It’s all about RELATIONSHIP

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.”               – 1 Corinthians 13:13

Do you want a happy life? A life worth living? A life that is enjoyable? A life that is meaningful?… I tell you what. YOU CAN HAVE IT!

How? By nurturing and growing your relationships. Take great care of them more than you care for your expensive car or jewelries. The other areas of your life like your finances or health could suffer, and you could still be happy- I’ve seen poor people who are happy because they have such close family relationships and good friends. I know people who are sick but are happy because they have people who love and care for them…but I’ve never seen or known someone who’s truly happy living alone for himself.

We need people to satisfy our need to feel safe, to feel that we belong, and to build our self-esteem.

Here are 3 things that will help make relationships better:
1. Say “Thank You”- never keep your gratitude to yourself. say it to people who deserve to be thanked. Say thank you for the fun time, for the good meal cooked for you, for the great conversation, for the encouraging word, for the gestures of love…for the simplest or even the corniest reason.

2. Say “I’m Sorry”- apologize when you did something wrong even if it wasn’t intended. Admit your fault and just say sorry that you made a mistake. And sometimes, even if it’s not your fault, you still apologize. People who care more for the person and the relationship apologize first because caring and loving comes first to being righteous. Pride will give you nothing but a cold lonely heart.

3. Say “I love You”- Do not get tired of saying this everyday. Say it to your spouses/partners, children, parents, siblings, friends…fill-up your love tank. No one dies of love-overdose. This is something a person could get as much as he or she wants. And the good thing is that this is FREE. So give as much as you could and it’ll come back to you doubled or tripled!

If you want a happy life, have happy relationships- with God, with others & with yourself! 🙂

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Written on: October 21, 2016

The Gift of Happiness :)

Hello Everyone! 🙂

This has been a project of my blog that was held back for a while, and now I would like to promote it again.

For those who would like to share their stories, I encourage you to continue reading. I hope that you will help me share happiness to the blogging community.

As always, I thank you and appreciate all your support! 🙂

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As I have mentioned on my earlier note today, I will be posting on my blog “Happiness Stories” from me and other people, which I pray will help inspire others and make us all realize that happiness is real and is just around the corner.

I do not want this to be my personal experience. I want this to be OUR experience together so help me spread positivity to others by sharing to us YOUR stories. It can be anything as long as it made you happy.  You never know how many lives you may get to inspire!

To contribute your stories, you may use Contact Me or send  an email at thehappylife101.wp@gmail.com

THE RULES:

Rule#1: Email Subject should be “Happiness Story”
Rule#2: Make it at least 1-2 paragraphs. It can be longer up to 4 paragraphs.
Rule#3: You can choose to stay Anonymous (just provide your first name and the place where you’re from); OR you can indicate if you want me to include your name & blog. 🙂

I believe that we have a happy God who delights in knowing that we all experience real happiness in the world! So let’s start sharing the gift of happiness to others… 🙂

Cheers,
Nina 🙂 ❤

(photo source)

Happiness Around the Corner

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”- J.R.R. Tolien

HAPPINESS. It is the one thing that almost all of us strive to have.

For some of us, it is very easy to achieve, yet to some it is very difficult- like solving advance trigonometry in 30 seconds!

I want to emphasize that happiness is found in many things. It is us being with the ones we love, it is the smiles that we see from the people we care about, it is us enjoying good times around friends, it is us eating sumptuous meal with our favorite people, it is us listening to good music,  it is us doing what we love the most…

I want to share with you a short video clip from one of the movies that I’ve watched which shows a very good example of happiness. The song that they sung (the lyrics are below) also reminds us to live life at present, and living it the best we could.

I hope that you will find inspiration from the video and the song. Stay happy! 🙂

Don’t look too far. Sometimes, Happiness is just around the corner. 🙂

CREDITS:

Photo Source: A Day Out With Anand Photography

Video courtesy of YouTube

Featured Image Source

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Date Written: July 12, 2016

Let’s Make Wonders!

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”- Leo Buscaglia

Hello Everyone!

Why don’t we start this week by spreading good vibes? Let’s try these simple and very easy steps on how we can share a bit of happiness to someone else’s day today.

1. Smile. 🙂
Sharing your good natured smile would tell others that you are a caring person.  It can brighten up anybody’s otherwise cloudy day. Besides, smiling is one of the best beauty remedies. Anyone who wears a smile becomes more good-looking! 🙂

2.Take time to compliment.
A genuine compliment shows that you pay attention to other people’s efforts and strength. Who would not appreciate one? Just be careful that you are not giving false flattery.

3. Listen.
It’s also nice to just listen from people. When they share great news, celebrate with them. Avoid the urge to share your own good news right away. Let them enjoy “their” moment.
If someone vents out frustrations, he or she may not necessarily be looking for advice, but just need someone to listen. So just listen. They will surely appreciate it.

4. Hug or Give a Pat on the Back.
These gestures when done appropriately is uplifting and could really boost the spirit. Sometimes, touch is even more effective than words.

5. Do a good deed.
As simple as opening a door for someone, picking up someone’s pen or book, or offering to make the coffee could already put a smile on someone else’s face.

As William Hazlitt said, “A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.” So let’s go ahead and start making wonders! 🙂

Photo Source

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Date Written: July 25, 2016

Protect Your Self-Esteem!

“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.”  ― Mark Twain

Some people may not pay attention very much on Self-esteem but it is important and it matters. Why? Because our Self-esteem affects the way we look at ourselves. How we perceive ourselves influences our actions, which will eventually affect the way we live our lives.

Unfortunately, there are certain factors beyond our control that could negatively impact our Self-esteem. Fortunately, we can do something to protect it and if we want to, we can re-build a more positive self-image.

Here are some helpful ways to protect our Self-esteem:

1. Choose your company

Hang out with people who appreciate you and make you feel good; and depart yourself from people who constantly put you down. We may not always avoid negative people in our lives, but we can always keep reminding ourselves not to allow their negativity to transfer onto us. Remember that you deserve to be loved and respected. So be around people who bring out the best in you.

     2. Know the difference between constructive feedback and destructive criticism.

Constructive feedback is focused on your behavior or action, and it aims to improve you . On the other hand, destructive criticism attacks you personally and it does not have any purpose for your betterment. So take in the constructive feedbacks and do not pay attention to the destructive ones.

  3. Avoid comparing yourself with others.

Do not compare yourself with others especially if you think that they are better than you. Wishing that you are on their shoes is hurtful to your self-esteem. What you can do is analyze their behavior and take note of what they are doing good, and then copy that. If it is healthy and you can benefit from it, you can mirror that attitude or behavior until it becomes you.

     4. Learn to accept compliments

Don’t be shy to accept compliments. Believe and accept that you can really be good at something so learn to say THANK YOU!

  5. Build up positive thoughts about yourself.

Don’t dwell too much on your failures as it will only drag your self-esteem. Instead, catch yourself when you do great! Make sure to celebrate small victories by rewarding yourself to things that you enjoy.

(photo source)

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Date Written: August 08, 2016

Happy Thoughts: HAPPINESS & Pain

“TODAY I break free from painful past, and let go of people who hurt me.
I forgive…Now I move on.”

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Special thanks to Alex Markovich for allowing us to share his beautiful photo. You my visit Alex’ blog if you want to see more amazingly inspiring pictures!

 

It is OK to say NO!

“When you say ‘Yes’ to Others, make sure you are not saying ‘No’ to Yourself.”- Paulo Coelho

Usually, we look for things that would make us happy. Sometimes, we forget that another way to be happy is to eliminate the things or reject the people who makes us unhappy.

We put up with people because we consider them friends or they are part of the family. We listen to them whine about their misfortunes, cry over heartbreaks to the nth time, or vent their anger and frustrations. We become the sponge who absorb their negativity.

There are times when we can not reject a favor requested by our boss or a work colleague simply because we are just too shy to say no, or we have this “image” that we want to maintain. There are things that we no longer like to do but keep doing them because they have been considered as traditions, or they have been part of a routine that started ever since no one can even remember!

If we do not learn how to say “No” to the things and to people who stress us out and make us uncomfortable, then we will always find ourselves in an unhappy situation. 

So, the next time someone approaches you to have you do something that you don’t like to do, just take a deep breath and then say NO. Remember that you don’t have to justify your answer for the sake of maintaining a “nice image”. 🙂

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Date Written: June 27, 2016

 

 

 

 

Haiku # 3- “CRUSH”

HER:
He’s looking at me
I act as if I don’t know
But my heart beats loud

HIM:
I’m staring at her
She pretends not to notice
But I know she knows

Photo Source

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Date Written: July 21, 2016

Who Are You?

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer

There are 5 types of people in the world:

1. Those who do not know what they want in life, and do nothing about it.
2. Those who know what they want in life, but don’t know what to do to achieve it.
3. Those who know what they want in life, know what to do but do nothing.
4. Those who know what they want in life, know what to do, and do something about it – but inconsistently (by the way, they are also the ones who easily gives up!)
5. Those who know what they want in life, and do everything they can in their power to achieve it.

My friends, to be happy, it is not enough that one must know what he or she wants in life. It is important to DO something about it.

God has given us resources. All we need to do is use them! 🙂

(Photo Source)

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Date Written: August 16, 2016

What I learned from Children

I would define CHILDREN as the happiest creatures in the world. Oh, don’t you just envy their enthusiasm and high-spirits!

In my pondering, I realize that there are really some great things that we can learn from them- the actual simple reasons why they are always happy.

Here we go…

#1: Children love unconditionally.

They don’t have any hidden motives or agenda. They don’t say “I love you IF you are…”, or “I love you WHEN you…”…they just simply love for the mere fact of loving someone.

I remember one time when my daughter, Gaby told me that she loves me. I asked her why and I was astonished with her response: “Because I am happy with you.” My heart just melts with joy every time I remember that.

#2: Children apologize and forgive easily.

Unlike adults, children don’t hold grudges. They get angry and fight, but they make up easily and then forget about what happened– as if it never happened at all. There’s no wonder why most adults are bitter– ’cause we usually fool ourselves by forgiving but not forgetting.

#3: Children live in the present moment.

They don’t worry about tomorrow, nor dwell in the past. They are enjoying living the PRESENT! On the contrary, most adults can’t let go of their past experiences and they are always busy planning about the future and they missed out the opportunities that the present hold.

#4: Children don’t complicate things.

Things are simple for them. There are no “gray areas”. They only know the Right & Wrong. and the Good & Bad– not the “somewhat right” or “wrong only if…”

#5: They laugh their hearts out and they have fun a lot!

#6: They are easily pleased and find joy in simple things.

Just compare the response that you get when you give a candy or ice cream to a child and to an adult. 🙂

#7:  They don’t lie about how they feel.

Children let you know when they are upset or happy. They do not hide their emotions. Now when you ask an adult if there is something wrong, what is the common response? Most often than not, they say “I’m Fine” even if they’re not. So the negative emotions or feelings dwells in their hearts until the time when they would just explode!

#8: Children love being hugged and kissed a lot; and they are generous in giving hugs and kisses!

#9: Children are curious and loves to learn new things.

It boosts their self-esteem when they get to learn something, and this gives them happiness. Unfortunately, most adults have the tendency to become complacent and idle.

#10: Children know what they like and they don’t like.

If you ask a child what he or she wants, you get an answer right away… why is it that when we ask ourselves what we want, it is as if we’re answering a trigonometry equation?

Now, who says only adults can teach? 🙂

(Photo Credits: cliparts.co, parentingwithunderstanding.com)

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Date Written: May 26, 2016