which I helped them through a difficult time.

Life is not easy.

Teaching is not easy.

Learning is not easy.

But we must all feel the fear and do it anyway.

I CAN change.

How to Make Your Day Meaningful

Time flies. Today will soon be yesterday! So make your today special - a remarkable and unforgettable one. Be happy and make fun! How you can make your 'today' a remarkable and thus, your everyday. Well, here are few ways to do so.

• Do something new. If you want to spice of your life then bringing variety is the best way to do so. There are millions of things which you can do or see million times but there are only few things which you will do for the first time or may be just once. So, this means that first time experience which you take only once leave a mark on your mind for the rest of your life. So, start doing something new from today onwards and convert this ordinary day into an extraordinary day.


• Entertainment with Real world experiences.
  What are your great memories? They are just few interesting experiences of your life. So, if you are the one who sits all day in your home working on laptop or watching TV then it is high time that you get out and have some fun in your life. Interactions with the world are itself quite an interesting experience. Enjoy the nature and appreciate the natural beauty. One should learn to enjoy little things in life and take pleasure in watching how life unfolds.


• Start working on something meaningful.
  Engage yourself with a project which holds a meaning in your life. Or you can even start up something which you always wanted to do but could never do it due to some or the other problem. Life is short; so you better start working on it, start the action today.


• Challenge your body and mind.
  Take up a new skill and learn it. One should be creative in life no matter how small that is. Push yourself to the farthest limits and enjoy the feeling you get after accomplishing the task.


• Stick to few things.
  It is not necessary that you need to do everything but whatever you do, give your best shot. Concentrate on few things but best should be given on them. Slow down a bit and pay close attention to the work you are doing in present. Don't' juggle up your life in forgettable tasks rather concentrate on something which really matters. You can even give up your whole day in it and engage yourself fully.


• Start saying "yes".
  One cannot plan everything in life, few things need to be spontaneous. So, stat saying yes to spontaneous opportunities that come your way. It's a great saying great opportunities knock your door when you least expect them. So be a little spontaneous and say "yes". Be positive.


• Finish your unfinished business.
  Every human has a lot of pending business on their list, you must be having too. So, make up a list of unfinished projects and start working on them one by one. Think it as the perfect day to finish what you once started.

Life is short. Everyone wants to be succeeded in the life. But what makes a person's life a success is still a big question. Many attributes are related to success that range from physical to mental counts, hard skills to soft skills, hard works, thought-process, dreams, reality, happiness, hardship and what not!

Factors that have an effect on and affect the success in life also vary. In a broader aspect, three things actually determine the ultimate SUCCESS of life:

• Health
• Skills
• Money

BE THE PILOT OF YOUR LIFE
 
Shohel Poraan

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9265230

What It Means To Be Present

Everywhere I turn it seems that people are talking about being present. In magazines, on social media and at yoga classes. I have been assured that being present is a key to happiness and I remember thinking that there must be more to it than that! I thought I understood what being present meant and I also thought that I was already being present in my life.

But after a day of rushing through life and juggling numerous tasks, I realised I was stressed. I was not being present with each task. So I started to practice the art of being present. I would meet up with my family and focus solely on them. I wasn't thinking about a task I needed to get done or where I needed to be next. I sat down with them, turned off the TV and we had a conversation. We asked each other questions, looked each other in the eye, smiled and laughed together. We were all in the room being present with each other and enjoying each others company. We were not distracted by the TV or where we needed to be next.

I started to try this elsewhere. When I was talking to my husband, I was only talking to him. I stopped reading emails or texting at the same time and instead, I listened to him with all of my attention.

I used it with strangers. At my local health food shop, instead of thinking about paying quickly and getting out of the shop onto my next errand, I actually had a conversation with the assistant.

I tried this same experiment over the phone. I was speaking to a call centre assistant and again, I was present. I focused on the task in front of me and put my efforts into the conversation. I wasn't reading another email at the same time.

It all sounds a little too simple doesn't it, but it genuinely works. It is so surprising what happens when you listen with intention and focus on one thing or person at a time. Juggling social media, emails and the internet is actually very stressful and you are not giving the person in front of you the respect they deserve. You also don't seem to save any time by rushing.

Rushing to send the next email or text and doing too many things at once isn't necessary. It is a good thing to slow down and relax. The jobs will still get done. By being present, we will be happier when we are doing our daily tasks and we will be able to enjoy the people in our lives at the same time.

Try it for yourself and see what happens.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9309147

Focus On Your Journey - MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO

I have just watched this video at the end of a long day.  It lasts for less than 4 1/2 minutes and has some stunning footage from The Lion Whisperer  The video is worth watching, just for that.


However the narrative is also inspiring.  It asks who believes in you?

Are you trying to live someone else's life while ignoring your own life and path?

And you should understand this, that it was always going to be your family and your friends that would be the first ones to try and talk you out of your vision and your big idea.

Focus on your intentions and do your thing.

In personal development, we frequently have big dreams.  We know that often they will not be easy to achieve.

We give up.  I know that I have when a project is 95% complete and I look back somethimes with regret.


Yet I cannot do that any longer.

I have to focus on my journey and writing this blog is helping me to do just that.


Do you struggle to focus on your journey?  Do you need to be accountable to other people?


Do let me know what you think.

Back to school

Did you enjoy school?  Did you love learning from your teachers?

Or were (are!) you like so many of my students who really do not want to be there?

Many of my teenaged students struggle with morning lessons - particularly on a Monday after a week's break.  They would far rather be in bed and maybe come into school later in the day.

Or students who are very close to taking their GCSE exams at the age of 16.  Exams upon which our Government place huge emphasis - the students, the teachers and the schools are measured and placed in league tables, based on the results. 

Poor results mean that the schools have more frequent inspections, may be forced to become an Academy and parents may not choose to send their children to the school, due to those results.

What are we teaching our students?  That they have to play the game? 

At the moment I am running revision sesssions with students who are on the borderline of achieving the results that our Government considers to be a 'good' pass.  That is exactly what I am doing - teaching them to play the game of getting the most marks they can from what they know.

I have spent the past week, whilst I have had a holiday from teaching in school, learning, studying, developing my knowledge and abilities.

When I asked my students today who had done any study over the break, only a small handful admitted that they had done so.

Have we squeezed the love out of learning in our education systems?

It is a topic I shall return to often because it is one which I feel passionately about.

Do let me know about your own experiences in school.  Did you love it or hate it.  Do you wish you had paid more attention whilst you were there?  What do you think would improve the ways in which we help young people to gain knowledge and to grow?

I would love to hear from you.